Anna Bossman (born 1 December 1957) is a

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

ian human rights advocate. She was formerly the director for the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Department of the

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

(AfDB). In 2017 she was appointed Ghana's ambassador to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Education

She was born in

Kumasi Kumasi is a city and the capital of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It is the second largest city in the country, with a population of 443,981 as of the 2021 census. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region ...

, Ghana, to Dr Jonathan Emmanuel Bossman, a former Ghana representative to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, and Alice Decker. Anna Bossman attended Holy Child School in

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of Ghana, Ghana. It is located about from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately from Ac ...

, going on to

Achimota School Achimota School (Help:IPA/English, /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 Reg ...

for her high-school education. She graduated from the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in the country. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the British colony of the Gold Coast ...

Legon Legon , a suburb of the Ghanaian city Accra, is situated about north-east of the city center in the Ayawaso West Municipal District, a district in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Legon is home to the main campus of the University of Ghana. ...

with a

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

degree and from the

Ghana School of Law The Ghana School of Law (GSL) is an educational institution in Ghana for training lawyers. The school is the only institution responsible for training for law graduates in the Professional Law Course (PLC) programme and the Post-Call Law Course. ...

in 1980, being called to the Ghana Bar that year.

Career

After serving as an Assistant State Attorney in Ghana's

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, Bossman went into private practice, and over the subsequent 25 years would pursue a career in the oil and gas industry and energy sector, working with major international companies including

Tenneco Tenneco, Inc. (formerly Tenneco Automotive and originally Tennessee Gas Transmission Company) is an American automotive components original equipment manufacturer and an aftermarket ride control and emissions products manufacturer. It is a ''F ...

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

(where she was the first woman secretary-general of the Gabonese Union of Petroleum Companies), Congo,

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, as well as in Ghana, where in 1996 she founded Bossman Consultancy Limited to provide support to power utilities and energy sectors, international institutions and donor agencies as well as private companies and business investors. She was Deputy Commissioner of Ghana's Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) from 2002 to 2010, where she was appointed Acting Commissioner. In July 2011, she was employed by the African Development Bank Group as Director of the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Department, in charge of investigating fraud, corruption and other malpractices.

Diplomatic career

In June 2017 she was appointed Ghana's ambassador to

, and presented her letters of credence to French President

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

on 13 October 2017. She was also Ghana's ambassador to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and her country's permanent representative to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Personal life

She was formerly married to

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

's former prime ministerial candidate, Pierre-Claver Damiba; they had a daughter.

Selected awards

2008 – Ghana Women's achievers Award for excellence in Human Rights and the Law (Ghana National Honorary Awards of Fame)"Meet Our New Ambassador"
, Ghana Embassy, Paris.

References

External links

linkedIn page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bossman, Anna 1957 births Living people Alumni of Achimota School Ambassadors of Ghana to France Ambassadors of Ghana to Portugal Permanent delegates of Ghana to UNESCO Ghanaian human rights activists Women human rights activists University of Ghana alumni Ghana School of Law alumni 20th-century Ghanaian lawyers New Patriotic Party politicians Ghanaian women ambassadors Alumni of Holy Child High School, Ghana People from Kumasi 21st-century Ghanaian lawyers 20th-century Ghanaian women lawyers 21st-century Ghanaian women lawyers