Odeneho Kwaku Appiah

Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, popularly known as COKA, is a Ghanaian politician and the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Delegates elected him on 15 August 2026 to replace Chairman Wontumi, who had been jailed for 20 years in July over illegal mining.

Party career

COKA rose from the grassroots. He served as a ward organiser and ward chairman, as the party's regional financial secretary, and for five terms as NPP Constituency Chairman for Afigya Kwabre. He also chaired the Conference of Constituency Chairmen in the Ashanti Region for two terms. Supporters call him "Asanteman COKA, I Care" for the help he gives constituencies, party members, widows and vulnerable people.

Regional chairmanship

He contested the Ashanti chairmanship twice before and lost both times to Wontumi; in 2022 he polled 306 votes to Wontumi's 464. He launched his third bid in July 2026, promising unity and a "less talk, more work" approach to help the NPP win back power in 2028. At the election at Jubilee Park in Kumasi, with delegates from 45 of the region's 47 constituencies voting, he beat former Bantama MP and former EPA boss Henry Kwabena Kokofu by 663 votes to 269 (one report gives his total as 658). He said there would be a place in his administration for the candidates he defeated.

He holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing and a master's degree in Peace, Security and Intelligence.