Joe Aggrey is a Ghanaian veteran journalist, writer and politician who served as the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports from 2001 to 2005. In 1999 he emerged as the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Journalist of the year. From 1985 to 2001, he served as the president of the

Sports Writers Association of Ghana The Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) is professional body in Ghana that includes as sports journalist, analysts, commentators and recognized sports associations in Ghana. The Association holds the SWAG night every year where the best sp ...

Career

Sports Journalism

Aggrey is a journalist who worked specifically as a sports journalist and writer. In 1999 he was awarded as the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Journalist of the year. He is a founding member of the

Sport Writers Association of Ghana The Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) is professional body in Ghana that includes as sports journalist, analysts, commentators and recognized sports associations in Ghana. The Association holds the SWAG night every year where the best sp ...

(SWAG) making him the first sports journalist to be crowned with that award. He rose through the ranks to become the General Secretary. He served as president of the SWAG from 1985 to 2001. In 2007, after Ghana's first appearance at the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

he along with top sports writers Ken Bediako, Ebo Quansah and Felix Abayateye put together a 120-page book titled "Pride and Glory - The story of the Black Stars in Germany 2006" to celebrate the countries success.

Politics

With his vast experience in the sporting industry, in February 2001, Aggrey was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports by President John Agyekum Kuffuor during his first tenure. He served in that role until 2005, when he was dropped and was not reappointed during second tenure. At the early stage of his tenure, in May 2001 the tragic Accra Sports Stadium disaster occurred, he was reported by BBC News as describing the event as ''a devastating one especially seeing a dead body of a young virile man on the floor at the stadium''.

Honours

In 2020, during the 45th Annual SWAG Awards, he was decorated with the SWAG President's Award for his dedication to the course of SWAG and was elevated to the position of a Patron of the Association. In June 2021, he was also honoured during the Ghana Football Awards with Special Football Award along with Habiba Atta Forson, Habiba Attah and J.E Sarpong for their contribution to Ghana Football over the years.

References

Ghanaian sports journalists Sports ministers of Ghana Living people Year of birth missing (living people) New Patriotic Party politicians Ghanaian writers Ghanaian sportswriters {{Ghana-bio-stub