Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi-Hughes, who was elected Speaker of Parliament on Thursday, is a distinguished legal practitioner.

He was born at Cape Coast in the Central Region on September 4, 1939, was educated at Cape Coast Government Boys School and Adisadel College, Cape Coast, where he obtained the West African School Certificate in 1958.

Mr Sekyi-Hughes entered the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1961 where he obtained a BA (Hons) in 1964 and LLB in 1966. He received a special award from the Academy of International Court of Justice at The Hague, Holland, to attend seminars on both public and private international law.

Mr Sekyi Hughes was called to the Ghana Bar as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court in 1966.

He has since October 1966 been a legal practitioner and a partner of Gaisie, Zwenes, Hughes and Co., a law firm with branches in Accra and Takoradi. He was appointed Notary Public in 1974. Mr Sekyi Hughes was President of the Western Region Branch of the Ghana Bar Association in 1977-81 and member of the Judicial Council and Bar Council during the same period.

The Speaker has attended a number of conferences and seminars abroad.

He was a member of Ghana's delegation to the Commonwealth Law Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1981 and African Bar Conference in Abuja, Nigeria, in 1991.

Mr Sekyi-Hughes was elevated to the status of Senior Advocate of Ghana in 1990 and was elected as the Western Regional representative on the Council of State in 2001.

He serves on a number of Boards. He is the chairman of the Ghana Oil Company Board, Director of Multi Wall Paper Sacks Limited, Takoradi, Paper Conversion Company Ltd and Benso Oil Palm Plantation Ltd. His hobbies are reading, travelling and club life. He is a strong advocate of human rights and the environment.

Mr Sekyi Hughes is married with six children.

GNA