Biography
Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah born 15 December 1942 is a Ghanaian diplomat and a member of the New Patriotic Party of Ghana. He was Ghana’s ambassador to United States of America from 2017 to 2021
Barfuor was born on 15 December 1942 in Kumasi, Gold Coast. He had his secondary education at Prempeh College completing in 1965. He continued to the University of Ghana, Legon where he earned a B.A. in geography in 1965. He proceeded to the United States of America later on to pursue his master’s degree in Geography at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee graduating in 1968 and his PhD in geography at the Indiana University Bloomington graduating in 1972. His dissertation was entitled “Socio-economic regions in the Louisville ghetto”. He also co-authored the paper “Some comparative aspects of the West African Zongo and the Black American Ghetto” with Harold M. Rose.
Career
After completing his studies abroad, he returned to Ghana to work as a lecturer and a research fellow at the University of Ghana while working part-time as a television host with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation from 1972 to 1975. He worked for eight years as the executive director of the Ghana Tourist Board from 1975 to 1983 then left Ghana for the United Kingdom. Four years later he was employed as a community liaison officer in Kent, England, he served in this position for a year.
In 1989 he earned a certificate in counselling from the Center for Advancement in Counselling in London. Barfuor was employed as a senior lecturer at Bexley College, London working in the field of adult education from 1989 to 1991. He was head of faculty access and development at Hackney Community College from 1991 to 1993. From 1993 to 2001, he worked as the lead adviser at the Learning and Skills Development Agency, a publicly funded organization that supported continuing education in England. As advisor, he provided consultancy and training to many institutions in Ghana, England and Wales.
Political Career
He returned to Ghana in 2001, a few months after the New Patriotic Party had won the 2000 presidential elections. A year later he was appointed Ghana’s ambassador to Japan with concurrent accreditation to Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Singapore. He served in this capacity for seven years, leaving temporarily in September 2007 to contest as a presidential aspirant for the New Patriotic Party, and leaving permanently before Ghana’s 2008 presidential election, which the NPP lost.
He returned to the United Kingdom in 2013 and worked for three years as co-chair of Charles Chanan, Ltd, an executive search firm in London. In 2017 he was appointed Ghana’s ambassador to the United States of America by the current President of the republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo.
Educational Career
Dr. Adjei-Barwuah, is currently a Professor and Distinguished Statesman in Residence at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Before taking this position at WPI, he had served as Ambassador of Ghana to the United States of America with concurrent Accreditation to Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic. His first Ambassadorial assignment was as Ambassador to Japan with concurrent accreditation to Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
Dr. Adjei-Barwuah previously served in the following capacities: Development Advisor in the Learning and Skills Development Agency of England; Head of Access and Development at London’s Hackney Adult Education Institute; Senior Lecturer at Erith College of Technology in Bexley, England; part-time Lecturer at the London Open College.
Dr. Adjei-Barwuah worked for eight years as the Executive Director of the Ghana Tourist Board. He had previously served as a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the University of Ghana. He was also a part-time Lecturer at the United Nations Regional Population Institute in Accra, Ghana, besides being the host for a weekly discussion program on Ghana Television from 1972 to 1975. He served as the inaugural Dean of the Business School at the African University of Communications in Accra, Ghana.
Dr. Adjei-Barwuah earned BA (Geography) degree from the University of Ghana, a Master of Science Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a PhD from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
He has a counselling qualification from London’s Centre of Advancement of Counselling and owns a consultancy firm – Learning Works Consult- in Accra, Ghana. He is currently developing a Girls Academy in the sciences as well as a kindergarten in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.