By Iddi Yire
Accra, Aug 22, GNA – Mr Boakye Kyeremateng Agyarko, is one of the flagbearer aspirants of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He is described by many as fearless, forthright, a good listener, empathetic and compassionate towards the afflicted and those whom society has left behind.
Born in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region to Mr Kwasi Agyarko, a Merchant and a United Party activist from Jamase, Ashanti and Teacher Jane Ladze Padi from Krobo-Odumase in the Eastern Region, he had his elementary education at K. O. Methodist Primary School (Ashanti New Town) and the University of Science and Technology (UST) Primary School.
He proceeded to Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast on September 18, 1969 and went on to University of Ghana, Legon in 1976.
He studied Economics and Political Science.
Boakye (or Torino as he was affectionately called in school) was an agile and enthusiastic sportsman.
He represented Mfantsipim School, (Kwabotwe) in 110m hurdles, triple and long jump events.
He demonstrated a high sense of discipline whilst in school, which earned him various student leadership positions such as Secretary of the Voluntary Work Camps Association (VOLU) and President of the Ghana United Nations Students and Youth Association (GUNSA).
He later became the National Secretary, National President and National Coordinator of GUNSA in 1978, 1979 and 1980 respectively.
The Mfantsipim School Year Book for the class of 1974 describes Boakye as, “one of the most colourful students to climb the Kwabotwe Hills from 1969 to 1976”.
He completed his National Service as the National Coordinator of GUNSA, to which he had previously served as National Secretary and President in 1977 and 1978 respectively.
He subsequently joined Management & Investment Consultants Limited (MANCONSULT), a private economic management consulting firm in Accra as junior economist from 1981 to 1984.
During the abortive coup of Halidu Giwa and his friends on June 19, 1983, he was arrested, sent to the Air Force and shot – execution style.
He was left for dead, but a nurse who realised that he was still alive rushed him to the operating theatre and he survived surgery performed by Lt Colonel (Dr.) Akpalu.
After a difficult and painful recuperation, he went into voluntary exile in the United States.
Whilst in the United States, he earned an Advanced Professional Certificate in Banking from the American Institute of Bankers.
He also earned an MBA with concentration in Financial Economics from Pace University, New York City.
For over 22 years, Boakye Agyarko worked as a Professional Banker at the Bank of New York where he rose to the position of Vice President and Head of Global Network Management in the Investment
Management and Services Division.
He resigned from the Bank to campaign full time for the flagbearership of the NPP in Ghana in 2007.
With the wealth of over twenty years of experience in banking, investment and finance behind him, Boakye K. Agyarko is well equipped with excellent negotiation, organisational and managerial skills, a sense of propriety and vast international exposure to tackle Ghana’s seemingly protracted problems head on.
In the position of a Vice President of a major global bank where one learns the value of achieving compromise and consensus in the formulation and implementation of policies, he has learned to exercise responsibility in a sea of uncertainty authority.
His training in economics has taught him that important results emerge from an unfolding process and that good policy must have a sense of strategy, pace and timing.
It has also developed him into a strategist, who seeks to understand the constellation of forces present in a situation and to arrange them to point towards a desired result.
As a founding member of NPP, Boakye’s loyalty and allegiance to the Party is said to be second to none.
He has continually demonstrated his resourcefulness, generosity and loyal service to NPP since infancy.
He has always answered the call to help when the Party was in its struggling days be it administrative or financial resources.
He ably served as the chairman of the Danquah Busia Club of North America, and for a time served as a Trustee of the Busia Foundation.
He later became the Coordinator for the NPP in North America where he took up the challenge of building the Party and coordinated its activities within the Ghanaian community in North America, at the same time liaising with the Party back home in Ghana.
As his contribution, he wrote a weekly column in the Ghanaian newspaper, “The Stateman” titled “Letter from America” from 1993 through 1998.
In 2007, Boakye returned to Ghana and contested in the presidential primaries for the leadership and flag bearer of the NPP for the 2008 general election.
In 2009, he was selected as a member of the Dr Heymann Committee to tour the country and gather information for the reorganisation of the Party.
In 2011 he was appointed as National Campaign Manager for the 2012 general election and served as a policy advisor to the 2016 campaign.
As Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, had supervisory responsibility for sixteen (16) major Sector Agencies, including Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC), National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST), Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company (GCMC), Volta
River Authority (VRA), Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Northern Electricity Department Company (NEDCo), Bui Power Authority (BPA), Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), Energy Commission, Petroleum Commission, Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) and VRA Resettlement Trust Fund.
During the run up to the 2020 general election, he undertook the training of party officers and agents in the Eastern Region.
Boakye Agyarko is a regular guest on Oman FM’s Boiling Point political programme.
He is divorced and a father of two daughters.
On why he is running to be President, Mr Boakye Agyarko said: “A simple and straight forward answer to why I am running to be President is a zeal for the service to country, the passion for Ghana, and the development of its people.”
GNA