Prof Ken Attafuah appointed NIA Boss

Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafua has been appointed the Executive Secretary for the National Identification Authority. His appointment comes on the back of recent reshuffling in major positions at the public sector by President Nana Akufo-Addo.

The appointment is contained in a letter dated January 27, 2017 and signed by President Akufo-Addo. The letter further notes that the appointment is in accordance with the constitutionally required advice of the Governing Council of the Authority. Although the NIA has been faced with many challenges in the past, it is anticipated that the rich expertise of the incoming Executive Secretary will make a significant difference.

Profile

Prof. Kenneth AgyemangAttafuahis a Barrister-at-Law and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana. He is currently the Ag. Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Central University College, Accra, as well as the Founding Director of the William Ofori-Atta Institute of Integrity, a Governance and Leadership training school.

Prof. Ken Attafuah is a Criminologist, Mediator, Management Consultant and a Human Rights Advocate of international distinction and repute. He is also the Managing Solicitor of Ken Attafuah Law Place, an Accra-based private law firm specializing in the provision of timely and effective solutions to legal problems.

His practice includes human rights, criminal, corporate, constitutional and commercial law. His technical expertise has been tapped as an expert witness in extradition proceedings in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. He has consulted widely in human rights, gender mainstreaming, conflict resolution and transitional justice issues in countries like Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Peru, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Togo.

The centerpiece of Professor Ken Attafuah’s enduring human rights concern is the prevention of discrimination and the promotion of human dignity for all. Prof Attafuah previously served as an Adjudicator with the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board, where he determined claims of refugee applicants from all over the world to convention refugee status in Canada.He is alsoa former Commissioner for Human Rights in British Columbia, Canada.

Key appointments and capacities Professor Attafah has served in includeExecutive Secretary of the National Identification Authority, Executive Secretary of the National Reconciliation Commission, the Management Consultant to the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the UN’s International Technical Advisor to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia.

He’s also been an Associate Professor of Governance and Leadership at the Ghana Institute of Professional Studies, (GIMPA), Director of Anti-Corruption, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Chief Investigator and Director of Operation at CHRAJas well as the Crime Prevention Policy Advisor/Analyst, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, West Vancouver Detachment, Canada. Ken Attafuah is a renowned and respected voice in both local and international media (BBC, VOA, etc.) on issues of human rights, gender, crime and justice, policing and security.

His extensive publications include the authoritative and much-acclaimed book, Fighting Armed Robbery in Ghana (2008). He is a product of the University of Ghana, Legon (B.A. (Hons.), the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada (MA), the prestigious School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Ph.D.), and the Ghana School of Law (BL). Prof. Ken Attafuah has also schooled at the Justice Institute of British Columbia, New Westminster, Canada, and EcoleInternationaled’AdministrationPublique, Paris, France.