Joyce Bamford-Addo

Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo (born 26 March 1937) was the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana from 2009 to 2013. The Speaker's position is the third most important in Ghana. She previously served as a Supreme Court Judge. She was also the first female Speaker in such a position in the West African sub-region.

Joyce Bamford-Addo attended St. Mary’s Boarding School and OLA Boarding School along with her sister Cynthia in Cape Coast for her basic education. She subsequently attended Holy Child School, also in Cape Coast for her secondary education. She proceeded to the United Kingdom for further studies. She joined the Inner Temple to study law and was called to the English Bar in 1961.

Bamford-Addo returned to Ghana after working in the UK for a year. She was called to the Ghana Bar in 1962. She worked as a State Attorney from 1963 and rose to become Chief State Attorney in 1973. She was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions in 1976, a position she held for 10 years. She was also appointed by Jerry Rawlings as a Supreme Court Judge in 1991. She retired from the Supreme Court in October 2004 when she was bypassed, allegedly, for her junior, Justice George Kingsley Acquah, in the appointment of Chief Justice.

In 1991, Bamford-Addo became the Second Deputy Speaker of Ghana's Consultative Assembly, set up to draft what became the 1992 constitution. Following the 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections, she was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the Fifth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.