Major (Rtd.) Amarkai Amarteifio

Barrister · Retired Military Officer · Former Minister of State · Former Consul General of Sweden · Sports Administrator · Community Leader

Major (Rtd.) Amarkai Amarteifio is the Founder and Master of Chambers of Amarteifio & Co., and one of Ghana's most distinguished legal statesmen — a career spanning more than five decades across law, military service, government, diplomacy, sports administration, corporate governance and community leadership.

He is more than the founder of a law firm. He is its foundational figure and the custodian of its institutional values, having built a career shaped by the courtroom, the boardroom, government, the military and the international diplomatic community in equal measure. Measured in word but formidable in influence, his leadership has consistently been defined by discipline, strategic foresight, sound judgement and ethical clarity.

Education and Call to the Bar

Born in Ghana on 15 April 1943, Major Amarteifio was educated in the United Kingdom, attending Lanchester College, Coventry, before reading law at Holborn College, University of London, where he obtained his LL.B. in 1968. He trained at the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple and was called to the English Bar in 1970 — a foundation that would carry him into private practice, government, international diplomacy, arbitration and corporate governance.

Legal Career and the Founding of Amarteifio & Co.

Before entering private practice, he served as Assistant Director of Legal Services at Ghana's Ministry of Defence, combining his legal training with his standing as an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces. In 1980, he founded Amarteifio & Co. on a vision of discipline, integrity, strategic counsel and international relevance — a vision the firm has sustained for over four decades.

His practice has covered corporate and commercial law, international business transactions, investment law, civil litigation, alternative dispute resolution, intellectual property, immigration, estates and real property, trusts, and admiralty and shipping law. He is a member of the Ghana Bar Association and the International Bar Association, and a founding member of the Ghana Arbitration Centre, on whose Governing Council he has served — reflecting his long-standing commitment to strengthening arbitration in Ghana. As Master of Chambers, he now provides senior strategic oversight and mentorship to the lawyers carrying the firm's legacy forward.

Military Service and Public Life

A retired officer of the Ghana Armed Forces holding the rank of Major, his military service instilled the discipline that would later inform both his legal practice and his public service. Under the PNDC administration, he served as Secretary for the Greater Accra Region (1982–1983) before becoming Secretary/Minister for Youth and Sports (1983–1986), placing him at the centre of a formative period in Ghana's national administration and sporting development.

Diplomacy and International Consular Leadership

Diplomacy forms one of the most distinguished chapters of his career. He served for nearly 26 years as Honorary Consul/Consul General of Sweden in Ghana, and for approximately 16 years as Dean of the Honorary Consular Corps of Ghana. Internationally, he became in 2000 the first African elected to the Executive Board of the World Federation of Consuls (FICAC), was later re-elected, and chaired FICAC's Legal Committee before serving as Chairperson of FICAC Africa from 2009 to 2012. On concluding his consular service, the Honorary Consular Corps of Ghana conferred on him the title of Dean Emeritus.

Sports Administration

Beyond his ministerial role in youth and sport, Major Amarteifio has maintained a long association with Accra Great Olympics Football Club, serving on several occasions as Chairman of its Board of Directors, and has been a patron of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana. In 2025, Ghana's Minister for Sports and Recreation appointed him Chairman of a seven-member Committee of Enquiry into the death of Nigerian boxer Gabriel Oluwasegun Olanrewaju following a sanctioned bout in Accra. The Committee completed its investigation and submitted its report, which the Ministry accepted, with reforms now underway — a further mark of the national confidence placed in his judgement.

Community Leadership and Youth Development

His commitment to service extends into the La and wider Accra communities, where he chairs the La Mansaamo Kpee Development Association, championing education, skills development and youth engagement with technology and artificial intelligence. This commitment has deep roots: in 2005, he donated books and computers to the Ga Mashie Community Library at Bukom, reflecting his conviction that education is central to overcoming poverty and disadvantage.

Corporate Governance

Major Amarteifio also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Services Integrity Savings and Loans Limited, having previously served as a non-executive director — a role that complements his practice in corporate and commercial law and reflects his grasp of institutional accountability and fiduciary responsibility.

A Life of Service

Major (Rtd.) Amarkai Amarteifio's career resists definition by any single title. He has served Ghana as lawyer, soldier, public official, diplomat, sports administrator, corporate director and community leader — and across each sphere, the same philosophy holds: service, discipline, integrity and a commitment to institutional excellence.

His enduring legacy is Amarteifio & Co., the firm he founded in 1980 and continues to guide as Master of Chambers — its senior statesman, mentor and custodian of institutional values. His influence lives on not only in the firm he built, but in the lawyers he has mentored, the institutions he has served, and the communities he continues to invest in. For more than five decades, his legacy has been measured not by the offices he has held, but by what he has built, upheld and inspired in those who follow.