1953 – 2023

“Dr Anthony Akoto Osei had every right to exist.  I say this in true recognition of a man of profound intellectual prowess, the kind you want to root for until you can no longer do so, as he rests today.  No hero worship intended, but he was a master performer when he purposed to perform, either in committee or plenary, the picture of a superior, incisive, thoughtful debater several octaves higher than the pedestrianism which, unfortunately, is creeping into the corridors of the legislature, notably in the spectacles mounted by the baptized and confirmed but unrecognized cheerleaders and yesmen and women. “  — Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, 15th April 2023

Anthony Akoto Osei was born in Kumasi to Dorothy Nana Ama Osei and Albert Kofi Osei on the 18th of April 1953.   He was named after the founder of the National Liberation Movement and grew up in an era of political clashes and unrest that the Gold Coast experienced in the early 1950s in the struggle for self-government.

Akoto started school in Achimota in 1965 and quickly became known as a sportsman.  In the seven years that he spent in Achimota, he excelled in hockey, cricket and football representing his house Cadbury and Achimota school at sports events.

In August 1974, he was accepted into Oberlin College in Ohio and quickly got involved as a house manager, leader of the anti-apartheid movement on campus and was the student representative for the Divestment Committee Task Force. He was also made the chairman of the Student Finance Committee.

He captained the school football team and held the record for the highest number of career goals in the school’s history.  His sports records still stand in Oberlin, and he was inducted in 1997 into the John Heisman Hall of Fame.

Akoto moved to American University in Washington DC and obtained a master’s degree in economics, then to Howard for his PHD in economics.  He accepted a position as assistant professor of economics at Dillard University in New Orleans and was very appreciated by the president of Dillard at that time, Samuel DuBois Cook.

He relocated to Ghana when CEPA, a new think tank needed researchers and was there for five years.  In 2004, he stood for a parliamentary seat representing Tafo-Pankrono. He won the seat with almost 80 percent of the votes.  He is described as an ‘excellent debator’ he served between 2001 and 2009 as a special adviser to the Minister for Finance, then as a Deputy Minister of Finance, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and as Minister of Finance.  He became after the 2016 election, Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation until 2021 when he was made President Akufo-Addo’s advisor on the economy

Dr Anthony Akoto Osei – Hall of Famer

Reference: Funeral brochure (15th April, 2023)