Ace Ankomah Opens Up...

He graduated from the University of Ghana, Legon (LL.B., 1990), attended the Ghana Law School (Q.C.L, 1992) and Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada (LL.M., 1994) and has received a number of recognitions including Legon Hall Exhibition Award, 1988; Law Students' Union, the Ghana Bar Association Prize for Outstanding Academic Performance, 1991 and the Queen's Dean of Graduate Studies and Queen's Graduate Awards, 1993-1994.

Ace Ankomah is his name; a husband, father, celebrated lawyer, fighter and of course a musician.

As he sat with Kwabena Kyenkyenhene Boateng on ’21 Minutes with KKB’, he addressed many issues including the recent altercation with a feminist, his thoughts about marriage, OccupyGhana as well as his commitment to obeying rules.

Few weeks ago, the argument on whether or not a wife should be cooking for her husband took an interesting turn when Ace Ankomah engaged in a war of words with Dela Goldheart – a feminist who attacked him for suggesting that the kitchen was part of a woman’s responsibilities.

The legal brain described his own reaction to the feminism brouhaha as “overboard” but was quick to add that, “there are times you need to kill a fly with a sledge hammer.”

Mr Ankomah, who finds no fault in engaging in a healthy debate, as it is the wont of his profession mentioned that the only thing he was unwilling to entertain was an attack on his family, stressing that “…it went to my wife. In a very crude and profane manner, from a young lady.”

In fact, the eccentric lawyer says he would not object to a drink with the ‘radical feminist’ on condition that “If we can respect each other, then why not,” he added.

According to him, “fighting” puts food on his table, therefore, banters such as this, “does not make me wrong or right.”

About his wife

Nobody has more praise for the spouse than Ace who thinks Mrs Josephine Anan Ankomah’s 25 years of experience as a banker, coupled with her home management skills are enough qualifications for any role she may want to undertake.

He describes the wife as “a woman who’s established herself in her own right”.

Mrs. Ankomah who has over 20 years of experience in banking, currently serves as the Managing Director of Ecobank, Gambia.

Ace asserted he would have no objection to her settling for a career in politics, in the future, however near.

Run your marriage as you see fit

Mr Ankomah touched on the practice of going through counselling before marriage and is proud to say that “none of that has worked for my marriage.”

In fact, he claims he has kept notes from his marriage counselling but has never adhered to any of those rules in his marital bliss.

“To each, his or her own.” This is how he describes the different styles of marriage that works for different people under different circumstances.
He does not believe that there is one formula for all marriages that couples ought to abide by.

That is why the brouhaha on Facebook was all for nothing, seeing as the decision as to who goes to the kitchen or who runs the money of the family should be solely decided by the couple.

He added that, “…I hardly write the cheque; she runs the money, she runs the house,” referring to Mrs Ankomah.

He advised that, pre-marital counselling should give the couple perspective;
“It is not a set of rules, it is not a mark or laying down rules,” he stressed.

Mr Ankomah believes that what works for one marriage might break the other, hence the importance of finding out what works in order for them to stay together.

Occupy Ghana is political not partisan

“Occupy Ghana is a political organization”, as is Citizen Ghana, which is made up of members who broke away from ‘Occupy Ghana’.

But speaking for his group, Ace said, “we welcome people with different political views,” debunking claims that the group is partisan in any way.

According to him, some of the sanctions such as resignation to the common floor, can be meted out to any member who breaks the rule of non-partisanship.

Members of the group such as George Andah who have evolved to serious political positions no longer hold executive roles in the group, but remain members anyway.

He also discredited assertions that the group had been dormant since the inception of the Akufo Addo led NPP government.

“2017 was our most active year. At our last check, we’d issued 30 press statements, and that’s how we operate,” he argued.

"...in our first press statement, we criticised the 110 ministers," he added.

In addition to this, he claimed that the group had attended protests, put together by other organisations. To back his claim, Ace cited the ‘Dumsor Must Stop’ protest.

The group is bent on attacking any act of any government in power that it deems inappropriate and is known for taking legal action against reports that it deems questionable.

In the future, Citizen Ghana hopes to continue the good work it has begun by paying attention to any government decision that needs constructive criticism.

“We were able to influence policy under the NDC and we have been able to influence policy, under the NPP,” Ace boasted.

Ace does not break any rules

In the fight against corruption, the litigator is certain that “we have a system that is set up to be corrupt.”

He questioned the wisdom behind some minor offences, like traffic offences, that wasted time to be settled in court and said this paved the way for petty corrupt funds to be paid instead.

Asked if he had ever been in a position where he had to bribe his way out, Ace said “I will not pay a bribe.”

According to him, officials refuse even minor tips from him, jokingly adding that, “people don’t like my money.”

He would rather beg than break the law.

Ace Ankomah says he is absolutely in favour of the newly created Special Prosecutor’s Office, stating that the position is not a duplication of roles. Instead, it is an important addition to the already existent judicial bodies.