Samuel Abu Jinapor

Samuel Abu Jinapor is a lawyer and New Patriotic Party (NPP) politician who was Ghana's Minister for Lands and Natural Resources from 2021 to 2025 and represents Damongo in the Savannah Region. At 33 he became the youngest person ever to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff at the presidency.

Physics and law

Jinapor was born in 1983 to Abdulai Jinapor, a former police officer who became Chief of Buipe. He studied physics at KNUST, specialising in biomedical physics, before switching to law at the University of Ghana and the Ghana School of Law. He was called to the Bar in 2012 and rose to senior associate at his law firm, handling commercial litigation and arbitration for foreign companies. In 2025 he completed an MA in international development at SOAS, University of London.

An Akufo-Addo insider

He joined politics in 2004 and at 23 travelled with President Kufuor on a state visit to the United Kingdom. From 2007 he worked as an aide to Nana Akufo-Addo, staying with him through the 2008 and 2012 campaigns. After the 2016 victory Akufo-Addo made him Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of operations.

Lands minister

Elected MP for Damongo in 2020, he was appointed Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in 2021, leading the government's campaign against illegal mining and its forestry programmes. He also acted as caretaker Minister for Trade and Industry in early 2023 and was named oversight minister for energy in July 2024. After the 2024 election he became ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee.