President John Dramani Mahama has described the late Ambassador James Victor Gbeho as a distinguished diplomat whose decades of service helped elevate Ghana’s image on the global stage.
Delivering a tribute at the state funeral of the former Foreign Affairs Minister and former President of the ECOWAS Commission on Friday, July 31, President Mahama said Ambassador Gbeho treated representing Ghana as a “sacred trust” and carried out his duties with professionalism, quiet confidence and unwavering patriotism.
According to President Mahama, the late diplomat’s commitment to national service ensured that Ghana’s voice was respected wherever he served, particularly during his decade-long tenure as Ghana’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 1980 to 1990.
“Wherever he served, Ghana’s flag flew a little higher because it was represented by a man of exceptional integrity, sound judgment and remarkable intellect,” President Mahama said.
Beyond Ghana’s borders, President Mahama underscored Ambassador Gbeho’s significant contributions to peacebuilding and regional integration through his roles as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, ECOWAS Special Representative for Liberia, and later as President of the ECOWAS Commission.
“His service did not end at our borders. He never stopped serving because service was not simply what he did; it was who he was,” President Mahama said.
The President described Ambassador Gbeho as one of Ghana’s rare nation builders whose legacy would live on through the institutions he strengthened, the diplomats he mentored and the lives he impacted.
Ambassador James Victor Gbeho, who died on June 14, 2026, at the age of 91, had a diplomatic career spanning more than six decades.
Born on January 12, 1935, in Keta in the Volta Region, Ambassador Gbeho served as Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister from 1997 to 2001, represented the Anlo Constituency in Parliament from 2001 to 2005, and held several diplomatic assignments in countries including China, India, Nigeria, Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
