Samuel Odoi-Sykes

Samuel Arthur Odoi-Sykes was a Ghanaian lawyer, diplomat and politician. He was Minority Leader of Parliament in the Third Republic, National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the years that led to its first election victory in 2000, and Ghana's High Commissioner to Canada from 2001 to 2006. He died on Monday, 5 October 2026, at the age of 98.

Early life and education

He was born in Accra in 1928 and finished at Accra Academy in 1948. He graduated from the University of Ghana with a BA in History in 1959, studied law in London, was called to the bar at the Inner Temple and was later admitted to the Ghana bar. He also took a diploma in American Foreign Policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.

Diplomatic career

After teaching at Abuakwa State College in Kyebi and working as an information officer, he joined the Foreign Service in 1961 as First Secretary at the High Commission in New Delhi. He was press attaché in Washington from 1963, then headed Ghana's information services for the US and the Caribbean and later the Overseas Information Directorate in Accra. He served as Minister-Counsellor and deputy ambassador in Moscow from 1969 to 1970 and as Deputy High Commissioner in London from 1970 to 1972. After the 1972 coup he worked as a senior administrative officer at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

Politics

In the 1979 elections he won the Ashiedu Keteke seat in Accra Central, and in 1980 he became parliamentary leader of the Popular Front Party and Minority Leader, serving until the 31 December 1981 coup ended the Third Republic. In the Fourth Republic he was a founding member of the NPP, chaired its Greater Accra branch from 1995 to 1998 and was National Chairman from 1998 to 2001, a period the party credits with uniting it before John Kufuor won the presidency in December 2000. President Kufuor then sent him to Ottawa as High Commissioner to Canada, where he served from October 2001 to 2006.

Death and tributes

His family announced that he died on 5 October 2026. The NPP called him one of the founding pillars of the party and a distinguished statesman, and its 2024 flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, said his contribution to the party and to Ghana would never be forgotten.