Joseph Henry Mensah (31 October 1928 – 12 July 2018) was a

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

ian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

Education

In his early education, J. H. Mensah attended

Achimota School Achimota School ( /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. The school w ...

. He proceeded to the University of the Gold Coast (now the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

) between 1948 and 1954. He then headed to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

, where he earned both a bachelor's and master's degree respectively with a specialization in economic theory and development. In 1954, Mensah became a Research Fellow in Economics at the

, a position he held until 1958.

Political career

Mensah began working as an assistant inspector of taxes in 1953 while the Gold Coast was still under colonial rule. In 1958, Mensah joined the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

Secretariat at the Centre for Development Planning, Projections and Policies, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Mensah returned to Ghana in 1961 as the Head of Agency at the National Planning Commission. The National Planning commission drew and implemented the country's Seven-Year Development Plan (1963/64–1969–70). In 1969, he was elected to parliament and became the

Finance minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

in the

Busia government This is a listing of the ministers who served in Busia's Progress Party government during the Second Republic of Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Gu ...

until 1972, when he was replaced by future head of state

Ignatius Kutu Acheampong Ignatius Kutu Acheampong ( ; (23 September 1931 – 16 June 1979) was the military head of state of Ghana from 13 January 1972 to 5 July 1978, when he was deposed in a palace coup. He was executed by firing squad on 16 June 1979. Early life and ...

after the military coup d'état.

Elections

Mensah represented the Sunyani East constituency in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th parliaments of the republic of Ghana.

2000 Elections

In the year 2000, Mensah won the Ghanaian general elections as the member of parliament in the 3rd parliament of the 4th republic of Ghana for the Sunyani East constituency of the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. He won on the ticket of the

New Patriotic Party , logo = , colorcode = #132f7a , founder = , founded = 28 July 1992 , dissolved = , leader = Nana Akufo-Addo , chairman = Stephen Ayensu Ntim Stephen Ntim elected NPP National Chairman on fifth attempt http://www.gna.org.gh/1.2152672 ...

. His constituency was a part of the 14 parliamentary seats out of 21 seats won by the

in that election for the Brong Ahafo Region. The

won a majority total of 100 parliamentary seats out of 200 seats in the 3rd parliament of the 4th republic of Ghana. He was elected with 27,756 votes out of 43,128 total valid votes cast. This was equivalent to 65.1% of the total valid votes cast. He was elected over Capt.(rtd) F. Adu Kwaku Nkrumah of the National Democratic Congress, Shiekh Mustapha Abdulah of the

Convention People's Party The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a socialist political party in Ghana based on the ideas of the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. The CPP was formed in June 1949 after Nkrumah broke away from the United Gold Coast Convention (UG ...

, Moses Owusu -Yeboah of the People's National Convention, Boachie Amankwa of the

United Ghana Movement The United Ghana Movement is a political party in Ghana. The founder is Charles Wereko-Brobby, formerly a leading member of the New Patriotic Party. Registration The party was officially registered with the Electoral Commission of Ghana as a pol ...

and Boniface Kojo Mensah of the

National Reform Party National Reform or National Reformation may refer to: * National Reform Association (1844), a nineteenth-century American movement to lobby Congress to pass land reforms *National Reform Association (1864), a nineteenth-century American movement to ...

. These won 11,550, 1,269, 1,039, 592 and 427 votes respectively out of the total valid votes cast. These were equivalent to 27.1%, 3.0%, 2.4%, 1.4% and 1.0% respectively of total valid votes cast.

2004 Elections

He was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Sunyani East constituency for the 4th parliament in the 2004 Ghanaian general elections. He was elected with 32,035 votes out of 53,972 total valid votes cast. This was equivalent to 59.40% of total valid votes cast. He was elected over Justice Samuel Adjei of the National Democratic Congress, Cubagee Raphael – an independent candidate, Rev. Nana Adjei-Ntow – also an independent candidate, Theophilus Kwame Chartey of the

, Awuah Philip of the Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere Party and A. A. Boasiako of the Democratic People's Party. These obtained 17,860 votes, 1,478 votes, 998 votes, 674 votes, 581votes and 346 votes respectively out of the total valid votes cast. These were equivalent to 33.10%, 2.70%, 1.80%, 1.20%, 1.10% and 0.60% of all total valid votes cast. Mensah was elected on the ticket of the

. His constituency was a part of 14 out of 24 constituencies won by the

in the Brong Ahafo region in that election. In all, the New Patriotic Party won a majority total of 128 parliamentary representation out of a total 230 parliamentary seats in the 4th Parliament of the 4th republic of Ghana.

