Former General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John, is dead. He is reported to have died in Accra after a short illness. Until his death, Sir John was the CEO of the Forestry Commission. He died after testing positive for Covid-19.
He succumbed to complications of the disease while undergoing treatment at the ICU of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
Mr Owusu Afriyie became CEO of the Forestry Commission in March 2017 after being appointed to that position by President Akufo-Addo.
The lawyer cum politician had previously served as general secretary of the governing party between 2010 and 2014.
Sources say he was admitted to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital last Thursday and he was moved to the ICU when he started experiencing breathing difficulties.
He was subsequently placed on a ventilator.
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Sir John was born in the Ashanti Region and he attended Seventh Day Adventist Secondary School in Bekwai from where he obtained his GCE Ordinary level certificate.
He proceeded to obtain his GCE Advanced level certificate from Konongo Odumase Secondary School in Konongo.
Mr Owusu Afriyie was admitted to study political science at the University of Ghana after which he enrolled at the Ghana School of Law where he graduated with Bachelor of Laws.
He was then admitted as a solicitor and counsel for the Supreme Court of Ghana. Sir John entered into private law practice in 1981.
During the John Agyekum Kufour administration, he was appointed head of legal services at the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
He was later made to act as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the corporation.
While managing his firm, Afriyie was also actively engaged in Ghanaian politics.
He lost his bid to secure a second term to Kwabena Agyapong. In May 2017, while serving as the CEO of the Forestry Commission, he publicly declared that he would contest the New Patriotic Party’s general secretary elections if there was an overwhelming call for him to do so.