The African Academy of Sciences to elect new members of the Governing Council

In July 2020, the three-year term of our current Governing Council (GC) will expire. As such, we have begun an election process to vote for new members of the GC for the following elective positions: 

• The President 
• The Secretary General  
• The Treasurer 
• The Vice President for the Northern Africa Region
• The Vice President for the Southern Africa Region
• The Vice President for the Eastern Africa Region
• The Vice President for the Western Africa Region
• The Vice President for the Central Africa Region. 

Nominations and Elections committee comprising:

Prof. Burton Mwamila, East Africa Region; Prof Balkiss Bouhaouala-Zahar, Northern Africa Region; Prof Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Southern Africa Region; Prof Isabella Quayki, West Africa Region; and Prof Paul Nchoji Nkwi, Central Africa Region, are overseeing the process. 

A call for nominations was shared on 1 April, 2020. Nominations are now open and will remain open till May 5, 2020. Please read this Guideline for the Nominations of Candidates for Election as Members of the 2020-2023 GC.

Fellows are invited to nominate and provide the justification for the selection of peers who are Fellows of good financial standing with the AAS and have been Fellows  for five years for the President and three years for the other elective positions. The candidates will be voted for in an online system that is due to open in May 2020. 

Historical facts about AAS elected officers 

• Since its inception in 1985, the five AAS Presidents have been from East (2) and West Africa (3) and all have been male. The first President was AAS Founding Fellow, Thomas Risley Odhiambo (Kenyan), who held the reigns for 16 years before passing the baton to his successor Prof Mohammed Hassan (Sudanese). Since Hassan’s departure, the AAS has elected three Presidents: Professors Lamine Ndiaye (Senegalese), Aderemi Kuku (Nigerian) and the current incumbent, Felix Dapare Dakora (Ghanaian).

• Since the election of the first woman Vice President (VP for Southern Africa region) in 1995 in the form of renowned eSwatini Chemist Prof Lydia Makhubu(Swaziland), the AAS has to date three women VPs and two Regional Representatives. This also includes: Prof Quarraisha Abdul Karim (South African) as VP Southern Africa region; Dr Boitumelo Kgarebe (Botswana) as Regional Representative Southern Africa (currently VP Southern Africa region) and Prof Ameena Gurib Fakim (Mauritian) as Regional Representative Eastern Africa. The AAS gained its first woman official (Treasurer) with Prof Amina Abubakar (Kenyan) from the East Africa region in 2018. The Academy also welcomed to the Governing Council a non-Fellow professional, Ms Victoria Sabula(Kenyan). The AAS VPs can be of either gender, elected from the five regions of Africa.

• The position of regional representatives became defunct in 2018 with the revamp of the GC to align with the Constitutional requirement on number of GC not exceeding 11.