Local Government and Rural Development Committee Joseph Yieleh Chireh (born 8 July 1954) is a Ghanaian pharmacist, barrister, diplomat and politician.
[4] He studied at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology from 1975 and obtained the Bachelor of Pharmacy degree in 1979.
As chairman he is credited with spearheading the investigations of procurement malpractices in selected Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) notable amongst them is the Ministry of Health, the Volta River Authority, Electricity Corporation of Ghana and also the former Post & Telecommunications Corporation.
Chireh joined the National Democratic Congress when it was formed in 1992 on the resumption of party politics in Ghana.
He was subsequently made the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Algeria with concurrent accreditation to Tunisia, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Mauritania between 1997 and 2001.
He was elected over Vaari Matthew Saa-hi of the People's National Convention and Edward Yirimambo of the New Patriotic Party.
[15] In February 2009, he was appointed Minister for Local Government and Rural Development by the new President of Ghana, John Atta Mills.
[17] He served there until 4 January 2011, when he was appointed Minister of Health by the President, John Evans Atta Mills in a cabinet reshuffle.