LIFE & LEGACY OF FELIX NTRAKWAH, ESQ.
◆ From Humble Beginnings to Greatness ◆
BIRTH
Felix Ntrakwah was born on November 29, 1949, at Asikuma, near Dunkwa-on-Offin, to Opanin James Yaw Ntrakwah (chief of Jukwa Abrafo, with the stool name, Nana Amoaten) and Madam Anna Aidoo Ntrakwah, popularly known as Maame Akosua Addae of Asikuma, both of blessed memory. Jukwa Abrafo and Asikuma are two villages in the Denkyira Traditional Area in the Central Region of the Republic of Ghana.
EDUCATION
Felix Ntrakwah briefly attended the Catholic Primary School at Asikuma but switched to the Abrafo-Odumasi Catholic Primary School at Odumasi when his parents moved to Abrafo. He proceeded to middle school at the Local Authority Catholic Middle School located at Abrafo. Thereafter, he attended Dunkwa Secondary School, now known as Boa-Amponsem Senior High School. Felix Ntrakwah studied law at the University of Ghana, continued at the Ghana School of Law, and was called to the bar in 1975. He was further educated as a Legislative Draftsman and subsequently trained in Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK in Industrial Property, an aspect of Intellectual Property Law.
WORK & PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Felix Ntrakwah did his National Service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After that, he was employed as an Assistant State Attorney at the Attorney General’s Department and seconded to the Registrar General’s Department. He started part-time teaching of Company Law at the Institute of Professional Studies, now University of Professional Studies. He also taught Company Law at the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana, to train accounting students.
He began private law practice in the first week of July 1981 from a single room in a printing press at Nima in Accra. However, in 1984, he established Ntrakwah and Co., Legal Practitioners and Consultants, to take over this solo private practice. Later, he also established Corporate Law Institute, a training institute for lawyers and business executives, and Corporate Profile Limited, a company secretarial practice firm.
Felix Ntrakwah was a member of the International Bar Association (IBA), and in that capacity, he gave an impactful speech at their 2005 conference in Lagos, Nigeria. He was also a member of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) and was a speaker at the 2007 CLA conference in Hong Kong and Glasgow, Scotland. Again, he delivered a paper on “Serving as a Director” in Melbourne, Australia. In 2012, Felix Ntrakwah was appointed an alternate member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Court of International Commercial Arbitration in Paris, France.
He received recognition and various awards for his mastery of Company Law, and Corporate and Commercial Law. He was celebrated as a Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America in Scottsdale, Arizona.
In 2015, he was appointed by the Ministry of Finance as a member of the Task Force, which was responsible for developing a concept note to prepare a draft bill for creating a single entity to ensure good corporate governance and single ownership of state interest. This eventually led to the passage of the State Interests and Governance Authority Act 2019 (Act 990) and the establishment of State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA). He served as a member of the Committee of Experts on Business Law Reform, which worked on the bill for new company legislation in Ghana. He also worked as an expert with the parliamentary committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs in drafting the Companies Bill. The Companies Bill finally became law: Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992). In 2019, he received an award from the Ghana Association of Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners (GARIA) for his contribution to business law reforms in relation to the passage of the Companies Act 2019 (Act 992). The plaque was handed over to him by the then President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Felix Ntrakwah was a director of various entities, including Ghana Commercial Bank (now GCB Bank PLC), Ghana Heavy Equipment LTD, NTHC LTD, Jislah Financial Services LTD, Mainstream Reinsurance Company LTD, Ghana Oil Palm Development Company (GOPDC), and SIGA. He was the Chairman of Financial Investment Trust established by the Bank of Ghana, Chairman of Eximguaranty Company Ghana LTD, Chairman of Export Finance Company LTD, Chairman of The Royal Senchi LTD, and Chairman of African Tiger Holding LTD. He also served as company secretary of many companies.
Later, he returned to teaching LLM and MA students in the Alternative Dispute Resolution course at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana. He subsequently taught Company and Commercial Practice at the Ghana School of Law.
Notable cases handled by him include Sam (No 2) v Attorney General [2000] SCGLR 305 and PS Investments Limited v Central Regional Development Corporation (CEREDEC) and 13 Others [2012] 1 SCGLR 611.
He was the author of various articles and the book entitled The Companies Act, 2009, Act 992: Obligations, Defaults, and Penalties. He was also a contributing author of the book entitled Companies, Corporate Insolvency, and Restructuring in Ghana: The Law and Practice.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
A scholarship scheme was instituted under his leadership as Chairman of the Denkyira Executive Club. He also established the Ntrakwah Foundation as a medium for supporting the poor and needy. He drilled boreholes and provided books for his alma mater, Boa-Amponsem Senior High School, and provided street lights for his hometown, Asikuma.
RELIGIOUS LIFE
Felix Ntrakwah was a practicing Catholic. He always stressed to his children the importance of attending church together as a family—something each of his children strives to do. He supported the St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Asikuma in many ways, including building a grotto and rectory, and renovating the church. He also contributed to Christ the King Catholic Church in Accra, which led to him receiving a Papal Award. This explains the picture taken with the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana published in the Apostolic Nuncio’s book.
WIFE & CHILDREN
Felix Ntrakwah was married to Abena Nketiaa Ntrakwah, a retired librarian who holds a Master’s Degree in Librarianship from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and had four lovely children with her. The firstborn, Abena Ntrakwah-Mensah, is a lawyer and the Managing Partner of Ntrakwah and Co., Nana Yaw Ntrakwah is a lawyer and Partner at Ntrakwah and Co., Kwadwo Gyasi Ntrakwah, a lawyer and Partner at Ntrakwah and Co., and Dr. Adwoa Ekwem (née Ntrakwah), a medical doctor at Worcester Royal Hospital, UK.
IN-LAWS & GRANDCHILDREN
Abena Ntrakwah-Mensah is married to Mr. Ernest Mensah (a business executive), and they have a daughter, Danielle Mensah, affectionately called “Coco.” Nana Yaw Ntrakwah is married to Yvette-Marie Ntrakwah (Associate Partner, EY Ghana), and they have two children, Sean Felix Nana Kofi Odame Ntrakwah and Afua Oforiwaa Ntrakwah. Kwadwo Gyasi Ntrakwah is married to Akua Ntrakwah (a business executive), and they have two children, Afua Nketiaa Ntrakwah and Maame Yaa Ansomaa Ntrakwah. Dr. Adwoa Ekwem is married to Dr. Arinze Ekwem (a pharmacist).