Rt. Hon. A. S. K. Bagbin, Speaker of the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana. Previously MP for Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency (28 yrs) and Second Deputy Speaker, Parliament of Ghana (4 yrs).

Hon Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin was born on 24 September 1957 to Sansunni Bagbin and Margaret B. Bagbin who were both peasant farmers. He is the fourth child of nine children. He is a member of the Dagaaba ethnic group. He hails from Sombo, Upper West Region of Ghana. Hon Alban Bagbin was educated at Wa Secondary School and Tamale Secondary School. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Law and English at the University of Ghana in 1980. He proceeded to the Ghana School of Law at Makola in Accra after which he was called to the bar in 1982. Bagbin also earned an Executive Masters in Governance and Leadership from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).

Hon Alban Bagbin is a Ghanaian politician who is the current Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana. He was the Minister for Health in the Ghana government from January 2012 until February 2013 when Hanny-Sherry Ayittey took over the position. He served as the Member of Parliament for Nadowli West constituency in the Upper West Region of Ghana in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th parliaments of the 4th republic of Ghana. He contested for the presidential candidate slot of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2019 but subsequently lost to former President John Dramani Mahama. On 7 January 2021 Bagbin was elected Speaker of 8th Parliament of the Fourth Republic.

International Profile:
He has also been a member of the African Parliamentary Network against Corruption (1999-2005). Founding Member, Global Organization of Parliamentarians against Corruption (2002 to date). Elected Vice President, Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Elected member of the international Council for Parliamentarians for Global Action. Attended a number of international conferences, seminars and assignments while he has undertaken a lot of consultancies and presented papers at a number of international fora.

Hon. Albert Kan-Dapaah is a Certified Chartered Accountant. He received his training as a Chartered Accountant in the United Kingdom in 1978. He is also a Fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, United Kingdom and a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana. Prior to his entry into Public Service, Hon. Kan-Dapaah served as the President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana and Vice President of the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa. He worked with International Audit Firm, Panell Kerr Foster (PKF) from 1978 o 1986 in the firm’s offices in Accra, London and Monrovia. At the time of his resignation in 1986, he was the Resident Partner of the firm in Monrovia, Liberia.  Within the Public Service space of Ghana, Hon. Albert Kan-Dapaah served as the Head of Audit at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust for a year. He subsequently served as Director of Finance at the Electricity Company of Ghana for eight years.

Hon. Albert Kan-Dapaah later became a Member of Parliament of Ghana in 1997 and served for four terms up to 2012. In his last term (2009 to 2012), he was the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of Ghana. Between 2001 and 2008, he served as Minister of State in four Ministries including the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Communications, Ministry for the Interior and Ministry of Defence. He has been an Adjunct Lecturer at the School of Administration, University of Ghana and at the Graduate School of the University of Professional Studies, Accra. He has an Honorary Doctorate Degree, LLD (Honoris Cuasa) from the University of Professional Studies, Accra and two National Honours; Order of the Volta Companion of the Republic of Ghana and Ordre Du Mono from the Republic of Togo. From 2017 till date, he continues to serve as the Minister for National Security of the Republic of Ghana.

Kwesi Aning is full professor and Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research (FAAR), Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre. With experiences from the African Union (AU) as its first expert on counterterrorism from 2005 - 2007, he wrote the independent mid-term in-depth evaluation of the Global Programme on Strengthening the Legal Regime against Terrorism in 2006 and 2014, and in 2008, a UN Secretary General’s report on the African Union relating to peace and security for the UN Security Council. Until January 2019, he served on the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Group for the Peacebuilding Fund. In 2020, together with two others, he was joint author of the Conflict and Development Analysis: Ghana. (Accra: UNDP. August). In July 2022, he was appointed as a member of the World Food Program’s (WFP) Security Advisory Board (SECAB), Rome, Italy, to ‘provide high level insights on security risk management technical issues at strategic level and to modernize WFP security risk management to deliver safer operations’. He specialises in peacekeeping economies, hybrid security/political orders, peacebuilding strategies and organised crime.

Major General Irvine Nii-Ayitey Aryeetey was trained at the Ghana Military Academy in October 1984, commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 16 August 1986, and posted to the Airborne Force in Northern Ghana. He proceeded to the US Army Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1991, where he was trained and certified as a Jumpmaster/Pathfinder/Instructor. Major General INA Aryeetey has completed all mandatory career courses. His outstanding performance on the Young Officers Course in 1991 and other mandatory assessments allowed him to attend the Nigeria Command and Staff College for his Junior Staff Course in January 1995 and the Infantry Officer’s Advance Course, again in Fort Benning, Georgia, USA, in August 1997. He completed the Senior Command and Staff Course at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College in 1999. Major General Aryeetey also graduated from the US Army War College in Pennsylvania in June 2015 as a distinguished fellow.

Major General INA Aryeetey has served in various capacities in the Ghana Armed Forces. These include Instructor at the Jungle Warfare School, Directing Staff at the Army Combat Training School, Commanding Officer of the Airborne Battalion, Directing Staff at the Senior Division of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College and Directing Staff at the Command and Staff College of Nigeria (2010 – 2012), as part of an exchange program between the two countries. Major General Aryeetey returned to the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College in September 2012. He was appointed Chief Instructor at the Junior Division with additional responsibility as the Assistant Commandant of the Junior Division. In August 2013, he was moved to the Senior Division of the College as Chief Instructor of Army Faculty, with additional responsibility as Chief Instructor of Joint Studies. He was appointed Director of Studies of the College on 14 August 2015, when he returned from the US Army War College. He was later promoted to Brigadier General and appointed Assistant Commandant of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College. In 2018, he was appointed Deputy Commandant of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC) upon his return from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Major General INA Aryeetey is an alumnus of the University for Development Studies, Ghana, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Integrated Development Studies. He received a Master’s in International Affairs and Diplomacy from the University of Ghana. He also got a second Master’s degree in Development Management from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and a third Master’s in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College in 2015. Major General Aryeetey also holds a Special Certificate in Public Administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and certificates in Conflict and Crisis Management, Defense Management, Peace Operations, and Security Sector Governance and Management. He also attended a short command course at the Pearson Centre for Peacekeeping in Canada 2004. Major General Aryeetey has participated in numerous peace support operations. These include:

1. Commanding Officer of United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC – 2004).
2. Commanding Officer of United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL - 2006).
3. Military Observer with the United Nations Mission in Cambodia (UNTAC - 1993).
4. Military Observer with United Nations Observer Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE – 2000).
5. United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL - 1990 and 1996).
6. Western Brigade Commander with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Congo (MONUSCO).
7. Deputy Force Commander (UNIFIL 2019 – 2022).

Major General Aryeetey was recently appointed Commandant of the National College of Defence Studies (War College) and has the mandate to nurture the College into a world-class institution. He likes analysing current national and international issues.