Oheneba Akwasi Abayie
Manhyia Palace-Kumase, Ghana
Oheneba Lovelace Prempeh was born and raised in Manhyia Palace, Kumasi. He is the son of Otumfuo Sir Osei Agyeman Prempeh II, Asantehene (1931 – 1970). At Manhyia palace he is called Oheneba Akwasi Abayie, his name at birth. His early childhood education commenced in Kumasi; enrolling first at the age of six at the Government Boys School and then attended Prempeh College for his secondary education. He left Ghana in 1964 for England to continue with his education. In September 1965, he won admission to Lancaster University, England to read Economics and International Politics. He successfully graduated in 1968 with a BA honours in Economics.
Lovelace has a rich experience in finance and business management, acquired over the years from the United Kingdom and Ghana. After University, he started his professional career in London and served his articles with the International firm of Coopers and Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers), Chartered Accountants. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1974, he joined the Audit and Finance Department of EMI Group, the British Industrial and Commercial conglomerate based in London. He returned to Ghana in 1975 to join Peat Marwick & Co., now KPMG, a reputable international firm of Chartered Accountants as an Audit Manager. Whilst at KPMG in Ghana he was engaged in the audits of a broad spectrum of business organizations, i.e. Breweries, Banks, Commercial firms and Manufacturing companies. He also trained and mentored several young aspiring accountants and was an active member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana whose members benefited from his lectures on corporate governance, professional standards and advocacy. He subsequently became a council member of the Ghana Institute and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
In 1979, he was appointed Financial Controller and Director of SCOA Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of a major French Company then based in Accra with branches throughout the country. He stayed in SCOA for nine years until May 1988 when he was appointed Deputy Managing Director (Finance & Administration) of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) LTD. It was during his thirteen years working life at TOR that he acquired significant knowledge and experience in the Oil and Gas Industry.
As Deputy Managing Director (Finance & Administration) of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) LTD, Lovelace interacted with the Top Management of the Oil Marketing Companies in Ghana, i.e., Shell, Mobil, ELF, Goil, Oando, GNPC and others. He also interacted with the Executive Management of Banks which were directly involved in Oil Import financing, e.g. GCB Bank, SG-SSB Bank, CAL Bank, First Atlantic Merchant Bank, Barclays Bank of Ghana Ltd., Standard Chartered Bank Ltd. and Ecobank Ghana Ltd.
Lovelace worked closely with the Ministries of Energy and Finance, the Energy Commission, and other Governmental Agencies on matters of oil financing and oil security in the country. In 1998, under the direction of the Bank of Ghana, Lovelace successfully organised the above –mentioned seven local banks for financing of the Country’s oil imports. Lovelace was a member of the Government’s negotiating team which finalized the Credit Agreement in South Korea, in February 1999 with Samsung Corporation for the financing and construction of the USD 300 million Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) Plant at TOR, which significantly increased the production capacity of the Refinery.
Lovelace retired voluntarily and honourably from TOR in February 2001. He has since forged a career as an independent Corporate and Financial consultant with a focus on developing and implementing commercial solutions for the Energy sector and is currently the Executive Chairman of Lillygold Energy Resources Limited, an Oil Marketing Company in Ghana. He has served on the boards of several companies including GCB Bank Ltd and TV3 Network Limited. He currently serves on the board of SDC Finance Company and is the Chairman of the board of Densu Industries Ltd.
In recognition of his exemplary career in finance and his universally cherished character and commitment to traditional matters and indeed as a Prince of the Golden Stool, Lovelace was enstooled “Akomforehene” - royal Chief of the Manhyia Palace, by his Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene in 2012. He has since travelled extensively with the King and built and consolidated several important relationships whilst hosting royalty, political leaders and several high ranking dignitaries. He and his wife Jocelyn have been blessed with five daughters, a son and thirteen grandchildren.
Empire Rising: The Dynastic History of Asante from 17th to 21st Century
Abstract
Since the first millennium, West Africa has witnessed the rise and fall of many a kingdom and empire, including Old Ghana, Old Mali, and Tukulor. Several other West African kingdoms have, however, withstood the test of time, evolving through complex and challenging historical processes. One such polity is the Asante Kingdom in present-day Ghana. The Kingdom of Asante forms part of the broader Akan ethnicity and boasts the last of all Akan polities to be founded in the late seventeenth century. Although the “youngest” of all the Akan States, Asante rapidly evolved as the most powerful Akan kingdom and one of the superpowers in coastal West Africa throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. According to the distinguished African historian Ivor Wilks, by the mid-nineteenth century, Asante had expanded so vastly, covering a territory bigger than present-day Ghana (Wilks, 1993: 203). Asante’s rapid expansion resulted from the military, diplomatic, commercial, and socio-political activities of its leaders, both kings and queens.
About the Coit-Phelps Lecture
The Coit-Phelps Fund was established in 2012, through a generous gift from Susan Napier (Goldthwaite Professor of Rhetoric, International Literary and Cultural Studies, Tufts University) and her husband Stephen Coit (portraitist and former teaching assistant at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts University) to support the Center for the Humanities at Tufts in its efforts to create a forum for sustained intellectual vibrancy across the disciplines of the humanities and beyond. With a love of the arts, the donors especially intended the Coit-Phelps fund to facilitate the intercultural contribution of the creative imagination. Since 2012, The Center for Humanities has used this fund to advance interdisciplinary work in the humanities through an annual lecture, conference, or symposium. Our lectures usually take place in the early spring. Look for details on our events page.
The 2025 Coit-Phelps Keynote considers Asante in history, exploring the position and contributions of its kings and queens in the making of the kingdom. Our keynote speaker, Oheneba Akwasi Abayie, an oral historian and a royal from the Asante king’s lineage, will offer an oral historical analysis of the Asante dynastic past from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century. Abayie will trace the successions of all Asante kings and queens and map historical relationships between these leaders across time and space. Abayie’s oral historical narrative will be punctuated by vibrant musical performances from master drummers, singers, and dancers of Asante, Ewe, and Dagbon musical traditions.
