Meet Ghana's 1st Female Law Professor & 1st Vice-President Of The ICC: Akua Kuenyehia

• Professor Akua Kuenyehia, born in 1947, is an accomplished Ghanaian woman who made history as the first-ever female law professor in the country
• She started her law career as a lecturer at the University of Ghana after completing her second degree at the Oxford University
• The female professor rose through the ranks to become senior lecturer, associate lecturer and finally the dean of the law faculty
• Judge Kuenyehia is also recognised as the first vice-president of the International Criminal Court after her election in 2003

Over the years, many Ghanaian women have been recognised as unforgettable trailblazers in their various fields. Justice Akua Kuenyehia is one of such, as she attained feats that were both enviable and unprecedented. The law profession, in which she is a trailblazer, is very esteemed in the Ghanaian community and a woman emerging as a lawyer is a feat that is not taken lightly, let alone a professor of Law.

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Justice Akua Kuenyehia grew up with parents who believed their children would be the best wherever they found themselves. Truly, that is exactly what ended up happening. Growing up, Akua was unsure exactly what she wanted to be in the future, but her father's words of prosperity gave her all the confidence she needed to excel in any field she found. It is, therefore, no surprise that she has become a celebrated icon within the judicial sector, both locally and internationally.

Her journey to becoming a judge began when she completed Achimota School and gained admission to the University of Ghana, Legon, to pursue a Bachelor of Law degree. She sailed through her undergraduate successfully and, in 1969, graduated with a second class (upper division). In addition, she received the Mensah Sarbah Award for being the best student in Professional Law.

She obtained a professional diploma a year after her first degree, and in 1971, Akua got admitted into the Ghana Bar upon passing the exams. Being the driven young lady she was, Justice Akua Kuenyehia acquired another degree in Civil Law at Oxford University in 1972.

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In an interview with Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), the former judge opened up about how her father called some of her successes into existence:

"My parents made me feel that the sky is always the limit. My father especially blessed us all the time. For example, when I was 8 years old, my two half-sisters and I were chatting with him, so he asked my older sister what she wanted to do when she grew up. I was just 8 and had no idea what I wanted to do, but my sister said she wanted to be a nurse. So my father told her she would become exactly that and grow to the top of her profession, which she did.

When it got to my turn, I told him I didn't know what I wanted to be in future, and the next thing he said was, 'you, only the best is good for you. You'll go to Achimota School, and you'll go to Oxford' and truly I did", she said in an interview.

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Akua Kuenyehia becoming the first female Law Professor at the University of Ghana, Legon

Back at the University of Ghana, Akua realised she would enjoy teaching law as a profession rather than practising it. Lo and behold, she was not the only one who had come to the same realisation. After her first year in school, two professors called and applauded her brilliant performance. They encouraged her to think about joining them to teach at the faculty someday.

'They literally mentored me throughout my university education, and after graduating, I applied to Oxford for my masters"

After her second degree, Akua returned to Ghana and began a career in academia. She was engaged by the University of Ghana as a law professor in 1972. This appointment made her the first woman to become a law professor in Ghana.

After lecturing for 13 years, Akua rose through the ranks and became a senior lecturer in 1985 and associate professor in 1996. In the same year, she made history again as the first woman to be appointed Dean of the Faculty of Law. She served in that stead for seven years.

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The historic Judge did not lecture only at the University of Ghana. She had visiting professorships at Temple University, Imo State University, Northwestern University, Leiden University, and the University of Pennsylvania. She has taught students various subjects, including contracts, international human rights law, criminal law, women and the law, and health law.

Working with the United Nations (UN) and becoming the first Vice-president of the International Criminal Court (ICC)

In 2003, Professor Kuenyehia was nominated by the then president of Ghana, John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor, to sit as an expert for the UN's Committee for the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and she thankfully got elected.

In an interview, the former committee member stated some of the functions of the CEDAW.

"We were sitting two or three times a year for three weeks at a time to exam reports submitted by countries and see how far they've gone with bringing their laws in line with that of the convention and make recommendations for improvement where need be", she said.

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Another unforgettable history Professor Kuenyehia made was when she was elected as a pioneering judge for the ICC and became the court's first vice-president. She was one of only three women elected among the 18 judges. The professor worked as a judge for the ICC in the Hague from 2003 to 2015

"I was in my office at the University of Ghana when I got a call from the attorney-general at the time. He asked me to come to his office and upon arrival I was told the president wants to nominate me for the ICC. I was skeptical initially but finally I agreed because it was just a nomination", she said.

Life after Akua Kuenyehia's retirement from the International Criminal Court

The former judge is currently the president of Mountcrest University College, a private university in Ghana. She was inducted into office on January 12, 2013, two years before her retirement, and she still functions in that position.

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Akua has three children with her husband. In honour of their mother, Akua's children founded the Akua Kuenyehia Foundation(AKF), a Ghana-based non-profit organisation committed to developing and empowering women in Ghana through formal education.

Their goal is to nurture and develop a passion for knowledge in Ghanaian girls, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, and give them a zeal for service to society by enriching the lives of these young women through educational scholarships and mentorship programmes.

University of Ghana Female Lecturer Who Became Professor at Age 39 Shares Her Story

Still, on female professors, YEN.com.gh earlier reported how a Ghanaian lecturer by the name of Nana Ama Browne Klutse became an associate professor at the University of Ghana at a young age.

The video sighted by YEN.com.gh on the YouTube channel of XYZ Broadcasting had Nana Ama sharing that she grew up in a community where teenage pregnancy was the norm of the day, but she still strived and built a better future for herself. She built her first house when she was 27 years old.

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Source: YEN.com.gh