Michael Edem Akafia is the Vice President of External Affairs at Gold Fields West Africa. He joined Gold Fields in 2010 and became the Vice President and Head of Legal and Compliance in March 2015. He played a key part in the execution of many mining sector projects including a seminal role in unlocking the US$1.4 billion Damang Mine Reinvestment Project, the multi-million-dollar 66MW embedded power plant for the Tarkwa Gold Mine, the 25.5MW embedded power plant at the Damang Gold Mine and US$1.2billion outsourced mining contracts to Ghanaian mining contractors.
He has a multi-disciplinary background in law, economics, tax, and finance and was licensed by Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission in 2009 as an Investment Advisor’s Representative and was admitted by the Chartered Institute of Taxation as a Tax Practitioner in 2016, licensed by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority as pensions funds trustee in 2014 and the Registrar of Companies as an Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor in 2023. He was also appointed a notary public by the Chief Justice in 2022.
Edem Akafia has previously worked for SIC Financial Services Limited (SIC-FSL) as Head of Legal and Company Secretary, Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa, and Ankomah law firm as an Associate, and for Lawfields Consulting as Research and Legal Assistant.
He previously lectured business law and jurisprudence at Zenith University College and served on several Boards including Enterprise Tier 2 Pension Scheme.
He is a past Chairman of the Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee of the Ghana Chamber of Mines and previously served on the Energy Committee.
Edem studied International Commercial Litigation at the University College London, obtained an LLM in International Dispute Resolution from the Queen Mary University of London, an MBA (Finance) from the University of Ghana Business School, a certificate in Environmental Law from the University of Pretoria, Qualifying Certificate in Law from the Ghana School of Law, an LLB from the University of Ghana School of Law and a BA (Econs & Geog) from the University of Cape Coast.
