- Source: Michael Edem Akafia
Michael Edem Akafia is a Ghanaian lawyer, tax practitioner and mining executive. He is currently the Vice President for External Affairs at Gold Fields and President of Ghana Chamber of Mines. He previously served as the Vice President for Legal Affairs at the West African operations of Gold Fields Ltd.
Education
Akafia holds a Master of Laws degree from the Queen Mary University of London, an MBA(Finance) from the University of Ghana Business School, a Qualifying Certificate in Law from the Ghana School of Law, a post first degree Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Ghana School of Law, a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Geography from the University of Cape Coast. He also holds a certificate in Environmental Law from the University of Pretoria and studied International Commercial Litigation at the University College London (Summer School).
He was admitted as a tax practitioner by the Chartered Institute of Taxation in 2016 and as an insolvency advisor/practitioner by the Chartered Institute of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors in 2023. He is also licensed by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority as a trustee
Career
Akafia began his career as a legal/research assistant at Lawfields Consulting and continued as an Associate at Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa & Ankomah law firm. He then joined SIC Financial Services Ltd as Head of Legal and subsequently became a member of the Interim Management Committee.
He joined Gold Fields in 2010 and became vice president for Legal and Compliance in 2015 after previously serving as the Legal Manager. He assumed the role of vice president for external affairs and was subsequently elected as the President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines in June 2024. He co-founded Landmark Legal, a law firm in Ghana and has served as an arbitrator at the Vis International Commercial Law Competition, Vienna and Hong Kong. In 2010, he was licensed by Ghana’s Securities Exchange Commission as an investment advisor’s representative.
Akafia represented the Ghana School of Law at the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition in Washington DC and subsequently served as a judge at the international rounds and as Ghana national co-administrator. He was also a part-time lecturer in Business Law and Jurisprudence at Zenith University College.
Honors, awards and recognitions
Michael was recognized in the Legal 500 GC Powerlist: Africa in both 2015 and 2017. He was awarded a Unilever Scholarship tenable at St. Augustine’s College and an NIIT Scholarship.