[ 2017-01-24 ]

Minister-designate for Energy and Petroleum, Boakye Agyarko

I was shot in 1983 – Boakye Agyarko narrates PNDC ordeal
Minister-nominee for Energy and Petroleum, Boakye
Agyarko, today [Monday], narrated a rather
emotional ordeal of how he nearly lost his life
during the Provisional National Defence Council
(PNDC) era; a situation that forced him to move to
the United States as a political refugee.

Mr. Boakye Agyarko, who was answering questions
before Parliament’s Appointments Committee,
explained that he had never at any point held a US
citizenship, although he stayed in that country
for 25 years.

“I went to the US as a political refugee, and
qualified as such. In a matter of two years, I was
able to upgrade my status from a refugee to that
of a resident permit holder. This is because I had
a number of equity situations namely; my sister
could apply for me to hold a green card as well as
my mother, who had become a naturalized American
citizen. Throughout the period, I stayed in
America on a Green card, and at no point in time
did I become a citizen of the United States.”

When asked by committee member Samuel Okudzeto
Ablakwa, whether he’s able to return to the
United State, he responded in the affirmative.

Narrating PNDC experience

Explaining a two-year gap on his CV between 1984
and 1986, Mr. Agyarko said “I was employed by
Management and Investment Consultants in 1980
after my national service. In June 1983, for those
who will recall, there was a mutiny led by lance
corporal Halidu Giwa. I was picked up by the
Military and sent to the Airforce Station and put
against the wall and shot. I almost lost my life,
and through the intervention of Monsieur Le
Veloire and my two sisters who are seated behind
me, I was able to leave Ghana through London to
France, and then settled in the United States
under very difficult circumstances. So for that
period, I was close to being an invalid; and I
didn’t do any work. Even though I left
officially in 1983, Management and Investment
Consultants wrote to me officially saying that as
at the end of 1984 I was no longer employed with
them, so my employment with them ended in 1984,
and the next two years I was going through a
series of surgeries and recuperation.”

The committee member and MP for North Tongu, who
solicited the information from the nominee,
sympathized with him.

“My sympathies for a rather touching story,”
Mr. Okudzeto said.

About Boakye Agyarko

Boakye Agyarko is 60 years old. He holds a
Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political
Science from the University of Ghana, Legon; an
Advanced Professional Certificate in Banking from
the American Institute of Banking and an MBA in
Financial Economics from the Pace University, New
York.

He held a Vice President position at the Bank of
New York, in New York, and in over 20 years at the
Bank, he worked at senior levels in various
departments, including Operations Management and
Analysis, Product Development, Global Network
Managements, International Banking and Asset
Management and the Y2K Management Group.

His responsibilities in these various departments
and positions included international trade
finance, loan syndications, asset securitization
and structured finance.

He is a member of the American Economic
Association, and an Associate of the American
Institute of Bankers. He served as the National
Campaign Manager of the New Patriotic Party for
the 2012 Elections, and served as Policy Advisor
for the President’s 2016 electioneering
campaign.

He is a Consultant to Capital Economics and
Investments, a start-up economic analysis and
investments group in Accra, Ghana.

Source - citifmonline.com

... go Back