8 Ghanaian politicians who went to Adisadel College

ADISCO is one of the most famous institutions of learning in sub-Saharan Africa

Adisadel College was ranked 10th out of the top 100 best high schools in Africa by Africa Almanac in 2014, based on the quality of education, student engagement, strength and activities of alumni, school profile, internet, and news visibility.

The school was established in 1910 in a building at Topp Yard, near Christ Church School which is within the vicinity of Cape Coast Castle and it began with 29 boys, but by 1935, it had expanded to accommodate about 200 pupils.

Adisadel College has a long history of producing some of the nation's gifted and talented Ghanaians in the realm of sports, politics, music, banking, etc.

With over 20,000 old boys across the globe, old students of the school make up a sizeable figure in the world's workforce and most have greatly excelled with a number of them in the 1% upper class.

The school has churned out politicians starting from the First Republic to the Fourth Republic of Ghana and away from politics and governance, some other alumni are celebrated for what they do.

Here are 8 politicians who attended Adisadel College and governing the country.

Kennedy Agyapong

Kennedy Ohene Agyapong is a Ghanaian politician and businessman who represents Assin Central in parliament for the New Patriotic Party.

He was first elected a member of parliament in 2000 to the seat of Assin North. He retained his seat in 2004 and the 2008 parliamentary elections.

In 2012 he was elected in the new seat of Assin Central and was re-elected in 2016.

With 128 houses and counting, a private jet, a Rolls Royce and an $ 80,000-bed facility, Agyapong is super-rich and listed among the top 10 wealthiest people in Ghana

He owns Kencity Media, Supercare Group of Companies, Mina D’oro Ventures, Gold Coin Communication M/S, Imperial World Business Limited, Hollywood Shopping Centre, and many others.

He is also on record as the first Ghanaian to be knighted in the 21st century when he was presented with an honorary knighthood by the Prince of Wales in 2003, for his achievements as an African businessman and a leading business executive from the Commonwealth.

Kennedy Agyapong Pulse Ghana

Freddie Blay

He was a Member of Parliament in Ghana and served as the First Deputy Speaker in the Fourth Parliament of Ghana.

He was a member of the Convention People's Party (CPP) but resigned to join the New Patriotic Party after being criticized by some CPP stalwarts for not campaigning for the CPP flagbearer Paa Kwesi Nduom, instead endorsing NPP presidential candidate, Nana Addo.

He was also appointed to the position of Board Chairman for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation GNPC.

He is the Senior Partner at Blay and Associates. He is also the board chairman and majority shareholder of Western Publications Limited, publishers of the Daily Guide newspaper, the flagship of the Group, Business Guide, News-One, and Young Blazers.

He is currently the National Chairman of ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

NPP National Chairman, Freddie Blay ece-auto-gen

Kwadwo Afari-Gyan

He was the Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Ghana from 1993 to 2015.

He is an academic, political scientist, and election administrator.

He attended Achimota School and Adisadel College for his A-Level and also graduated from the University of Ghana in 1967 with a BA degree in Philosophy.

He went on to attain a MA degree in African politics in 1969 from the same university. He also studied in the United States where he was awarded a Ph. D. in Political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1974.

He worked as a lecturer and a professor in Political Science at the University of Ghana.

He has also lectured in the United States and Nigeria. He was a member of the Committee of Experts that drafted the Fourth Republican Constitution for Ghana.

In 1992, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Interim National Electoral Commission by the Provisional National Defence Council, which was ruling as a military junta, with the hope of returning the country to civilian rule.

His job was to ensure that the November 1992 presidential election and the December 1992 parliamentary elections were free and fair. The late, Jerry John Rawlings, who doubles as the Chairman of the PNDC, and also Head of State, stood and won the elections.

With the coming into force of the Fourth Republican Constitution, a new Electoral Commission was set up and Afari-Gyan became its first substantive chairman.

He has successfully supervised all the elections held under this constitution so far. He has successfully chaired the conduct of presidential and parliamentary elections in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012.

In the last of these, a number of unofficial institutions attempted to declare the results of these elections, with Afari-Gyan stating that these results could not be trusted.

The 2004 general elections were disputed in court by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

But the case was lost on technicalities. Again, the 2012 presidential election between President John Dramani Mahama and Nana Akufo-Addo ended up in an 8-month election petition trial at the Supreme Court. The opposition leader lost the case in a 5:4 split decision, which held that the President was validly elected. But, the trial, which was live on television, exposed some fundamental weaknesses in Ghana's electoral process, triggering calls and moves towards comprehensive electoral reforms before the 2016 general elections.

In 1998, he became the Executive Secretary of the Association of African Election Authorities.

He was also a member of a committee of experts to advise Nigeria on elections.

He retired from his position as Chairman of the Electoral Commission in June 2015.

Dr-Afari-Gyan1 ece-auto-gen

John Peter Amewu

John Peter Amewu is currently the Minister of Railways.

