Betty Mould-Iddrisu

Betty Mould-Iddrisu (born 22 March 1953^[1]) is a Ghanaian lawyer and politician. She was the Minister for Education in Ghana.^[2] Her first direct involvement in the Ghana government was as the Attorney General and Minister for Justice of Ghana since 2009. Prior to that, she had been the Head of Legal and Constitutional Affairs of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.^[3] She is the first woman to serve in this capacity in Ghana.^[4] Mould-Iddrisu had been one of those thought to be the likely nominee for Vice President of Ghana on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).^[5]

Education

Betty attended Accra Academy for her secondary education. She obtained a bachelor's degree in Law (L.L.B) from the University of Ghana, Legon between 1973 and 1976.^[6] Her academic qualifications include a Master's Degree gained in 1978 from the London School of Economics. Between 1990 and 2000, at the same time as fulfilling her duties at the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat, she taught at the law faculty of Ghana University, also publishing various papers and articles on intellectual property.^[7]

Attorney General of Ghana

In 2003, she was appointed the Director of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, an inter-governmental organisation comprising 53 member states based in London.Some of the highlights of her time at the Secretariat include overseeing implementation of mandates in the area of transnational crime, counter terrorism and international humanitarian law. She oversaw the implementation of the Secretariats programmes on anti-corruption, asset recovery and judicial ethics. In addition, she implemented diverse legal program's through judicial reforms, legislative drafting and building capacity in the legal field in the Commonwealth among-st others. She has given advice to Heads of States, Ministers and she is frequently called upon to give high level advice to governments, politicians and civil society. She also advises member states in the areas of international law, constitutional law and human rights and organizes high level ministerial and senior officials meetings. She headed the Secretariat Team of the Electoral Observer Group to the 2006 Ugandan Elections. She acts as In-house-Chief legal adviser to the Secretary General and Secretariat. In that capacity she manages a team of lawyers from diverse backgrounds and is responsible for managing her divisional budget and sourcing for extra budgetary resources. She also assists the Secretary General and his two Deputies in management of the Secretariat and represents the secretariat at Tribunals and Courts. She was sworn-in in February, 2009 as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General by H.E. Prof. J.E.A. Mills, President of the Republic of Ghana. “You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man’s freedom. You can only be free if I am free.” Clarence Darrow

Resignation

She resigned from the government in January 2012. The reasons were not made public. This was a few days after her successor as Attorney-General was sacked by the President.^[8] She had been under pressure in relation to a case while she was serving as the Attorney-General.^[9] She was succeeded at the Education Ministry by Enoch Teye Mensah.^[10]

References

See also

• List of Mills government ministers