I Was Never Approached For Post Of EC Chairperson - Prof. Mensah- Bonsu

Nominee to the Supreme Court Prof Henrietta Mensah Bonsu - Bonsu has said nobody had contacted her for appointment as Chairperson of the Electoral Commission ( EC ) as it was rumored prior to the appointment of Madam Jean Mensah as EC boss.

She made the statement today in response to a question by Hon Alhassan Sayibu Sohuyini MP for Tamale North when she appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for vetting.

Prof Henrietta Mensah Bonsu said she wouldn't have accepted the offer even if she had been approached to be offered the post as EC Chairperson because the position of EC Chair is equivalent to the position of a Court of Appeal judge which she is aspiring beyond based on her track record.

"That was a very difficult time for me, nobody approached me but yet there were stories about me, people were calling me to hold a press conference and I said what was I going to deny, but let me say that I won the popular votes,” the nominee stated.

Responding to a question about sexuality, Prof Henrietta Mensah Bonsu said educating children about sex is very necessary because children are endangered if they are not educated about sex as there are many sexual predators in town ready to pounce on their victims.

Prof Mensa Bonsu is a law lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana, Legon, and President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo nominated law lecturer, Professor Henrietta Mensa Bonsu, and three others for Parliament's consideration for appointment to the bench of Supreme Court.

In her profile, it stated that Prof Mensa-Bonsu’s maiden name is Banful, is the immediate past Director of Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) and the President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS). She is the third female to hold the position of President of the Academy.

She attended Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast from 1970 to 1977, then proceeded to the University of Ghana, Legon, where she graduated with Bachelor of Law (LLB) First Class Honours degree in 1980.

From there she pursued the professional law at the Ghana School of Law from 1980 to 1982 and was called to the Bar in 1982. In the course of time, she went to Yale University in the United States of America (USA) where she obtained a Master of Law (LLM) in 1985.

Prof Mensa-Bonsu came back to Ghana the same year she had her LLM and was employed by the University of Ghana, Legon, as a lecturer with the Faculty of Law and rose through the ranks to attain full professorship in 2002 and in 2003, she was elected a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Prof. Mensa-Bonsu teaches Criminal Law, Jurisprudence and Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, and serves on a number of Boards of the University.

She has served both on local and international platforms including serving on the Legal Committee of the Ghana National Commission on Children and represented Ghana on the Inter-governmental Meeting of Experts on the Draft African Charter on the Rights of the Child.

She also served as a member of the National Reconciliation Commission and the Emile Short Commission to investigate the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence.