George Benneh

George Kwabena Effah Benneh (6 March 1934 – 11 February 2021) was a Ghanaian geographer, academic and university administrator who served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon from 1992 to 1996. He was a professor and later an emeritus professor of Geography and Resource Development at the same university. Benneh was Minister of Lands, Natural Resources, Fuel and Power from 1979 to May 1981 and Minister of Finance from May 1981 to December 1981 under Hilla Limann during the Third Republic. Before this, Benneh has served as Commissioner for Lands, Natural Resources, Fuel and Power under the SMC II and AFRC regimes.

Early life and education A member of the Bono ethnic group, George Benneh was born on 6 March 1934 in the small town of Jamdede, about a kilometre from Berekum on the then Gold Coast, now Ghana. His father was Isaac William Benneh, a Convention People's Party politician during the First Republic under the Nkrumah government, who served as the Minister for Rural Industries and the Member of Parliament for Berekum. His mother was Theresa Ammea, a farmer and a kenkey trader. In 1997, he was the John Cadbury Fellow at the Centre for West African Studies at the University of Birmingham, and a Visiting Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. Benneh was the Team Leader of UNFPA Population Review and Strategy Development Mission to the Republic of Tanzania in 1991, member of the United Nations University Feasibility Team for the establishment of Research and Training Centre at Lucerne, Switzerland in 1998, and member of the United Nations University International Feasibility Study Group for Research and Training Centre on Nature and Human Security in Bonn, Germany in 2000. and Technology Should Seek Tradition: Studies on Traditional Land Tenure and Small Holder Farming Systems in Ghana (2011). He was a contributor to the Encyclopædia Britannica.

He participated in over 60 International Conferences, Seminars and Workshops including the International Workshop and Rural Poverty Eradication in the 21st Century held in Tokyo in 2000, and the AAU General Conference held in Nairobi in February 2001.

He launched his autobiography, 'My Time, My Nation''' in 2017. In the book, he recounts his childhood, school years at Achimota. Some of his books include Fighting For Freedom, Energy And Ghana’s Socio-Economic Development, Technology Should Seek Tradition, Gender: Evolving Roles And Perceptions, Harnessing Research, Science And Technology For Sustainable Development In Ghana, Women And Development In The Third World, European Review, Ghana @ 50 Anniversary Lectures, Philosophy and Human Geography: An Introduction To Contemporary Approaches, Population Dynamics of Kenya''. with six children, three sons and three daughters, and had 17 grandchildren. He was a Papal Knight of the Catholic Church.

Death and funeral George Benneh died of natural causes at his home in East Legon, Accra on 11 February 2021, twenty-three days short of his 87th birthday. A requiem mass for Benneh was held at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra before his burial in his hometown of Akrofro, near Berekum in the Bono Region. His funeral was attended by several dignitaries including the Ghanaian president, Nana Akufo-Addo, former Foreign Minister, Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, lawyer and traditional ruler, S. K. B. Asante and the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Jean Mensa.