Lifestyle

Working to achieve results is my passion – Heroine .S. Boakye (ACF)

 “Working to achieve results is my passion and I believe in leaving a mark in whatever I found myself doing. As a woman when people see you at the top, they think otherwise about you, it has not been easy.”

These are the words of the Bono Regional Commander of Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACF) Madam Heroine S. Boakye

Just like her name suggests – Heroine, the first female fire commander posted to the Bono Region  fought and conquered many battles that came her way both in her private life  and workplace.

Born on 17th May, 1966, to Staff Sergeant Joseph Yiadom Boakye (Ghana Air Force) and Madam Agnes Biney, a trader of blessed memory, ACF Heroine Boakye was the first of seven siblings.

She explained  to The Spectator in an interview that although her mother completed only middle school, she ensured that all her children comprising four boys and three girls, had formal education to the highest level.

EDUCATION

She started her basic education at the Kotoka Primary School at Burma Camp, Accra, in 1979 and proceeded to Christian Methodist Secondary School for her ‘O’ level certificate and later Swedru Secondary School from for ‘A’ level certificate.

Madam Boakye was engaged briefly in teaching at the Kwashieman Methodist Primary School in Accra before recruited into the Ghana National Fire Service in 1990 as Group Fire Officer after her national service.

Realising the potential of higher education, she got enrolled in a business school-Institute of Accounting and obtained Diploma in Public Service Accounting in 1994 before she was admitted into the then Institute of Professional Studies (IPS) now University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA) and read Chartered Institute and Management Accounting (CIMA) parts I&II and graduated in 1997.

The Regional Fire Commander finally got married to the late Godfred Ampong Mensah, an employee of the Crop Research Institute of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Fumesua, in the Ashanti Region. She had three lovely children: Priscilla Ampong Mensah, Nana Kofi Ampong and Nana Ama Ampong.

CHALLENGES

ACF Boakye said her joy in a blissful marriage came to an abrupt end when her husband died in 2008. The unfortunate incident happened just after she had completed her studies at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) where she pursued a course in Business Communication.

She obtained also Master of Business Administration (MBA)with Accounting at the University of Ghana in 2015.

She had endured real life difficulties as a single parent with young children at the time, to take care of .

Madam Heroine Boakye said she had to juggle her role as a mother and her profession with intermittent transfers from the head office to Ashanti Region on several occasions with her children also staying away from her.

Her first daughter Priscilla is currently a Deputy Commandant at the Fire Service Training School, the second born, Nana Kofi Ampong a graduate from the University for Development Studies (USD) while the last,  Nana Ama Ampong is a student of OLA Girls Senior High School at Kenyasi in Ahafo Region.

She said, that in June, 2018, she was transferred to the Upper East Region as a Regional Commander where she spent 10 months and later to the Bono Region as the first female commander.

ADVICE

Ms Boakye has an advice for young ladies, “Remain focused on your dreams despite the challenges that may come your way, and have faith in God because with him, all things are made possible.”

She urged mothers, especially single parents, to prioritise their children’s education as well as get a job before getting married, explaining that without her profession, life would have been tougher when her husband died.

Hobby

This industrious, affable and caring mother likes reading and teaching Sunday School children. Her favourite foods are Fufu with grasscutter soup and  pottage.

From: Daniel Dzirasah, Sunyani

Show More
Back to top button