The newly appointed Board Chairman of the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) Prof. Thomas Mba Akabzaa has reportedly died.
Prof. Akabzaa is said to have died in the afternoon of April 17, 2025 in Accra after battling ill health.
An academic and a politician, he served in various positions in the academia and in government.
According to the University of Ghana’s website, where he served for many years, Prof. Akabzaa held Bachelors and PhD degrees in Geology with Physics and Geology, respectively, from the University of Ghana and a Masters Degree in Mining Engineering with Mineral Economics specialty from McGill University, Canada.
He worked at UG’s Department of Geology and was, in 2008, made head of the Department, a position he held until 2010.
During his stint as Head of Department, Prof. Akabzaa led a radical division of the department’s academic programmes and was instrumental in changing its name to the Department of Earth Science to reflect its programmes coverage and global trends, the university said.
He was appointed Chief Director of the Ministry of Energy in January 2011 under the Mills administration. He served in that position until July 2017. For the years 2013 and 2014, he was adjudged the best performing Chief Director and second and third best performing in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
He was a key member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and played very critical roles in the party’s campaign especially in Bongo where he hailed from.
Following the NDC’s return to power, he was appointed to chair the newly constituted board of PURC.
The board was inaugurated on March 28, 2025 in his absentia as he was not well.
He also served as Rector of the Bolgatanga Polytechnic now Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) in 2009 and 2011.
