In Person

Evron R. Hughes: Economic Advisor, Office of The President, Ghana

Who am I?

My present is a composite of my past and my future: my birth, my childhood and upbringing, my education and adulthood, my work and life experiences, and my aspirations for the future.

I, and my siblings, grew up poor in Osu, where most of us were born and bred. I attended Teacher Mota Primary school, which, I am sure, you probably never heard of if you never lived in Osu. Memories growing up of the coups of 1979 and 1981 in Osu, which, due to its proximity to “The Castle” was in the eye of the storm still haunts me today. It has contributed in no small measure in how I see the world.

Between Teacher Mota School, then Kinbu Experimental Junior Secondary School (also previously Rowe Road School, attended by President Akufo-Addo), and Accra High School, I played koborlor (truant) in the ‘Mango Forest’ (present-day Labone), at Osu Klottey-e-naa and Nshonaa, and in the Arena-Adedenkpo-Fadama triangle, followed by playing Colts football for Osu Great Heroes and Manchester United. These places are all part of who I am today.

Along the way to becoming, currently, an Economic Advisor at The Presidency (Republic of Ghana), I schooled at University of Ghana and also Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. Add the over thirty years of working in the private and public sectors as a Development Economist, Investment Advisor, and Banker, I have been shaped by learning at the feet of the people I grew up with, my school mates, the people I met and lived with, and those I worked with, from across the world.

From simple huts in remote villages to Presidential Villas across the world, I have been humbled by the power of human empathy, the willingness by people to share of the little and of the abundance they have, and the overarching desire to do good to all manner of persons.

The seventeenth-born of a nineteen-member family, I have experienced the travails and privations of want, and poverty. Growing up poor means understanding the trade-offs ordinary people have to make every day. Trade-offs they’d rather not make, or shouldn’t have to make most times. I’ve learnt how to live with the taunts of the privileged, as well as the joys of perseverance, triumphs and victories of the scorned. And I have been humbled by it all.

I have also lived the privileged life that my education, training, experience, and ‘social status’ has afforded me. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had in life, and to the people who opened doors for me. I have been poor many times, and rich often. And at times have had just enough to keep me afloat. I understand how it feels like in all of these worlds.

I have met and broken bread with my countrymen and women, young and old, rich and poor, privileged and left-behind, seasoned business-owners and struggling young entrepreneurs, students, professionals, labourers, general workers.

And because of this, I am in a unique position to bring the dreams, aspirations, and desires of all Ghanaians to the table of work in my privileged position as a senior public official at the very heart of government business: The Presidency. I proudly, daily, and faithfully, represent my countrymen and women at the decision-making table.

Some say power corrupts. I say power humbles if you know where you’re coming from, and make the interests of the people you serve the center of the power you wield.

God-willing and with the support of as many as are willing, I will continue to serve Ghanaians with empathy, deep understanding, humility, integrity, and with love for country.

This is who I am.