AAS elects new members of the Governing Council

The African Academy of Sciences is today inaugurating a new Governing Council led by prominent scientist Prof Felix Dapare Dakora who will be President of the Academy for a three-year term running from 2017-2020.

The 15-member GC, which comprises 7 new members, four re-elected members, a member elected to a new post, a member retained to a post, the immediate past president, and the Executive Director as an ex-officio member, will serve a three-year term running from 2017-2020.

Prof Dakora replaces Prof Aderemi Kuku, a Nigeria-born mathematician who was President from 2014 to 2017.

The new President is a Professor of plant and soil biotechnology at South Africa’s Tshwane University of Technology; a recipient of the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences and the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Award; and a Fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

“This new leadership will steer the Academy to even greater heights in its mission of developing science, technology and innovation in Africa,” said AAS Interim Executive Director Dr Thomas Kariuki.  “We will work with them to elevate the Academy and to contribute to Africa’s development.”

The Governing Council meets twice a year and are tasked with policy oversight, formulating and reviewing the programmes of the Academy within the framework and priorities set by the AAS General Assembly of Fellows. The GC receives and approves the annual reports and audited financial accounts of the Academy; and identifies, approves and inducts new members into the fellowship of the Academy

Prof Dakora said: “I am honoured to have been elected as President and look forward to working with the Secretariat and Fellows to drive the agenda of the Academy and science in Africa forward. “It will take our collective efforts to ensure that science is harnessed to improve the quality of life of Africa’s people and contributes to socio-economic development.”

The GC members are prominent scientists who bring a wealth of experience and are from Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, the Republic of the Congo, the Republic of South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

The Governing Council comprises:

New members

President Elect                       Felix Dapare Dakora (Professor of Plant and Soil Biotechnology at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa)

Secretary General                  Barthelemy Nyasse (Professor of Chemistry and Research Methodology at the University of Yaoundé, Cameroon)

Vice President E. Africa         Elly Sabiiti (Professor of Crop Sciences at Makerere University, Uganda)

Regional Rep C. Africa          Juma Shabani (Professor of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, University of Burundi)

Regional Rep E. Africa           Theonest K. Mutabingwa (Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Hubert Kairuki Memorial University, Dar-es-Salaam)

Regional Rep N. Africa          Akissa Bahri (Professor at the National Agricultural Institute of Tunisia)

Regional Rep S. Africa           Colleen Masimirembwa (Founding President and Chief Scientific Officer, African Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology (AiBST), Wilkins Hospital, Zimbabwe)

Re-elected members

Vice President C. Africa         Vincent P.K Titanji (Professor, Vice Chancellor and CEO of the Cameroon Christian University, Cameroon)

Vice President N. Africa         Mahmoud Abdel-Aty (Professor and Head of the Mathematics Department at the Zewail City of Sciences and Technology, Egypt)

Vice President W. Africa        Robert Guiguemdé (Professor and President of the National Academy of Sciences of Burkina Faso)

Regional Rep W. Africa          Richard Awuah (Professor of Plant Pathology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana)

Elected to a new post

Vice President S.Africa          Boitumelo Kgarebe (Head of the Analytical Services Division at the National Institute for Occupational Health, South Africa)

Kgarebe was Regional Rep for Southern Africa in the outgoing GC.

Retained post

Treasurer                                Dominic W. Makawiti (Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Nairobi, Kenya) Makawiti was appointed to the GC as Acting Treasurer in 2016.

Prof Aderemi Kuku (Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, National Mathematical Centre, Nigeria)) will sit in the Governing Council as immediate Past President.