The head of the Ghana Rugby Association (GRA) polled 30 of the 32 votes available at the election in Cape Town, with Owuo gaining one and one spoilt ballot paper.

Mensah succeeds Tunisia Khaled Babbou, who stood down after serving only one term.

He had been nominated by Nigeria Rugby and seconded by Botswana Rugby with the massive support of French and English West Africa, Southern, central and northern Africa, in recognition of his massive transformation of the game in Ghana.

In his acceptance speech, Mensah reiterated his passionate vision for the growth of African Rugby.

He highlighted that his priority would be to continue the work he has already begun, helping rugby progress and grow not just in Africa, but globally.

Mensah, a graduate of Sussex University in the United Kingdom, emphasised his business experience, which included being one of the first distributors of mobile phones in Africa, and promised that he would apply it to Rugby Africa, to generate revenues and development opportunities for all member associations.

"As we embark on this journey, I want us to project rugby as an alternative team sport, gain financial independence and improve the World Rugby Elite Programme," Mensah, President of the GRA since 2014, told delegates.

"My aim is to make Rugby Africa the gold standard for sports administration in the African continent.

"My vision for the next four years is to foster an all-inclusive competition framework that will provide members equal opportunities to grow and develop.

"I am also determined to build a positive and strong brand for Rugby Africa, expand the women's rugby programme, and provide a national stadium for each Member Association."

Among Mensah’s first aims will be to get World Rugby to invest more funding into Africa.

South Africa is one of the sport’s most important nations having lifted the Rugby World Cup three times, including the last edition in Japan in 2019, but the rest of the continent has struggled to make much impact.

"Last year, World Rugby awarded just $2 million to promote the sport across the whole African continent," Mensah said.

"This is an absurdly small amount for a whole continent, but what is more telling is the way it undervalues the African continent more than anything else.

"We see evidence of this when this same organisation is willing to award $5 million, or $6 million dollars per year, to a Rugby Europe country while leaving the entire African continent with scraps to promote Rugby to a population of over 1.2 billion.

"This fact alone is telling of how little respect is given to African rugby by the world and it is inevitable that we ask ourselves, if that respect shouldn’t first come from us, Africans.

"The world of rugby sees Africa as one big poor country.

"This must end."

Mensah believes that rugby could be as big across Africa as other sports.

"The diversity of the continent’s nations is manifested equally in its sports cultures," he said. 

"We need to adjust our tactics to the specificities of each market and each region.

"We need to brand ourselves and promote ourselves to the world, make ourselves worthy of notice and respect.

"Only then will we be able to demand from global organizations the respect and capital we deserve."