Mumuni: A man of many parts

Page 16: Daily Graphic, March 18, 2009.
Article: Albert K. Salia

Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Muhammed Mumuni is undoubtedly one of the finest legal brains in the country who has devoted his entire life to serving humankind.
He began his service to humanity with a teaching assistant job at the University of Ghana, Legon, relocated to the north to be the National Service Coordinator and was the main fulcrum to the founding of a number of self-help community-based organisations among others.
Alhaji Mumuni’s passion to serve community and nation seem to have been motivated by the fact that he began life from a humble background and owe his present political clout much to the society who nurtured him to become who he is today.
He has been out there with the desire to help the disadvantaged, the disabled, the poor and the vulnerable. These are people who live in the periphery of society and are in constant danger of being marginalised, by-passed and excluded and need to be included in society.
Alhaji Mumuni sees his appointment as Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister as an opportunity to actualise the vision of the government for a better Ghana in a better world. This is something he believes he will underpin his foreign relations agenda, to be centred on bringing tangible benefits to the ordinary Ghanaian.
Pursuing an aggressive economic diplomacy through attracting investment, building strategic partnerships between local and foreign enterprises, extending the frontiers of trade, finding new markets and sharing the tourist potentials with the outside world, would be his focus.
Alhaji Mumuni is determined to supervise the prosecution of policies that would create a more equitable and fairer economic and social order so that there would be justice and equity.
He told the Daily Graphic that he would vigorously pursue an integration agenda that should make it possible to raise the competitiveness of the national economy.
"We would integrate the national economy into the fast globalising system and ensure the survival and vibrancy of our local enterprises," he said.
Alhaji Mumuni, whose hobbies include tennis, soccer and nature study, believes that foreign policy must give jobs to the people through a robust economy.
Prior to his appointment as President J. E. A. Mills’ representative at the ministry of the Interior and currently minister of foreign affairs and regional Integration, Alhaji Mumuni had been in the thick of affairs of the electioneering campaign of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2008 general elections.
In 2004, Alhaji Mumuni was the running mate to then candidate Mills on the ticket of the NDC. But before then, he was representing constituents of the Kumbungu constituency in parliament, whom he served for two terms between 1996 and 2004.
While in Parliament, Alhaji Mumuni was a member of the standing committee of parliament, ranking member, committee on legal, constitutional and parliamentary affairs and also the ranking member, judiciary committee.
He was also a member of the appointments committee between 2001 and 2004.
Besides the various roles that he played in parliament and also serving his constituents of Kumbungu, Alhaji Mumuni was also the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare under the Presidency of Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings. Within that period, Alhaji Mumuni’s intelligence and crave for the best, earned him membership of the governing body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) between 1999 and 2001 and also president of the 87th session of the ILO in Geneva in 1999. He used his period seeking to empower the underprivileged, building safety nets and providing equalising opportunities for them.
His national political career started in 1980 when he was chairman of the western Dagomba district council up to 1982. Between 1992 and 1996, when he entered parliament, Alhaji Mumuni was a member of the Northern regional consultative assembly, a deliberative and consultative body established by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), to advise the regional administration, elected assembly member for the Yagrafong electoral area in the Tolon-Kumbungu district assembly and voted presiding member of the district assembly for two terms.
He was also a member of the national consultative assembly, the body that charged with the function of producing the 1992 Constitution of the fourth republic.
Alhaji Mumuni’s service to community and country did not start with his political career. He had since 1995, being a member of the board of directors of the centre for conflict resolution, a peace resource organisation devoted to studies, research and action in conflict prevention, management and resolution.
He was also the national president of the Dagbon Youth Association from 1996 to 1997 and between 1985 to 1997, he was the national president of the Old Tamascans Association, an association of past students of Tamale Secondary School, the premier secondary school of the north.
Between 1993 and 1997, Alhaji Mumuni was also the Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Ghanaian-Danish Communities Association (GDCA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which initiated and was overseeing the implementation of the Ghanaian-Danish Community Project, a DANIDA-funded project working in the Tolon-Kumbungu district in the area of poverty alleviation and development intervention. He was also vice-chairman of the board of directors of the school for life project, also funded by DANIDA in operating functional literacy for children in educationally depressed areas in the Northern region between 1995 and 1997.
Alhaji Mumuni was, between 1994 and 1997, also the chairman of the Amasachina self-help association, an indigenous NGO devoted to mobilising local resources at the grassroots level for development projects in the communities using voluntary and communal labour and contributions. He was also the founding chairman of the Bonzali rural bank limited, a community initiated and managed bank devoted to savings mobilisation and financial intermediation in rural-based and cottage industries between 1990 and 1995. These positions confirm the man’s passion for gender equity. Alhaji Mumuni believes that neglecting women who are more than half the population, will amount to committing economic suicide.
He was also president of the Northern regional branch of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) member of the National Bar Council of the GBA between 1992 and 1996. He was the founder and senior partner of Yelinzo law chambers in Tamale, where he practised as a private legal practitioner between 1980 and 1997. He was also a district magistrate (Grade 1) between 1977 and 1980 and legal officer, for the bank for housing and construction between 1976 and 1977.
He also served as a member of the committee of Inquiry into the Structure and Operations of the Upper Regional Development Programme (URADEP) and also a member of the Northern region’s lands commission in 1995 and also appointed to represent the region in the national lands commission.
???Alhaji Mumuni’s working career started as a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon between 1972 and 1974 and National Service Coordinator for the north from 1975 to 1976.???
All his academic qualifications ranging from G.C.E "O"Levels to LLM (Hons) were attained in Ghana. The man, whose hobbies include tennis, soccer and nature study, started his educational life at the Kumbungu L/A Primary School, Savelugu L/A Middle School through the Tamale Secondary School to the University of Ghana, Legon and the Ghana School of Law. He is married with children.