Kojo Acquah Yankah (born 16 August 1945) is a former

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 of ...

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 also served as a

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

in the

Rawlings government This is a listing of the ministers who served in Jerry Rawlings's National Democratic Congress government during the Fourth Republic of Ghana. This started on January 7, 1993, after 11 years of military rule by Rawlings. He retired from the Ghana ...

. He is the founder and President of the

African University College of Communications The African University College of Communications is a private tertiary institution at Adabraka, Accra, Ghana, for the study and teaching of journalism, communication studies, information technology convergence, business, African Studies, providin ...

and is also a former editor of the ''

Daily Graphic ''The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper'' was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations. It was founded in New York City in 1873 by Canadian engravers George-Édouard Desbarats and William Leggo, and began publication ...

'', the widest circulation newspaper in Ghana.

Education

Kojo Yankah was born at Agona Duakwa in the

Agona East District Agona East District is one of the twenty-two districts in Eastern Region, Ghana. Originally it was formerly part of the then-larger Agona District in 1988, until the eastern part of the district was split off to create Agona East District on 29 ...

of the Central Region of Ghana. His primary education was in various schools in the Central Region. He attended Adisadel College for his secondary education. He then taught for a few years before proceeding to the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

, where he graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

Honours degree in English.

Communications

After graduation, 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 The Social Security and National Insurance Trust, is an agency of the government of Ghana. Its job description, according to itwebsite is to administrate the National Pension Scheme. In so doing, the trust owns major amounts of stock in Ghana's ...

. In 1982, after the

Provisional National Defence Council The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) was the name of the Ghanaian government after the People's National Party's elected government was overthrown by Jerry Rawlings, the former head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, in a coup ...

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 The Ghana Institute of Journalism is a public university in Ghana. The institute has accreditation from the National Accreditation Board. History The Ghana Institute of Journalism was established on 16 October 1959 by Kwame Nkrumah, the first pre ...

. 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.

Politics

With the return to party politics in Ghana, Yankah stood for elections as MP in the

1992 Ghanaian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Ghana on 29 December 1992, the first since 1979. Voter turnout was just 28.1% amidst a boycott by opposition parties, who had claimed the preceding presidential elections in November – won by former military ...

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% over his opponents: Yeboah Alex Duodo, an NPP member who polled 8,605 votes, Kweku James Mensah, an NCP member who polled 1,843 votes, Kofi Owusu, a CPP member who polled 470 votes, Martin Kobina Nkum, an NPP member who polled 389 votes and Kojo A. Yankah, an NPP member who also polled 0 votes. During the second term of the

, 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. This led to his resignation from the government.

Family

Kojo Yankah married Susan Roseline Esi Thompson, a Home Economics tutor, in 1977. She died on 30 July 2001 from a respiratory ailment. He was married to Ekua Essandoh, now deceased. He is the brother of Kwesi Yankah, who is the Minister of Tertiary Education in Government of

Nana Akufo-Addo Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ( ; born 29 March 1944) is a Ghanaian politician who has served as the president of Ghana since 7 January 2017. In 2020, he was re-elected for his second term, which will end on 6 January 2025. Akufo-Addo previously ...

of the

New Patriotic Party , logo = , colorcode = #132f7a , founder = , founded = 28 July 1992 , dissolved = , leader = Nana Akufo-Addo , chairman = Stephen Ayensu Ntim Stephen Ntim elected NPP National Chairman on fifth attempt http://www.gna.org.gh/1.2152672 ...

(NPP).

Publications

* * * Yankah, Kojo (1989).Dialogue with the North * * * * * *

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yankah, Kojo Living people 1945 births Ghanaian MPs 1993–1997 Ghanaian MPs 1997–2001 University of Ghana alumni National Democratic Congress (Ghana) politicians People from Central Region (Ghana) Ghanaian editors Alumni of Adisadel College