3 Ghanaians Re-Elected to British Parliament

Ghanaians Adam Afriyie, Sam Philip Gyimah, and Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng have been re-elected to the British Parliament in the just-concluded U.K. elections.

The trio are children of Ghanaian migrants and A-list members of the British Prime Minister’s Conservative party, which lost the majority of the seats to the main opposition, Labour Party, resulting in a hung parliament.

The sloppy election was called by British Prime Minister Theresa May in an attempt to increase her majority seats in parliament in readiness for Brexit negotiations, but her plan backfired after she lost 12 seats to the opposition.

Ghanaian-British MPs

Afriyie, 51, was born in Wimbledon, London, to a Ghanaian Father and an English Mother. He has been the Member of Parliament for Windsor since May 2005 then re-elected in 2010 and 2015, consecutively.

In Parliament, Afriyie was a member of the Science and Technology Select Committee from 2005 until July 2007, when it was abolished. He was then appointed to the Children, Schools, and Families Select Committee, where he still serves.

Reacting to his re-election, Afriyie tweeted:

Afriyie has also been the president of the Conservative Technology Forum and the chairman of Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology since 2010.

Gyimah was born in 1976 in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, southern England, to Ghanaian parents and has been the Member of Parliament for East Survey since 2010.

He has been serving as parliamentary private secretary to the Prime Minister and government whip since 2010.

In 2014, Gyimah was appointed parliamentary under-secretary of state for Childcare and Education as well as parliamentary under-secretary of state with a particular focus on the constitution.

Kwarteng was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Spelthrorne in Surrey, southeastern England, in 2010 and then re-elected in 2015 and 2017, consecutively.

He was born in 1975 in London to Ghanaian parents who migrated to the U.K. as students in the 1960s. Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, Kwarteng worked as a financial analyst.

Over the weekend, he thanked his supporters:

He has also written a book entitled “Ghosts of Empire,” which discusses the legacy of the British Empire.