Mohammed Ibn Chambas

His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas
Mohamed Ibn Chambas receives a diplomatic delegation from the United States Africa Command led by Robert T. Moeller at ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, 28 November 2007.
8th Secretary-general of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 March 2010
Preceded by	Sir John Kaputin
1stPresident of the ECOWAS Commission
In office 2007–2010
Personal details
Born	7 December 1950 (1950-12-07) (age 60)
Nationality	Ghanaian
Political party	National Democratic Congress
Spouse(s)	Khadija Ibn Chambas
Children	2 (daughter, son)
Residence	Abuja, Nigeria
Alma mater	University of Ghana (B.A. 1973) Cornell University (M.A. 1977, PhD 1980) Case Western Reserve University (J. D. 1984)
Occupation	Lawyer, Lecturer, School Administrator
Religion	Islam

Mohamed Ibn Chambas (born 7 December 1950 in Ghana) is a lawyer, diplomat, politician and academic from Ghana. In 2002 he became the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In 2007, he was appointed the group's first President by the governments of its member states, serving a four year term. Mohamed Ibn Chambas was appointed Secretary General of the ACP Group on 16 November 2009.

Education

He attended Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast and Government Secondary School,now Tamale Secondary School Tamale. He holds degrees in Political Science from University of Ghana, Legon, (B.A. 1973) and Cornell University Ithaca, New York (M.A. 1977, PhD (1980). He has a law degree from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. He was admitted to practice law in Ghana and the State of Ohio.

Career

His working in the United States includes teaching at Oberlin College, Ohio and practising law with the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and the Cleveland, Ohio, Law Office of Forbes, Forbes and Teamor. He returned to Ghana, where he became a school administrator.

Deputy Foreign Secretary

Chambas first entered government in 1987 as Deputy Foreign Secretary of Ghana. He was a member of the Head of State's summit delegations to a number of countries, including the US, China, UK, France, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. He led Ghana's delegation to the UN General Assembly, ministerial meetings of the OAU and ECOWAS, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Commonwealth.

MP 1993–1996

He served as MP for Bimbilla from 1993 to 1996 on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress. He was First Deputy Speaker of the Ghanaian Parliament (1993–1994), and thereafter was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister. As First Deputy Speaker, he was Chairman of the Appointments and Privileges Committees of Parliament. In 1993–94, he chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament with oversight responsibility for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Civil War mediator

Chambas came to international importance as mediator between the parties of the First Liberian Civil War of the 1990s, and later the Ivorian Civil War in the early 2000s. Centrally involved in the ECOWAS mediation efforts in Liberia, he directly participated in negotiations leading to the agreements ending the Liberian civil war. In the interim, Chambas lost his Parliamentary seat in 1996, and the then government of President Jerry Rawlings removed him from the foreign ministry and put him in charge of Ghana's primary education system.^[1]

Deputy Minister of Education

Between April 1997 and December 2000, Chambas was appointed the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of tertiary education. In that capacity, he had direct responsibility for the country's five universities, 10 polytechnics and agencies/institutions charged with formulation of policies on higher education, accreditation and maintenance of standards in tertiary institutions. Dr Chambas was involved in reform of tertiary education which included diversification of funding, cost sharing, the introduction of the Ghana Education Trust Fund, aimed to improve the quality and financial standing of tertiary institutions. He also led negotiations and conflict resolution processes during student protests and industrial disputes involving university and polytechnic teachers and other staff members. Chambas was at the time suggested in the Ghanaian press as a candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Return to parliament

Regaining his seat in 2000, He was also a member of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, which worked to facilitate a transition to constitutional democratic governance in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.

Reelected on 7 December 2000 on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress. Shortly thereafter, he was nominated to head ECOWAS by Ghanaian President John Kufuor.^[1] In 2002, he was the Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Minority National Democratic Congress. He was also a member of the Select Committee on Education and the Committee on Subsidiary legislation.

ECOWAS

In 2001, Chambas was elected as the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),^[2] and acceded to the office on 1 February 2002. As Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, he was chief executive of the 15 person Executive Secretariat or the international organisation from 2002–2006

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Profile: Mohammed ibn Chambas, BBC, Friday, 4 October 2002.
2. ^ Ibn Chambas is new ECOWAS Executive Sec. GNA News, Friday, 21 Dec 2001.

• Biographical profile at Ghanaweb.
• Biographical profile at the Website of the Office of the Presidency, Economic Community of West African States.
• Irin Interview With Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary Of ECOWAS, U.N. Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), Tuesday 12 March 2002.

External links

• Mohamed Ibn Chambas at IMDB
• Chambas in Motherland Documentary

Parliament of Ghana
New title	Member of Parliament for Bimbilla 1993–1997	Succeeded by Mpambi Dagmanyi
Preceded by Mpambi Dagmanyi	Member of Parliament for Bimbilla 2001–2002	Succeeded by Dominc Aduna Bingab Nitiwul1
Political offices
Preceded by Lansana Kouyaté	Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States 2002–2006	Succeeded by Post ended
New title	President of the ECOWAS Commission 2007 –2010	Succeeded by Victor Gbeho
Preceded by John Kaputin	Secretary-General of the ACP Group of States 2010 –present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Notes and references
1. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=22455

Persondata
Name	Chambas, Mohamed Ibn
Alternative names
Short description	Ghanaian lawyer, politician and diplomat
Date of birth	7 December 1950
Place of birth	Ghana
Date of death	Living
Place of death