Professor Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, member of the Governing Council, and Chair of the Grants sub-committee of the STAR Ghana Foundation has been sworn into office as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana by the President of the Republic: H.E., Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The ceremony was held on Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at the office of the President. Justice Professor Mensa-Bonsu becomes the 5th female member of the highest court of Ghana.

President Akufo-Addo described Prof Mensa-Bonsu as having stellar career in the worlds of academia and scholarship, female activism, international relations, public service and religious engagement. He expressed his confidence in the appointment as one that will strengthen the development of the Court’s jurisprudence and case law.

“I am happy to be the President who swore her into office as a Justice of the Supreme Court. The appointment, I have no doubt, will help strengthen the development of the Court’s jurisprudence and case law… you have met the stringent requirements of Article 128 clause (4) of the Constitution, and have exhibited the independence of spirit, proven integrity, high moral character, and impartiality of mind to hold this high office.” the President.

Profile of Prof Mensa-Bonsu

Professor Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu is a law professor at the University of Ghana and currently the President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. Prof. Mensa-Bonsu is an alumnus of Wesley Girls High School, University of Ghana and Yale University.

In 2003 Prof Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu was elected as a fellow into the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also a member of the United Nations Independent Panel on Peace Operations. Professor Mensa-Bonsu has served in several high-level national and international assignments.

She served on the Legal Committee of the Ghana National Commission on Children; represented Ghana on the Inter-governmental Meeting of Experts on the Draft African Charter on the Rights of the Child, served as a member of the President’s Committee on the Review of Educational Reforms, the National Reconciliation Commission and the Ghana Police Council and recently the President’s Commission of Inquiry into Ayawaso West by-election violence.

Prof Mensa-Bonsu served in various capacities internationally among which are the ECOWAS nominee on the International Technical Advisory Committee for the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Vice-Chairperson of the ECOWAS Working Group on the Harmonisation of Business Laws on non-OHADA States, member of the OAU’s Committee of Eminent Jurists on the Lockerbie Case and the AU’s Committee of Eminent Jurists on the Hissene Habre Case.

A highpoint was her appointment as the Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Rule of Law (DSRSG) in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) with the rank of Assistant-Secretary-General in 2007.

Currently, she serves as a member of the Governing Council of the STAR Ghana Foundation which is the highest decision-making body steering the affairs of the Foundation. Prof Mensa-Bonsu is married to Mr Kwaku Mensa-Bonsu and they have three adult daughters, five grandchildren, three foster sons, and three foster grandchildren.

The Chairperson, members of the Governing Council, and the entire fraternity of the STAR Ghana Foundation wish to extend our congratulations to Justice Professor Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu.