Charles Kofi Adu Boahen is a Ghanaian politician and a public servant. He is a member of the New Patriotic Party and was the deputy minister for Finance in Ghana until November 2022.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} He is the son of Mrs Mary Adu Boahen and Prof. Albert Adu Boahen, a global academician, historian and politician who became the New Patriotic Party's flagbearer in the 1992 Ghanaian general elections.^[6] He was the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry but was dismissed after allegations of corruption.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Early life and education

Charles was born to Albert Adu Boahen and Jane Thyra Boahen. Charles has 4 siblings including Kwabena Boahen, a professor of biomedical engineering at Stanford.^[11]

He had his BSc in chemical engineering from the University of Southern California. He also had his MBA from Harvard Business School.^[12][13] He attended Achimota School, where he obtained his O Levels, and Mfantsipim School, where he had his 'A' Levels.^[14]

Career

Hon. Charles Kofi Adu Boahen has over 19 years of experience in Finance, specifically in Cooperate Finance, Investment Banking, Asset Management and Private Equity.

After school, he worked with companies such as the $400mm AIG African Infrastructure Fund as an investment officer,^[15] Salomon Smith Barney which is now part of Citigroup on Wall Street at their Investment Banking Division where his responsibilities included various corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions assignments, primarily in the Chemicals and Energy sector. He was a Director and Regional Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for Standard Bank of South Africa. He was the vice president for JP Morgan for over five years and head of investment banking for Sub-Saharan Africa^[16] with the exception of South Africa.^[17] He was the Senior Country Representative at JP Morgan, Nigeria.^[18]

He is the founder and CEO of Black Star Advisors which is an investment bank and asset management firm and Primrose Properties Ghana, a real estate development company.^[12] He founded his business consultancy firm, the Black Star Advisors (BSA) in 2007.^[19]

In January 2023, his company Black Stars Brokerage certification to operate as a foreign exchange broker by the Bank of Ghana was renewed.^[20]

Controversy

On November 14, 2022, the president of the Republic of Ghana sacked him from his position as minister of state at the Finance Ministry on account of corruption related to the illegal mining activities popularly known as "Galamsey" (filmed by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas in the expose "Galamsey Economy") in Ghana. He was not charged.^[22]

After he was sacked from the ministry of finance, he still served on the BOG board as a director from the finance ministry in 2022 BOG report.^[23] In 2023, The Office of the Special Prosecutor reported there is no criminal activity into corruption allegations brought against Boahen.^[24]

References