Professor Akua Britwum, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Cape Coast, has been sworn in as the first female Chairperson of the National Media Commission (NMC) since its establishment in 1993.

She was sworn into office alongside 17 other members of the Commission by Justice Noble Jerome Nkrumah, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, who administered the Oath of Allegiance and the Official Oath at a ceremony held at the Supreme Court in Accra on Wednesday, May 29, 2025.

Members of the newly constituted Commission include sports journalist and lawyer Eva Okyere, representing the Ghana Bar Association; Ernest Owusu Addo, representing Publishers and Owners of Private Press; and Anthony Obeng Afrane, representing the Ghana Association of Writers and the Ghana Library Association.

Also on the Commission are Rev. Ruby Amable, representing the Christian Group, which comprises the National Catholic Secretariat, the Christian Council, and the Ghana Pentecostal Council, and Hajj Muhammad Amir Kpakpo Addo, representing the Federation of Muslim Councils and the Ahmadiyya Mission.

Following the swearing-in, members of the Commission unanimously elected Prof. Britwum as Chairperson.

She will serve a three-year term. Professor Britwum represents the Office of the President on the Commission, one of two representatives from that office.

Here is a brief profile of Professor Akua Britwum

Professor Akua Britwum is a distinguished academic with expertise in gender, labour governance, and development.

She holds a PhD in Union Governance and Globalisation from the University of Maastricht in The Netherlands and currently teaches Gender and Development in the MA Development Management program at the University of Cape Coast.

She has served as a Guest Lecturer at the International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) at the University of Kassel in Germany and is an Associate Fellow of the Global Labour University. Her work with the African Workers’ Development Programme (APADEP) spanned roles as a researcher on democratic worker participation and later as Education Coordinator for a postgraduate trade union–university programme.

Prof Britwum was part of a pioneering team that designed educational pathways for trade unionists, including certificate, diploma, and postgraduate programmes. She is presently supporting the coordination of an eleven-country study focused on gender and leadership within trade unions.

Her research interests cover labour history in Africa, market women traders’ associations, gender-based violence, informal economies, sexual harassment in higher education, and internal democracy in trade unions. Her publications reflect her commitment to advancing gender equity and participatory governance in labour institutions across the continent.

JKB/MA

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