Nana Oye Mansa Yeboaa, also known by the name Mrs. Theresa Owusu, is a

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

traditional ruler, politician,

public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and diplomat. She is a woman chief in the Eastern Region of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. She holds the title of the Dompiahene of the Akuapem Traditional Area. She was the deputy minister for Finance and Economic Planning, the first female deputy governor of the

Bank of Ghana The Bank of Ghana ( BoG) is the central bank of Ghana. It is located in Accra and was formed in 1957. The bank is active in developing financial inclusion policy and is a member of thAlliance for Financial Inclusion History The Central Ban ...

, and Ghana's ambassador to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Personal life

She was born on 26 September 1938 to Kate Oye Ntow Ofosu and Eric Perigrino Nelson. She had her secondary education at Wesley Girls High School and her tertiary education at the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

. Nana Oye Mansa Yeboaa is the sister of the late Vida Amaadi Yeboah, who was once Minister for Tourism in the

Rawlings government This is a listing of the ministers who served in Jerry Rawlings's National Democratic Congress government during the Fourth Republic of Ghana. This started on January 7, 1993, after 11 years of military rule by Rawlings. He retired from the Ghana ...

Career

Nana Oye Mansa Yeboaa held the position of second deputy governor of the

from 1989 -1997, being the first female to be appointed to this position. From 1994 -1997, she served as a member of the board of directors of the

Social Security and National Insurance Trust The Social Security and National Insurance Trust, is an agency of the government of Ghana. Its job description, according to itwebsite is to administrate the National Pension Scheme. In so doing, the trust owns major amounts of stock in Ghana's ...

(SSNIT), she was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the

Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons The Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons is a National Postgraduate Medical College established to train specialist doctors in medicine, surgery and other related disciplines by an Act of parliament in 2003. History Prior to the founding of ...

in 2007. Additionally, she has held the positions of Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Ambassador of

and to the

. She spearheaded the move to establish the Ghana Women Fund, and served as its first board chairman after it was founded in 2001. In 2009, she was appointed by former President

John Evans Atta Mills John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (21 July 1944 – 24 July 2012) was a Ghanaian politician and legal scholar who served as President of Ghana from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, having defeated the governing party ...

as a member of the Board of the

Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) is a public co-educational university spread over four campuses (Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Takoradi) and made up of six schools, ten research centers located at Greenhill in Accra ...

(GIMPA).

Developmental works

She is the founder and Lead coordinator of the Akuapem Community Foundation, which she established in 2005, with the aim of tackling issues of education, gender, youth, morality, public affairs, and disability needs in her traditional area. Nana Oye Mansa Yeboaa is one of the several women traditional leaders whose leadership is being studied under a

project titled "Women and Political Participation in Africa: A Comparative Study of Representation and Role of Female Chiefs", which is funded by the

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

. In this project, a mixed-methods approach is adopted to comparatively study women's representation in the institution of chieftaincy and their influence on women's rights and wellbeing in Botswana, Ghana, Liberia, and South Africa. Lead researchers on the project, Peace A. Medie, Adriana A. E Biney, Amanda Coffie and Cori Wielenga, have also published an opinion piece titled "Women traditional leaders could help make sure the pandemic message is heard" in

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Rober ...

news, which discusses how women traditional leaders can educate their subjects on

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeboaa, Nana Oye Mansa 1938 births 21st-century Ghanaian politicians University of Ghana alumni Living people People educated at Wesley Girls' Senior High School 21st-century Ghanaian women politicians