Ghana’s newly commissioned Ambassador-designate to neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mr Kenneth Akibate, is a remarkable public servant with almost two decades in the international and diplomatic working environment within the African Union with the Pan-African Parliament based in South Africa. Earlier, he has had distinguished service with the Parliamentary Service in Ghana, and was a notable brilliant military officer in his earlier years with the Ghana Armed Forces. He currently holds the position of Deputy Clerk in charge of Finance, Administration, Human Resources, Protocol, Security, Estate and General Services.
He is an astute and dynamic leader with vast experience in various life settings and working in multi-cultural environments. He is a proud alumnus of the renowned Clingendael Academy, the Dutch Think-tank Institute for Diplomacy and International Relations based in The Hague.
Very firm, disciplined in manners, soft spoken and unassuming, Ghana’s new Ambassador-designate to Burkina Faso may have been best for the pulpit as a man of God, given his upbringing at the Notre Dame Seminary School in his hometown Navrongo in the Upper East Region. But he chose a different career path, enlisting in the Ghana Armed Forces where he graduated in 1988 at the Ghana Military Academy and Training School as the Best Graduating Officer Cadet in Order of Merit (Academics) and awarded the prestigious Military Cane.
Education
Ambassador Akibate attended Notre Dame Senior High School in Navrongo and Bawku Senior High School. He enlisted into the Ghana Military Academy, Accra, and later studied at the University of Ghana where he obtained BA (Hons) Psychology and Political Science. He was awarded Masters in Business Administration by the University of Roehampton, UK, and also attended Centre Interarmees de Formation de Rochefor, Rochefor, France for Diplome du CIFR and Ecole D’Etat-Major, Compegne, France for Diplome d’Eta Major.
Career
After a short service with the military, rising to the rank of Major, he resigned and took to civilian work, having been appointed the Marshal of Parliament. After six years of service he caught international attention and was appointed Marshal of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) headquartered at Midrand, South Africa, and by dint of hard work rose to become Deputy Clerk to the PAP.
With his vast experience in defence, security and international relations, he carved a niche for himself as the appropriate envoy of the President of Ghana to Burkina Faso, where he is expected to use his vast experience in security and intelligence to work with the Burkinabe military junta to address security and terrorist activities in the sub-region towards peaceful secured borders of the two countries, to promote economic and diplomatic ties with Burkina Faso to the benefit of the two countries that share common cultural and historical ties.
Though we hail from the same hometown Navrongo, our paths had not crossed in formative years of education as we attended different schools. I got closer to him in the late 80s when I visited him at the 37 Military Hospital on admission. He joined the military and I took to journalism and in 2004 when I was posted to Parliament as the Correspondent for the Ghanaian Times, I reconnected with him; he was then the Marshal of Parliament.
He created the enabling environment for me to practice my trade. His office became like an extension of the Ghanaian Times newsroom, he made available his fax machine for me to transmit my stories to the newsroom to meet editorial conference deadline. I had a brush with one of his staff; he stepped in to apologise to me and resolved the issue, and I had since become a very intimate friend of the staff.
Humour
Ambassador Akibate is full of humour. When he tied his knot with his longtime friend Vida at the Christ the King Church in Accra, I was in attendance. I sought his permission to publish his wedding picture in the Spectator. When the publication appeared, he called me to his office and told me, “My brother, you have put sand in my Gari, you have exposed me with your publication, I can’t get a girlfriend any longer!” We laughed over it.
He moved on to join the Pan-African Parliament and I had the opportunity to visit him when I was in South Africa, Pretoria in 2015 to cover Africa Population Scientist Union Conference. In 2023 he extended invitation to me to cover the proceedings of the PAP for publication in our newspaper, but it coincided with my trip to Makkah to perform the Hajj.
The Ambassador-designate, who only prefers to be known as Ken, was bent on seeing me in Midrand and as an avid Ghanaian Times reader, he extended invitation to me once more in 2024 to cover the proceedings of PAP, which I did honour. I was one of the few journalists on the continent to get that opportunity to cover the august legislative body to disseminate their proceedings to a wider audience.
His residence in South Africa has been the second home of Ghana’s delegation to PAP; he hosts them in his house and treats them to sumptuous Ghanaian cuisine each time the Ghanaian delegation attended the PAP session.
Ambassador Akibate loves to connect home no matter how far he is from home. Often, when I text him to check on him in South Africa, he says, “Oh my brother I’m in Accra, I’m connecting to Navrongo to see the old folks and attend to family matters.” The Nayagnia Development Association and the youth of his community see him as their mentor and inspirational leader, as he easily connects with them and empowers them to unravel their potentials.
In 2023, the Ambassador-designate teamed up with the Ghana Defence Industries Holding Company to establish the Kenaki Manufacturing Company Limited to assemble armoured Cash-in-Transit vehicles to create secured environment for financial institutions to transport their cash.
Indeed, Ken is a man of few words but with great ideas. His latest appointment marks a significant transition, underpinned by honesty and dedicated leadership in public service from military career, parliamentary service to full-blown diplomatic and international relations.
BY ALHAJI SALIFU
ABDUL-RAHAMAN
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