Post Coup

Beginning in 1974, Mensah worked in the private sector both in Ghana and abroad. He was imprisoned by the

National Redemption Council The National Redemption Council (NRC) was the ruling Ghana military government from 13 January 1972 to 9 October 1975. Its chairman was Colonel I. K. Acheampong, who was thus also the head of state of Ghana. Duration of rule The NRC came into p ...

from 1975 to 1978. Although banned from political activity in 1979, he was active for the

Popular Front Party The Popular Front Party (PFP) was the main opposition political party in Ghana during the Third Republic (1979-1981). In elections held on 18 June 1979, PFP presidential candidate Victor Owusu won 29.9% of the vote and the party won 42 of 140 s ...

in the 1979 elections. He also served as Chairman of the

Sunyani District Sunyani Municipal District is one of the twelve districts in Bono Region, Ghana. Originally created as an ordinary district assembly on 10 March 1989 when it was known as Sunyani District, until the northwest part of the district was split off t ...

Council in Brong-Ahafo Region (1979–1981), and proprietor of Banka Farms. Exiled in England, in 1983 he headed a group opposing the

PNDC The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) was the name of the Ghanaian government after the People's National Party's elected government was overthrown by Jerry Rawlings, the former head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, in a coup ...

. He also served on the African Advisory Council of the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies ...

from 1993 to 1997. In December 1996, Mensah contested a parliamentary seat in the Sunyani East constituency as a member of the

, which he won. He was re-elected in 2000. Prior to

John Kufuor John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor (born 8 December 1938) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the President of Ghana from 7 January 2001 to 7 January 2009. He was also Chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008. Kufuor's career has been spe ...

's election in 2001, Mensah was the Minority Leader in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

from 1997 to 2001. In addition, he served as Minister and Leader of Government Business from 2001 to 2003; Minister for Public Sector Reform and National Institutional Renewal Programme from 2003 to 2005 as well as Senior Minister from 2005 to 2006 all during the Kufuor-led administration.

Personal life and family

He was the older brother of the former

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...

, Theresa Kufuor.

Death and state funeral

J. H. Mensah died on Thursday 12 July 2018 at the

37 Military Hospital The 37 Military Hospital is a specialist hospital located in Accra, on the main road between the Kotoka International Airport and central Accra. It is the largest military hospital in the Republic of Ghana after the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. The ...

in Accra after a protracted illness, having suffered a

stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

a year earlier. He was accorded a

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of ...

by the

Government of Ghana The Government of Ghana was created as a parliamentary democracy, followed by alternating military and civilian governments in Ghana. In January 1993, military government gave way to the Fourth Republic after presidential and parliamentary elec ...

on Friday 17 August 2018 at the

Accra International Conference Centre The Accra International Conference Centre is an events venue in Accra, Ghana. Other venues include the Ghana Trade Fair Center and the National Theatre, but the Conference Centre is the most popular due to its size and capacity as compared to th ...

and buried at the new

Military Cemetery A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed force A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by ...

Burma Camp Burma Camp is the headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghanaian Ministry of Defence. The camp is in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. It retains notoriety and fear from previous Ghanaian military regimes, when civilians who entered the camp ...

References

External links

Joseph Henry Mensah
at African People Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Mensah, Joseph Henry 1928 births 2018 deaths Alumni of Achimota School Ghanaian MPs 1969–1972 Ghanaian MPs 1997–2001 Ghanaian MPs 2001–2005 Ghanaian MPs 2005–2009 Finance ministers of Ghana Ghanaian economists Academic staff of the University of Ghana University of Ghana alumni Alumni of the University of London Stanford University alumni Popular Front Party politicians New Patriotic Party politicians 20th-century Ghanaian politicians 21st-century Ghanaian politicians People from Brong-Ahafo Region Progress Party (Ghana) politicians