Joseph Henry Mensah

Joseph Henry Mensah ( born October 31, 1928 Sekondi, Ghana ) is one of the longest-serving and best-known politicians in Ghana. Since the early sixties Mensah is active in various governments, dictatorships and military juntas as a consultant or as a minister.

Training

Mensah studied 1948-1954 at Achimota College ( now the University of Ghana). In 1954 he moved to the University of London to study economics here. In London he made both the undergraduate as well as master's degree in economics. At Stanford University in California, USA, he completed further studies and specialized in the field of economic theory.

Career

Already during his studies at Achimota College, he served in the colonial administration as a financial inspector in Accra. Between 1954 and 1958 he worked as a research assistant in the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana and later as briefly as lecturer. After that he began in 1958 working for the United Nations Centre for Development Planning in New York.

In 1961 he returned to Ghana and worked as Chairman of the National Planning Commission ( National Planning Commission ) the government of President Kwame Nkrumah. In this position he was instrumental in the development of the seven-year plan of the government for the period 1962-1969. In 1965, Mensah was forced to leave the country for political reasons.

After the overthrow of Nkrumah 's by the National Liberation Council (NLC ), he became finance minister of Ghana 1966-1969. According to the end of the military junta of the NLC Mensah was in the government of the Progress Party (PP ) under Kofi Abrefa Busia appointed Minister of Finance and Economic Planning between 1970 and 1972 appointed. He was also a Member of Parliament.

Between 1993 and 1997, Mensah was a member of the Supervisory Board of the African Development Bank ( ADB).

In 1996, Mensah won the parliamentary seat for the constituency of Sunyani East as a member of the New Patriotic Party and was re-elected in the 2000 elections. In the second term of the Fourth Republic of Ghana's Mensah was the leader of the parliamentary majority.

During the first term of President John Agyekum Kufuor Mensah was a senior minister in an advisory capacity in economic affairs (Age Minister with responsibility for public service reform and the renewal program for national institutions). Mensah is since the second term of President John Agyekum Kufuor Chairman of the National Development and Planning Commission (Ghana 's National Development Planning Commission ).

Other positions:

• Chairman and Managing Director of Development and Management Consultants ( Ghana ) Ltd;
• Chairman, Sunyani District Council (1978-1981)
• Proprietor Banka Farms Limited