Press release: New United Nations chief in Nairobi takes oath of office

(Nairobi, 5 November). The new Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) Ms. Hanna S. Tetteh has been officially sworn into office by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

She took oath of office during a ceremony held at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday. Ms. Tetteh was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in July this year and assumed official duty in October. She succeeds Ms. Sahle-Work Zewde who held the position for the past seven years. Ms. Zewde has now been elected Ethiopia’s first female president.

Ms. Tetteh most recently served in the cabinet of the Government of Ghana as Minister for Foreign Affairs (January 2013-January 2017), and Minister for Trade and Industry (February 2009-January 2013). From 2014 to 2015 she was the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Beginning in December 2000 to January 2005 she served for one term as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for the Awutu Senya Constituency. She later returned to Parliament in January 2013 until January 2017 as the NDC Member of Parliament for the Awutu Senya West Constituency.

Ms. Tetteh is a practising Lawyer and holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Ghana, Legon. She also completed her professional law course at the Ghana School of Law and was called to the Ghana Bar in October 1992.