John Yaw Afoakwah

John Yaw Afoakwah (born 26 January 1955) is a Ghanaian Catholic prelate who is the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Obuasi in the Metropolitan Ecclesiastical Province of Kumasi in Ghana. He was appointed bishop by Pope Francis on 22 November 2014. He was consecrated as bishop and installed at Obuasi, Ghana on 10 January 2015.

Background and education John Yaw Afoakwah was born on 26 January 1955 at Mampamhwɛ, Diocese of Kumasi, Ashanti Region, in Ghana. His father Opanin Kwame Afoakwah died when he was eleven years old. After the death of his father, the family relocated to Akrokerry, where he grew up. He attended Middle School at the Saint Peter's Boys' School in Kumasi, graduating in 1970. He transferred to Saint John's Secondary School at Sekondi, in the Western Region, Ghana where he obtained his O-Level certificate in 1975.

He studied at the Wesley College of Education, in Kumasi where he graduated with a Teacher Certificate A in 1978. He privately studied for Advanced Level (A-Level) education. He first taught as a teacher at Collins Senior High School, Agogo from 1978 until 1981. From 1981 until 1983, he studied at the Pontifical Urban University, in Rome, Italy where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Education. He studied philosophy and theology at the Saint Peter's Regional Seminary in Pedu, Cape Coast. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion with Sociology from the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra in 1992. He obtained his Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PDGE) from the University of Cape Coast in 2004. In 2010, he graduated with a Master of Science degree in Education at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York State, United States.

Bishop Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Obuasi on 22 November 2014. He was consecrated and installed at Obuasi on 10 January 2015. The Principal Consecrator was Archbishop Gabriel Justice Yaw Anokye, Archbishop of Kumasi assisted by Archbishop Jean-Marie Antoine Joseph Speich, Titular Archbishop of Sulci and Archbishop Thomas Kwaku Mensah, Archbishop Emeritus of Kumasi.