PROFILE OF HON. BOAKYE KYEREMATENG AGYARKO

Boakye Kyeremateng Agyarko (1956),is a Ghanaian economist and politician. He was the vice president of the Bank of New York. He was the former Minister for Energy in Ghana. 

Agyarko was born in 1956, in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region to Kwasi Agyarko. His father was a merchant and United Party activist from Jamase, Ashanti Region and his mother was Jane Ladze Padi from Krobo Odumase in the Eastern Region.

Agyarko attended the K. O. Methodist Primary School in Ashtown and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Primary School in Kumasi. He then proceeded to Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast for his secondary education from where he had both his GCE Ordinary Level and GCE Advanced Level certified.

He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon. He migrated to the United States of America as a political refugee.

While there he obtained an Advanced Professional Certificate in Banking from the American Institute of Banking and a Master of Business Administration in Financial Economics from Pace University, New York.

After graduating from the University of Ghana in 1980, Agyarko did his mandatory national service at the Ghana Union Nation of Students as the National Coordinator.

When the national service ended in 1981, he was employed as a junior economist with Management and Investment Consultants in Accra. He worked there till 1984 where he was forced to flee Ghana due to an attempt on his life.

After graduating from Pace University, he was employed by the Bank of New York, the oldest bank in the United States.He spent over twenty years at the bank and worked at senior levels in various departments of the Bank.

The positions he held included operations management and analysis, product development, global network managements, international banking and asset management and the Year 2000 (Y2K) Management Group.

He had oversight responsibilities of various sectors and department notably in trade, finance, loan syndications, asset securitization and structured finance. He was the principal negotiator on the setting up of the Bank of New York in Mexico.

While working in New York he became a member of the American Economic Association and an Associate Member of the American Institute of Bankers. He rose through the ranks of the bank and became Vice President and Head of Global Network Management for the Americans in the Investment Management and Services Division.

He left the bank after 22 years so he could contest elections in Ghana. While in the US he wrote a weekly column in The Statesman Newspaper titled Letter from America from 1993 through 1998.

Agyarko entered politics at an early age and was the National Coordinator for the Ghana Union of Students and Youth Associations from 1979 to 1980. He was a founding member of the New Patriotic Party in 1992.

Within the party he has held several positions including Chairman of The Danquah Busia Club of North America, and briefly served as a Trustee of the Busia Foundation. He was elected the Coordinator and Chairman for the New Patriotic Party in North America.

In 2007, he was one of the 17 Presidential Aspirants of the New Patriotic Party, after which he supported Nana Addo Akufo-Addo in the 2008 elections. 

After 2008 , Hon. Agyarko was appointed a member of the Heyman Committee that went round the country to listen to the grassroots and propose reforms for the NPP. 

Agyarko was appointed National Campaign manager of the New Patriotic Party in the 2012 Presidential election. He was appointed the Policy Adviser to the Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party during the 2016 election where he was responsible for putting together the flagship manifesto with Free SHS , Planting for Food and Jobs , One District One Factory as key policy projects. 

In January 2017, Agyarko was appointed the minister of energy in the Akufo-Addo administration. He was approved by parliament in February 2017. As the Energy Minister, Agyarko has supervisory responsibility for fifteen major agencies under the ministry.

In May 2017, President Nana Akufo-Addo named Boakye Agyarko as part of nineteen ministers who would form his cabinet.

The names of the 19 ministers were submitted the Parliament of Ghana and announced by the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Prof. Mike Ocquaye.As a Cabinet minister, Agyarko is part of the inner circle of the president and is to aid in key decision making activities in the country.