The Mahama government has announced the appointment of Dr. Jacob Paarechuga Anankware as the new Deputy Chief Executive (General Service) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
This appointment comes at a critical time when the nation is grappling with pressing environmental challenges, including climate change, deforestation, and pollution.
According to his profile, Dr. Jacob Paarechuga Anankware is a Ghanaian and a pioneer entomophagical entomologist in Africa, having obtained a PhD in Entomology from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in November, 2016.
Prior to his appointment as Deputy CEO of the Environmental Protection Authority, Dr. Anankware began a teaching, research and practice career at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) about a decade ago and rose to a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Horticulture and Crop Production and Vice Dean of Students.
He has developed an active and engaged International academic and scholarly career, holding post-doctoral scholarly positions at the University of Michigan, and New York University School of Medicine, USA, focusing on Research Ethics and Integrity in 2020.
He is a 2017 Mandela Washington Fellow at the Purdue University, USA, and Humboldt Scholar at the Humboldt University in Germany in 2018.
He successfully won and led several projects grants including a recent US$2 million DANIDA funded project on the nexus of agriculture, nutrition and infectious diseases, and how edible insects can contribute to mitigating the injuriousness caused by iron-deficiency anaemia.
He has over 44 publications in peer reviewed journals to his credit.
Prior to joining UENR, Dr. Anankware worked as a consultant at Vestergaard Frandsen (Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research), Legon from 2012 to 2013 during which he established the largest insectary in Ghana from scratch; developed rearing protocols for major storage pests and conducted bioassays for the popular deltamethrin-impregnated ZeroFly grain storage bag. He also worked as Deputy Country Director of Fish for Africa; an International NGO specialised in rearing insects for protein in feed.
As part of his role, he joined a team of International Research scientists to successfully bid for US$3M from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Swiss National Science Foundation for a research project on global issues for development.
Under the auspices of the International NGO Aspire Food Group, which focused on rearing edible insects for human consumption, Dr. Anankware was engaged as the Ghana Country Director and helped to build Aspire Food Group from scratch with a US$1million grant from the Bill Clinton Global Initiative and the Hult Prize.
Dr. Anankware had his secondary education at the Navrongo Secondary School (Navasco) from 2001-2004 and Bachelor of Science in Applied Biology from the University for Development Studies (UDS) from 2005-2009.
He pursued the MPhil in Entomology at the University of Ghana, Legon from 2010-2012 during which he won US$13,500.00 grant from the Bill and Melinda gates foundation to complete his research project in Entomology.
He is Founder and CEO of AnePaare Farms, a global player in entomophagy (eating of insects), and he is married with 3 children.
In his new role, Dr. Anankware will oversee the EPA’s general services division, focusing on strengthening regulatory frameworks, promoting public awareness, and ensuring the effective implementation of environmental policies.
Environmental advocates have welcomed Dr. Anankware’s appointment, describing it as a step in the right direction. However, they have also urged the government to provide the necessary resources and support to enable the EPA to fulfill its mandate effectively.
By: Claude Kumi Abisa-Sunyani, Bono Region