Henry Ford Kofi Kamel (21 December 1961 – 25 December 2012) was a

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for the Buem constituency from January 2005 and also the

Volta Region Volta Region (or Volta) is one of Ghana's sixteen administrative regions, with Ho designated as its capital. It is located west of Republic of Togo and to the east of Lake Volta. Divided into 25 administrative districts, the region is multi- ...

Minister from March 2012 until his death on 25 December 2012.

Early life and education

Kamel hails from Guanam, a place in the

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. He was born on 21 December 1961. He attended Ho Technical University.

Career

Kamel trained as a banker and economist by profession. He worked as the managing director of the North Volta Rural Bank Limited.

Parliament

Kamel was a member of the National Democratic Congress. He won his last election on 7 December 2012 by a majority of 13,627. He first won the seat in the 2004 election replacing Emil Kwadzo Brantuo as the MP in the 4th Parliament of the 4th Republic with a majority of 10,488. He successfully defended his seat in the

2008 Ghanaian general election General elections were held in Ghana on 7 December 2008. Since no candidate received more than 50% of the votes, a run-off election was held on 28 December 2008 between the two candidates who received the most votes, Nana Akufo-Addo of the gover ...

. He won 65.8% of the vote.

Government

In March 2012, President

John Atta Mills John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (21 July 1944 – 24 July 2012) was a Ghanaian politician and legal scholar who served as President of Ghana from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, having defeated the governing party ...

appointed Henry Kamel as the new Volta Regional Minister, replacing Joseph Amenowode. He stayed in this post until his death on Christmas Day in 2012. Prior to this appointment, he was the Deputy Minister for Lands and Forestry. One of his notable achievements was bringing peace to the Gbi Traditional Area between the indigenes of Hohoe and the Zongo Community. The Paramount chief of the Gbi Traditional Area, Togbega Gabusu VI, paid tribute to those peace efforts.

Death

Kamel was reported to have returned to his home town, Guaman in the Jasikan District of the Volta Region on 25 December 2012. While chatting with some family and friends the next day, he suddenly collapsed. He died before arrival at the Jasikan Government Hospital. He was 51.

Personal life

He was married with three children. He was a Christian and a Catholic. His daughter launched the Kamel for Hope foundation in his honor to reach out to deprived persons in Ghana. The foundation was founded on 1 May 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamel, Henry Ford 1961 births 2012 deaths Ghanaian MPs 2005–2009 Ghanaian MPs 2009–2013 Ghanaian MPs 2013–2017 Government ministers of Ghana Ghanaian bankers National Democratic Congress (Ghana) politicians Ghanaian economists