Cecilia Abena Dapaah is a Ghanaian politician with the New Patriotic Party.
Until her resignation as the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah had served in various capacities under the tenure of former President John Agyekum Kufuor and President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Beginning from the Kufuor administration, Ms Dapaah was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Bantama constituency in 2004 after beating his NDC contender Alhasan Napoh and Yaw Owusu Boafo of the Convention People’s Party.
Dapaah began her career as a development worker. She served as a special assistant to then-President John Kufuor from 2001 to 2005 and was then appointed chairperson of the Board of Ghana Cocoa Processing Company.
She was later appointed as Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works, and Housing in 2005.
She has since served on various committees, including Employment, Foreign Affairs, Works and Housing, Social Welfare, and Youth, Special Budget, and the Advisory Committee to the Speaker of Parliament.
Under the Akufo-Addo-led government, Ms. Dapaah was first appointed Minister for Aviation in January 2017.
She was later moved to the Sanitation and Water Resources ministry in a reshuffle and reappointed to the same portfolio when President Akufo-Addo began his second term in office.
Following the dismissal of Sarah Adwoa Safo as the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, President Nana Akufo-Addo directed the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, to temporarily serve as caretaker Minister.
Dapaah was born in Mpasatia, Ghana, in 1954. She studied French and Linguistics at the University of Ghana, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979. She also holds a certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School in leadership.