Minister in Charge for Private Sector Development

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma North, and the Minister for Private Sector Development, Hon. Kwamina Bartels, was born on October 27, 1947, at Agona Swedru, in the Central Region.


He had his secondary education at Secondi College, Nungua Secondary School and Mfantsipim School between 1961 and 1968, where he sat for the G.C.E. Ordinary and Advanced Level Examinations.

Mr. Bartels gained admission into the University of Ghana in 1968, where he studied law. After obtaining a Bachelor of Law degree in 1971, he studied at the Ghana School of Law to become a professional lawyer.

In 1975, Mr. Bartels obtained certificate in Personnel Management at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). He also had a stint at the University of Ife in Nigeria in 1975, where he did a post-graduate course in University Administration.

Mr. Bartels working experience dates back to 1971 where he served as the Administrative Secretary to the Task Force, Food Distribution under the Ministry of Agriculture. He joined the Ghana Food Distribution Corporation (GFDC) as a secretary in 1973 and in the following year ended up at the Accra Polytechnic as a Part-Time lecturer in Commercial Law.

Mr. Bartels joined the University of Cape Coast as an assistant registrar in charge of Staff Training programmes and also served as Secretary to five Statutory University Committees. The Minister for Private Sector Development joined Addae-Twum and Company, a private legal practitioner. He later left for Nigeria where he worked as a Principal Assistant Registrar of the Anambra State Polytechnic.

Mr. Bartels political career began in 1969 when he served as the Secretary of the University of Ghana branch of the erstwhile Progress Party (PP). He was also a member of the Front for Prevention of Dictatorship, which fought against the UNIGOV concept which was the brain child of the late Gen. Kutu Acheampong in 1978.

The MP for Ablekuma North stood on the ticket of the defunct Popular Front Party (PFP) in 1979 but was defeated by the People's National Party (PNP) candidate in the Parliamentary election.

In 1992, Mr. Bartels was also the parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the Agona West Constituency but the Party boycotted the parliamentary elections because of what it described as electoral malpractice. He shifted camp to the Ablekuma North Constituency where he won the 1996 and 2000 parliamentary polls.