Victoria Bright also known as Vicky Bright (born 16 March 1965) is a

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 ...

ian legal practitioner, politician and philanthropist. She was the Deputy Minister of State at the Presidency under the John Kufuor administration.

Early life and education

She was born in Jamestown in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Bright attended Wesley Girls Senior High School for her secondary education. She studied at the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

, where she obtained a joint honors degree of Bachelor of Arts in Law and French in 1988. Victoria won a scholarship to attend the College of Europe Bruges, graduating with A Master of Laws (LL.M). While at

she studied at the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

where she obtained a Diploma in EU and French Law. She successfully completed the Solicitors Final Examinations at the College of Law in Guildford (now University of Law). In January 2021, she got enrolled as scholar at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, Saïd Business School at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

to pursue an Executive MBA Programme (EMBA).

Law Practice

Bright joined the legal profession in 1989 as a Trainee Solicitor with Taylor Wessing Solicitors in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She later joined DLA Piper Solicitors as a Senior Associate. She became Partner in 1999 and is co-founder and Managing Partner of Addison Bright Sloane.

Political life

Member of Parliament bid

During the 2011 New Patriotic Party Parliamentary Primaries, she lost the

Okaikwei South Okaikwei South is one of the constituencies represented in the Parliament of Ghana. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Okaikwei South is located in the Accra Metropolitan Assembly of the Greater ...

Constituency parliamentary seat to

Arthur Ahmed Arthur Ahmed is a Ghanaian politician and member of the Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana representing the Okaikwei South Constituency in the Greater Accra Region on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party. Early life and educ ...

. She filed a petition on the basis of fraud which was rejected. In 2015, Bright in a re-run for the

Constituency seat accused her main contender,

of certificate-cheating and later withdrew on principle a day to the Primaries. She has served as a member of the advisory board for the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources of Ghana.

Ministerial appointment

In January 2008, John Kufuor nominated her as Deputy Minister of State at the Presidency. Prior to her vetting and due to laws that forbid public officials of possessing dual citizenship in Ghana, she duly denounced her British citizenship by showing evidence with requisite fee paid at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the British Home Office on July 27, 2007. She was sworn in as Deputy Minister along with Mr Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, by John Kufuor on 15 February 2008 at the Osu Castle in Accra.

Philanthropy and Other Work

Victoria Bright founded the Bright Minds Foundation, a non-profit organisation which provides support to voiceless and marginalised children to protect them from cruelty and abuse. Bright currently serves as a consultant at Albright Stonebridge Group.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bright, Victoria Living people 21st-century Ghanaian women politicians Ghanaian philanthropists Women government ministers of Ghana 20th-century Ghanaian lawyers Ghanaian Christians New Patriotic Party politicians Ghanaian women lawyers 1965 births 21st-century Ghanaian lawyers 20th-century women lawyers 21st-century women lawyers