Obed Yao Asamoah

Obed Yao Asamoah (born 6 February 1936) is a Ghanaian lawyer, academic and politician. Asamoah was the longest serving foreign minister and Attorney General of Ghana under Jerry Rawlings from 1981 to 1997. Asamoah was educated at King's College London and at Columbia University.

Early life and education He was born the tenth child of William Kofi Asamoah and Monica Akosua Asamoah, farmers of Bala in the Likpe Traditional Area, a Guan community of the Oti Region of Ghana on 6 February 1936. Asamoah's childhood life as described was an interesting one and his aspirations to become a lawyer started whilst a child, as described in a narration;

Under the guidance of his elder brother, Asamoah passed the Common Entrance Examination in 1949, after primary school education. Then, he had to undergo an interview process with the officials of the secondary school along with the other pupils from the Volta Region seeking admission. This was held in Ho on the campus of Mawuli School, It was there that he met his lifelong friend Capt. Kojo Tsikata, who had also arrived for the interview, from Keta. When the results of the interviews were released, he found out that he had gained admission to Achimota School, and so had Kojo Tsikata.

Career

His childhood inclination for law eventually won the race and he became a lawyer. When he was a student at Columbia Law School, he developed a friendship with one Reginald Bannerman, who, together with Justice Bruce-Lyle and him, later formed the legal partnership of Bruce-Lyle, Bannerman, and Asamoah, Attorneys.

Asamoah returned to Ghana where he entered into academia in 1965, He became a lecturer in law at the University of Ghana.

He was a member of Parliament for the Biakoye constituency, from 1969 to 1972, during the 2nd Republic of Ghana serving as the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. After Ghana went back into multi party democracy in 1993 through his party head by Jerry Rawlings, he was maintained in that role as Minister for Foreign Affairs and due to that makes him the longest-serving Foreign Affairs Minister as he served in that role from 1982 till 1997, when he was fully reappointed to serve as Attorney General and Minister for Justice.

Attorney General of Ghana and Minister for Justice Prior to leaving the foreign Affairs ministry and being appointed to serve as Attorney General of Ghana and Minister for Justice, he had acted in that role from 1993 to 1997 under Jerry Rawlings. He served in this role from 1997 till his party left public office in January 2001.

National Democratic Congress Asamoah was a key figure and instrumental in the formation and growth of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 1993 ahead of the 1993 Ghanaian elections as Ghana was going back into multi party democracy. In 2002, Asamoah replaced Rawlings as head of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), beating former defense minister Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu by just 2 votes. In 2006, he lost his chairmanship position in the party. Not long after the defeat, he later resigned from the party. Asamoah was accused by his party members and other political parties of stealing a huge sum of money from the coffers of the NDC, which he had reported lost from his bedroom in 2004. On 28 August 2006, he and other politicians, most of whom also resigned from the NDC, launched a new political party, the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) of which he is the life Patron. In October 2011, Dr. Obed Asamoah and his Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) re-joins the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which he helped form. He described as "wasteful thinking", suggestions that the DFP merged with the NDC because of ministerial appointment offers. He said the decision by the party to re-unite with the NDC is purely based on the growing internal democracy within the NDC.

Personal life Asamoah's maternal relatives now inhabit Donoaso in Ejisu, whose chief today is Nana Okyere Baffour II and a relation of his. The Ejisu family are descendants of Yaa Asantewaa. Obed Asamoah's family connection with Ejisu continues in exchanges of visits and attendance at funerals by both sides. Asamoah is married to Dr. Yvonne Asamoah, an African American from Syracuse, New York. Together they have a daughter and two sons. He currently resides in Accra, Ghana.

Author Asamoah being an avid reader and legal academic has authored several publications and books. He is the author of The Legal Significance of the Declarations of the General Assembly of the United Nations, which he wrote for his thesis in 1966. He is also the author The Political History of Ghana (1950-2013) The Experience of a Non-Conformist, which he gives an account of his life and struggles within the Gold Coast through colonial rule and fight for independence and the future rivalry between the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) led by Dr. Danquah and other relevant events in the Ghana's history.