He won the 2020 general election parliamentary seat to represent Hohoe in Parliament.

He had his secondary education at attended Hohoe E.P. Senior High School, St. Mary's Seminary/Senior High School, Lolobi, and Adisadel College for his high school education.

He was appointed by John Kufour as the Municipal Chief Executive for Hohoe Municipal Assembly, he served from 2005 to 2009.

He was the party's parliamentary candidate for the 2004 and 2008 general elections to contest the then Hohoe North Constituency but lost to Prince Jacob Hayibor in both contests.

In May 2017, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo named John Peter Amewu as part of nineteen ministers to form his cabinet. He was the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Energy Minister.

He is currently the Minister of Railways after the NPP won the general elections.

John Peter Amewu Pulse Ghana

Nana Ato Dadzie

Nana Ato Dadzie is a lawyer and politician who served as Chief of Staff during the late Jerry John Rawlings administration from 1997 to 2001.

He is an expert and a United Nations consultant on peacebuilding and political transitions.

He had his Ordinary certificate education from 1963 to 1968 from Adisadel College, Cape Coast, and further went to Sekondi College in the Western Region from 1968 to 1970 for his Advanced level certificate education.

Dadzie holds a Bachelor of law degree (LLB) from the University of Ghana, Legon. He had his Professional Certificate to practice law from the Ghana School of Law and was called to Bar in 1975 along with Ghanaian lawyers Tsatsu Tsikata and Nana Akufo-Addo.

He is a member of the National Democratic Congress. He served briefly as the PNDC Secretary of state, equivalent to minister, for the Central Region in 1983.

From 1983 to 2001, Dadzie served as a Presidential Advisor with cabinet status to Jerry John Rawlings.

He served as PNDC secretary automatically making him the Secretary to the Government of Ghana from 1983 to 1993 and continued to serve as a Secretary and Special Assistant to the late former President Jerry John Rawlings when he constituted his first government during the 4th Republic from 1993 to 1997.

He was later appointed as chief of staff with cabinet status in the second government, serving in that capacity from 1997 to 2001 when Jerry John Rawlings left office as President.

In his role as Chief of staff, he served as the Coordinator for the historic visit of US President Bill Clinton to Ghana in 1998.

Nana Ato Dadzie Pulse Ghana

Kwamena Minta Nyarku

He is a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He is a member of parliament for the Cape Coast North Constituency in the Central Region.

He completed Adisadel College, Cape Coast. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Cape Coast.

He is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, School of Business, University of Cape Coast.

He won the parliamentary bid to represent the National Democratic Congress for the Constituency in August 2019 after he went unopposed.

In the 2020 elections, Nyarku beat the incumbent member of parliament Barbara Asher Ayisi of the New Patriotic Party, who doubles as the deputy minister for works and housing and was a former deputy minister of education.

He garnered 22,972 votes against her 21,643 votes representing 51.49% and 48.51% respectively to be declared winner and member of parliament elect.

Kwamena Minta Nyarku Pulse Ghana

Kojo Acquah Yankah

He is a former Member of Parliament in Ghana. He also served as a Minister of State in the Rawlings government.

He is the founder and President of the African University College of Communications and is also a former editor of the Daily Graphic, the widest circulation newspaper in Ghana.

He attended Adisadel College for his secondary education. He then taught for a few years before proceeding to the University of Ghana where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Honors degree in English.

After graduation, Kojo Yankah taught at the Adisadel College for two years. He worked with various government institutions including the Information Services Department and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust. In 1982, after the Provisional National Defence Council military government came to power, he was appointed editor of the government-owned Daily Graphic newspaper which had the highest circulation in Ghana. He was later appointed Director of the Ghana Institute of Journalism.

In 2001, he established the Africa Institute of Journalism and Communications. This institution has now become the African University College of Communications, affiliated to the University of Ghana and with accreditation from the National Accreditation Board in March 2004.

Yankah stood for elections as MP in the 1992 Ghanaian parliamentary election on the National Democratic Congress ticket and won the seat for the Agona East constituency.

He retained the seat in the 1996 election to have a second term with 13,336 votes out of the 24,652 valid votes cast representing 43.40%.

During the second term of the Rawlings government, Yankah was first appointed Central Regional Minister. He was later shifted to Ashanti Regional Minister, a position he held for only 11 months before he was moved to the National Development Planning Commission as a Minister of State and this led to his resignation from the government.

Kojo Acquah Yankah Pulse Ghana

Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi

Ameyaw-Akumfi was the Minister of Education in the John Agyekum Kufour administration.

He began his political career after he was elected into parliament in 2008 obtaining over 53.4% of the total votes cast when he stood on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Ameyaw-Akumfi entered the University of Ghana in 1965 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology in 1969 and earned his master's degree in the same field a year later. In 1970, he left to study Zoology at the University of Michigan in the United States, where he earned his doctorate in 1972.