Dr. Abdul-Baasit Aziz-Bamba: Harvard-trained lawyer to head Value for Money Office

President John Mahama has appointed Dr Abdul-Baasit Aziz-Bamba as Acting Director-General of the Value for Money Office.

The appointment was announced by the Presidency in a statement issued on Tuesday, September 8, 2026.

Dr Aziz-Bamba will serve in an acting capacity until the Governing Board gives the constitutionally required advice in consultation with the Public Services Commission.

The Presidency said the appointment was made under Article 195(1) of the 1992 Constitution and Section 14(1) of the Value for Money Office Act, 2026.

Before his appointment, Dr Aziz-Bamba was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Law.

He is also a Harvard-trained lawyer.

The Value for Money Office is expected to help ensure that public expenditure delivers value and serves the public good.

Dr Aziz-Bamba’s appointment places him at the head of an office created to support accountability, efficiency and prudent use of public funds.

PROFILE

Dr. Abdul Baasit Aziz Bamba is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Law, where he lectures on a broad range of courses including Law and Society, Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Human Rights Law, Natural Resources Law, and Investment and International Commercial, Arbitration.

He holds SJD (doctoral degree) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, USA. From 2007-2009 he was a teaching assistant to Professor Lucie White of Harvard Law School, US. For two (2) years in a row, he was an LLM advisor to newly admitted LLM students in Harvard Law School, USA. He also served as a teaching assistant to Professor E.V.O Dankwa of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana. He has worked in private legal practice with law firms in Accra and in consulting, and has held several positions including Legal Officer, Legislative Analyst and Specialist, Director of Programs and Projects, and Associate Executive Director of Legal Resources Centre, a human rights and law and development oriented non-governmental organization.

Aziz Bamba has consulted or worked for the Fedriech Ebert Foundation on leadership training for young leaders of political parties in Ghana; UK Department for International Development on alternative livelihoods; the World Bank on court users and access to justice; Committee of African Studies of Harvard University on property rights; the Government of Ghana on legislative interventions and legal training for staff of the Office of the Attorney-General; and Action Aid International on rights-based approaches to development, among others.

Dr. Aziz Bamba has published extensively on the relationship between criminal law, law and development, constitutional law and human rights law.

Credentials

• SJD- Harvard Law School, Cambridge, USA
• LLM - Harvard Law School, Cambridge, USA
• BL - Ghana School of Law, Accra, Ghana
• LLB - University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

Areas of Expertise

• Constitutional Law
• Law and Society/ Law and Development
• Human rights law and community organizing
• Economic analysis of law
• International law, investment and commercial arbitration

Publications

• Bamba A. (2020). Criminal Procedure in Ghana: Historical Evolution and Current Developments published in Mobilising the Law for Ghana’s Future: Appraising to Revolutionise. Wildly, Simmonds and Hill Publishing, UK
• Bamba A. (2020). Bamba, Chapter 7: Citizenship and Democratic Governance in Ghana in the book titled As a Matter of Public Law and Rights in Ghana (ed. Kofi Quashigah and Atupare) Lexis Nexis, South Africa
• Bamba A. (2020). The Law on Commissions of Inquiry in Ghana in the book titled As a Matter of Public Law and Rights in Ghana (ed. Kofi Quashigah and Atupare) Lexis Nexis, South Africa.
• Bamba A. (2018). Chieftaincy in Ghana: Conflicting Narratives and Legal Uncertainties published in Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Transformation in Africa (eds, Peter Quartey, Samuel Agyei-Mensah, Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe, Abdul Baasit Aziz Bamba,) Sub-Saharan Publishers, Accra, Ghana
• Bamba A. (2018). Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Transformation in Africa in the book titled Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Transformation in Africa (eds, Peter Quartey, Samuel Agyei-Mensah, Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe, Abdul Baasit Aziz Bamba,) Sub-Saharan Publishers, Accra, Ghana. (Coauthored with Peter Quartey, Samuel Agyei-Mensah, Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe)
• Bamba A. (2017). Scandalizing the Courts and Ghana’s International Law Obligations on the Right to Fair Trial, LEJIAD, Vol. 9.No. 1
• Bamba A. (2017). Law of Succession in Ghana: Historical Evolution and Current Developments, GIMPA Law Review, Vol. 3, 2017
• Bamba A. (with Rose Rameau) (2016). Ghana’s Future in the Offshore Oil Business, ILN, 2016
• Bamba A. (2012) Holding Corporations Liable For Criminal Conduct: An Examination of Ghana, 2011-2012 UGLJ, Vol. 1.
• Bamba A. (2009) The State of Public Interest Litigation in Ghana, WAPILJ Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2009.
• Bamba A, (2008). The Law of Willfully Causing Financial Loss to the State: Is it a Good Thing or a Bad Thing? The New Legon Observer, Vol. 2.
• Bamba A. (2007). “Accommodating Muslim Family Law” in Ghana Law since Independence: History, Development and Prospects (Law Faculty Publication on the 50th Anniversary of Ghana’s Independence), (ed) Prof Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu e tal)
• Bamba A. (2006). Defining the Content of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Problems and Challenges, published in the UNPD sponsored book titled Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Ghana, (ed.) Dominic Ayine.
• Bamba A. (2004) Willfully Causing F#