Samuel Odoi-Sykes

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Samuel Odoi-Sykes
Ghana High Commissioner to  Canada
In office October, 2001 – 18 August 2002
Preceded by
Succeeded by	Margaret Ivy Amoakohene
Member of Parliament for Ashiedu Keteke Constituency
In office 1979–1981
Preceded by	Parliament formed
Succeeded by	Parliament Abolished
Personal details
Born	Samuel Arthur Odoi-Sykes 1928 (age 92–93) Accra, British Gold Coast
Nationality	Ghanaian
Alma mater	University of Ghana University of London Johns Hopkins University
Occupation	Barrister-at-Law
Known for	New Patriotic Party founding member

Samuel Arthur Odoi-Sykes is a Ghanaian politician and diplomat.^[1] A New Patriotic Party member, he served as party chair from 1998 to 2001. He was appointed Ghana's High Commissioner to Canada, serving from 2001 to 2002. He had previously served as Member of Parliament for Accra Central in the third Ghanaian Republic and was the Parliamentary leader for the opposition Popular Front Party, the largest minority group in the parliament of the third republic.

He is a member of the Inner Temple, England. He was called to the bar at the British Inner Temple, London and the Ghana Bar. He is a Lawyer and Attorney of the Supreme Court of Ghana and a member of the Ghana Bar Association.

Early life[]

Samuel Arthur Odoi Sykes was born in Accra.

He entered and graduated with a History degree from the University of Ghana, Legon. Whilst there, he was General Secretary of the National Union of Ghana Students and founder and leader of the student wing of United Party at the University of Ghana. Odoi-Sykes studied law at the University of London and qualified as a Barrister-at-Law at the Innner Temple. He also studied "Foreign Policy of the United States" at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C..

Early career[]

He began his career as a teacher at the Abuakwa State College, Kyebi, in the Eastern Region. He was later moved to the Ministry of Information as an Information Officer. In 1963 he joined the Foreign Service.

He was the first secretary of the Ghana High Commission to India, New Delhi. In 1963 he was responsible for public relations in Washington, D.C. He was director of the Department of Information Services of Ghana in the United States and the Caribbean. He was director of the Overseas Information Directorate for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Accra. He was Minister Counselor and Deputy Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Moscow. He was Deputy High Commissioner in London and served as senior administrative officer in the Commonwealth Secretariate, London.

Politics[]

He was a founding member of the Progress Party in 1969. That same year he was elected as a member of the Accra Municipal Council.

He was also a founding member of the Popular Front Party. In 1979 he was elected as a member of Parliament of the Third Republic by the Accra Central Constituency (Ashiedu Keteke) as a candidate of the Popular Front Party and served as leader of the parliamentary faction for the Popular Front Party in Parliament.

He is a member of the National Executive Committee of the New Patriotic Party. From 1998 to 2001 he was Chairman of the New Patriotic Party and led the party to victory in the national presidential and legislative elections in December 2000.^[2]

From October 2001 to August 18, 2002, he was Ghana's High Commissioner to Canada, Ottawa.

Sources[]