Isaac William Benneh

Benneh was born on 12 May 1912 at Berekum in the Bono Region of Ghana.[4] He had his elementary education at Berekum and Abetifi where he obtained his Standard 7 certificate in 1930.[4]

After receiving two years training with Cadbury and Fry Company, Benneh became a cocoa broker for the Company in 1933.[4] He rose through the ranks and became a supervisor of the company in 1951.[5] While working with the company, he also run his own transport business.[5]

Upon the death of J. G. Awuah, the then sitting Convention People's Party (CPP) member for the Berekum constituency, the Berekum seat was vacant and a by-election was held on 25 April 1957.[6] Benneh contested for the seat and won on the ticket of the CPP.[7] After winning the election, he was appointed General Manager of the Ghana Farmer's Cooperative.[8] In October 1959, he was a appointed Ministerial Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and held this appointment until June, 1960. In August 1960, he was transferred to the Ministry of Labour, Co-operatives and Social Welfare serving in that same capacity. That same year, Benneh was elevated to the rank of a minister of state given the Portfolio of Education. He held this appointment for a period of four years until he was transferred to the Ministry of Communications.[9] On 15 April 1965 he was appointed Minister for Rural Industries, replacing John Young Ghann who had then been made Minister for Internal Trade.[10][11] Benneh remained in this capacity until 24 February 1966 when the Nkrumah government was overthrown.

Benneh was married to Mrs. Lucy Benneh (née Ofori-Atta) in 1959.[12][13] Lucy was a clerical officer in the Ministry of Labour from 1957 until 1958 when she was moved to the Broadcasting Department working in the same capacity. She however, resigned in 1961.[13] Prior to his marriage to Lucy, Benneh had married ten times and had forty-two children with the ten women.[13][14] He was father of the Ghanaian academic and university administrator, George Benneh who served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana from 1992 to 1996.

He was also the father of Emmanuel Yaw Benneh, who was a Law Professor with the University of Ghana[15]

• List of MLAs elected in the 1956 Gold Coast legislative election
• List of MPs elected in the 1965 Ghanaian parliamentary election