Ghana President Nominates Energy Minister

Ghana’s new president Nana Akufo-Addo, elected last month, has named 13 ministers-designate.

He also announced plans to combine the ministries of petroleum and power and nominated Boakye Agyarko, a former investment banker, to head this enlarged ministry.

One of Agyarko's first tasks will be to liaise with oil and gas producer Tullow over a halt planned by the operator to associated gas flows from the Jubilee oil field to shore so that it can undertake repairs offshore, at a time when the country is struggling to maintain sufficient gas supplies for its power plants. The government cannot afford to alienate producers such as Tullow that have developed gas and oil, or Eni that is leading a new development.

The announcement was posted on the government’s webpage January 11 but made by the president the previous day. More names will be announced in the coming days. The nominees must now be confirmed by parliament.

Photo credit: Ghana government's Information Services Dept / Gilbert Ankrah

Agyarko has worked in the past as a vice president of Bank of New York Mellon. More recently he was also a policy manager for Ghana's New Patriotic Party and the president’s December 2016 winning election campaign.

Mark Smedley