Members of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) have elected Emerita Professor Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf, representative of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) as its new Chairperson.

The first female chairperson of the oversight body with responsibility for the prudent management and use of petroleum revenues was unanimously elected on Tuesday October 25, 2023.

She takes over from Professor Kwame Adom Frimpong and will serve a one-year term.

Accepting her election, Emerita Professor Ardayfio-Schandorf expressed gratitude to the Members of the Committee for the confidence reposed in her.

She urged members to collaborate and work as a team to help fulfil the mandate of PIAC, which is to ensure the efficient and prudent management and use of petroleum revenues.

She also used the occasion to pay glowing tribute to the immediate past Members of the Committee for their role in fulfilling the mandate of PIAC.

Emerita Professor Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf has a distinguished academic career and is a trail blazer in many fields.

Her interests and engagements started in the early 1970s and have been nurtured over five decades through teaching, research, mentoring, consulting services and community outreach programmes.

She is a Geographer, an Environmental Advisor and Expert in Rural Energy Systems and a Development Consultant.

She also has passion for Family and Gender Research/Analysis, Women’s Empowerment and Advocacy.

At the same meeting, the Omanhene of the Breman Asikuma Traditional Area in the Central Region, Odeefuo Amoakwa Buadu VIII, who represents the National House of Chiefs, was elected Vice Chairperson to serve a one-year term.

He is also the President of the Central Regional House of Chiefs.

Odeefuo Amoakwa Buadu, enstooled Paramount chief in 2009, is a past student of St. Augustine’s College in Cape Coast and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi where he obtained a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

He holds an Executive MBA from the University of Ghana Business School and a Diploma in Chieftaincy from the Otumfuo Centre for Traditional Leadership at the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA).

Odeefuo has a strong engineering and business management experience, and also has the ability to build shared vision and lead teams of professionals to new levels of success in a highly competitive environment.

He has over 11 years of chieftaincy experience with proven delivery of unity, peace and progress in his traditional area.

Other Members of the committee include Ms Sena Dake representing the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG), Nana Kwaku Dei (Mr. Ransford Tetteh), representing the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Richard Ellimah, representing Civil Society (CSOs)/Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) and Mr Edward Yaw Afriyie representing the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI).

The rest are Dr Noble Ibrahim Adjin Lartey, representing the Muslim Groups, Mr Constantine Kudzedzi, representing the Christian Groups, and Mr Christopher Opoku Nyarko, representing the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI).