Kwesi Yankah is 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 ...

academic, author, and university administrator. He is a professor of linguistics and oral literature specializing in the ethnography of communications. He has served as the Pro-vice-chancellor of 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 ...

and the president of the Central University. The author of several books, he was inducted as a fellow of the

Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) is a learned society for the arts and sciences based in Accra, Ghana. The institution was founded in November 1959 by Kwame Nkrumah with the aim to promote the pursuit, advancement and dissemination ...

in 1999. He is currently the Ghanaian Minister of State in charge of

tertiary education Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

Education and working life

Kwesi Yankah doctoral thesis earned him the Esther Kinsley Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. He spent most of his working life in academia and lectured at the

. He held several positions in the university, where he was dean of students of the university as well as dean of the Faculty of Arts and head of Linguistics Department. His last position at the university was that of pro-vice-chancellor for academic and student affairs. In September 2011, he succeeded Professor

Victor Gadzekpo Victor Gadzekpo is a Ghanaian academic and administrator. He was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast and served as the President of the Central University of Ghana. He holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Wash ...

as the president of the Central University in Ghana. Yankah'ss appointment coincided with Rev. Prof. Addow Obeng's appointment as Central University's pro vice chancellor. Yankah served as the university president until March 2017, when he was appointed a minister of state. During his working life, Yankah also contributed to several newspapers, among them ''The Mirror'' and ''

Catholic Standard The ''Catholic Standard'', founded in 1951, is the official weekly newspaper for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.About ...

''. He has authored many books, including ''Speaking for the Chief: Okyeame and the Politics of Royal Oratory''.

Affiliations and memberships

Yankah has been Senior External Advisor, Center for Local Strategies Research,

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

, and a Member of the Policy Working Group, African Presidential Archives and Research Centre,

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

. In 1999, he was elected Fellow of the

in Accra. He served a three-year term as the Honorary Secretary of the academy from 2003.

Awards and honours

In July 2016, Yankah was honoured at the 2016 Africa Summit for his contribution to education in Ghana and his contribution to Africa's development.

Minister of State

In March 2017, Ghana President

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 ...

nominated him as a Minister of State in charge of

. Yankah appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on 27 March 2017. During his vetting, he made it clear that he was not just a sympathizer 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 ...

, but had for years been a registered member. He told the committee that if confirmed, he would introduce new courses in public universities, as most of their curricula was getting outdated. He pledged to ensure that universities remained true to their core mandate of knowledge exchange rather than the new paradigm which sought to actively engage in revenue generation ventures. He was approved by the

Parliament of Ghana The Parliament of Ghana is the legislative body of the Government of Ghana. History Legislative representation in Ghana dates back to 1850, when the country was a British colony known as Gold Coast. The body, called the Legislative Council, ...

and took his oath of office in April 2017. He has been actively engaged in the planning and implementation of the Free SHS Policy of the Akufo-Addo administration. Yankah is credited with writing the title song for the government's Free SHS policy.

Personal life

Yankah is married, with three children. He is the brother of Kojo Yankah, who served as Member of Parliament and a Minister under the government of

Jerry John Rawlings Jerry John Rawlings (22 June 194712 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer and politician who led the country for a brief period in 1979, and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the de ...

of the NDC. Kwesi Yankah is a member of the Catholic Church in Ghana.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yankah, Kwesi Living people Academic staff of Central University, Ghana Academic staff of the University of Ghana Fellows of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences Ghanaian Roman Catholics Ghanaian writers Indiana University alumni University of Ghana alumni Vice-Chancellors of universities in Ghana Year of birth missing (living people)