Benita Okity Duah UNSessionNewYork 2013-07-17 002

Benita Sena Okity-Duah (born 19 June 1976) is a

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

fashion designer, politician and a former member of parliament for Ledzokuku constituency in the

Greater Accra Region The Greater Accra Region has the smallest area of Ghana's Regions of Ghana, 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of 3,245 square kilometres. This is 1.4 per cent of the total land area of Ghana. It is the List of Ghanaian re ...

Early life and education

She was born on 19 June 1976 in Anloga in the

Volta Region Volta Region (or Volta) is one of Ghana's sixteen administrative regions, with Ho designated as its capital. It is located west of Republic of Togo and to the east of Lake Volta. Divided into 25 administrative districts, the region is multi- ...

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 ...

. She won the Miss Ghana pageant in 1997 at the age of 20 as a student. She attended

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 ...

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

for her secondary school education. She then went on to study fashion at the London School of Fashion for four years.

Career

She returned to Ghana in 2003 and has since carved a niche for herself in the Ghanaian fashion industry. She is the founder and CEO of LadyBird Fashions in Accra, Ghana.

Politics

Benita resigned as the Women's Organizer of the National Democratic Congress of the Ledzokuku Constituency in the

. She contested for the party primaries and defeated the then-incumbent member of parliament Nii Nortey Dua to represent the National Democratic Congress in the constituency. She won the election in 2012 to represent the people of Ledzokuku in the parliament of Ghana. She became the first ever Miss Ghana beauty queen to be elected as a member of parliament in

. Additionally, she served as a Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana from April 2013 to June 2014. She was also the Deputy Minister of Fishery and Aquaculture of the Republic of Ghana. Benita lost her seat to Bernard Okoe-Boye who stood on the ticket of the

New Patriotic Party The New Patriotic Party (NPP; ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative political party in Ghana. Since the democratisation of Ghana in 1992, it has been one of the two dominant parties in Ghanaian ...

in the 2016 Parliamentary election.

Personal life

Benita is married to Steve Okity-Duah. Born Benita Golomeke, she was crowned Embassy pleasure Ms Ghana 1997. She is a Christian and a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okity-Duah, Benita Sena Living people Alumni of Achimota School National Democratic Congress (Ghana) politicians Ghanaian MPs 2013–2017 Women members of the Parliament of Ghana Government ministers of Ghana Women government ministers of Ghana 1976 births 21st-century Ghanaian women politicians