David Ampofo Biography
Introduction
David Ampofo is a Ghanaian journalist, broadcaster, communications strategist, documentary producer and author. His career has included television journalism, current-affairs broadcasting, international reporting, strategic communications, public education and work in Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry. He has worked with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), CNN World Report and South Africa’s Carte Blanche investigative journalism program. At GBC, he hosted the interview program Searchlight. He created and hosted Time with David, a current affairs interview style program. He later served as Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Upstream Petroleum Chamber. He is the author of At the Ringside, a memoir and chronicle about contemporary Ghanaian history.
Early Life & Foundation
David Ampofo was born in Takoradi on 14 June 1961 to Emma Crentsil Ampofo and Thomas Edward Ampofo, a civil servant in Ghana’s forestry department in the 1960s. He attended St. John’s School in Sekondi from 1972 to 1977. From 1982 to 1986, he studied at Escuela Nico López in Cuba, earning a Bachelor of Social Science. He later completed a Master’s Degree in Journalism at Cardiff University in 1991, with a thesis examining British newspaper coverage of Ghana’s economic performance. His studies were supported by a prestigious UK Government scholarship known as the Flagship Britannia award.
Early TV Journalism & Current Affairs Broadcasting Career
Ampofo joined the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation in 1986 during national service as a television reporter and later served as an assistant editor. He remained at GBC until 1992. From 1987 to 1989 he hosted Searchlight, a one-on-one news and current-affairs interview programme. Its guests included John Garang (leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army), Thabo Mbeki (former South African president who was an anti-apartheid leader at the time), Frederick van Zyl Slabbert (from the Institute of Democratic Alternatives in South Africa), Nabil Shaath (Palestinian Liberation
Organization), Kenneth Kaunda (former president of Zambia), Edwin Carrington (Secretary General of the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States) and Kwesi Botchwey (Minister of Finance 1982-1995).
From 1987 to 1990 he served as Presidential Correspondent, covering President Jerry John Rawlings and reporting on events including diplomatic and state visits to Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Ethiopia and the Gambia. He covered the 24th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU held in Addis Ababa where he interviewed Yasser Arafat (PLO leader) and Sam Nujoma of the South West African Peoples Organization. He also covered the 1990 ECOWAS Heads of State summit held in Banjul to mediate between the warring factions in the Liberian civil war.
From 1988 to 1990 he also reported for CNN World Report, focusing on Ghana and environmental issues including the threat caused by water hyacinth to Ghana’s waterways. He has stated that CNN invited him to Atlanta but that the Ghanaian government prevented the trip and confiscated his passport.
Ampofo completed his Master’s Degree at Cardiff University in 1991 and in October that year undertook an internship with CBS News in New York, attached to its South East Bureau. From 1996 to 1998 he served as Africa Correspondent for South Africa’s Carte Blanche, an investigative journalism program. His reporting took him to Nigeria, Benin, South Africa and Mauritius. Among the investigations associated with this period was reporting on secret cults operating on Nigerian university campuses.
Documentary Production and Media Content Leadership
In 1995 Ampofo created and hosted Time with David, a long-form television interview programme broadcast on GTV and later TV3. It ran in several seasons and periods through 2019, with approximately 500 episodes. The programme focused on extended interviews with public officials and other prominent figures and was intended to examine public affairs and provide political and social awareness. Notable guests included Quett Masire (former President of Botswana), Karl Offmann (former President of Mauritius), Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (President of Liberia), Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (First Lady of Ghana), Martin Amidu (Ghana’s Special Prosecutor) and Vice President John Mahama who would later become President of Ghana.
From 1999 to 2001 he hosted Hot Issues on TV3. A notable interview was one with both President Nana Akufo-Addo and President John Mahama during the runoff of the December 2000 presidential election. At the time, Nana Akuffo Addo was the opposition spokesperson for Legal Affairs and John Mahama, Minister for Communications.
Through Channel Two Communications, Ampofo served as Executive Producer and Presenter of Fixing the Urban Mess (2015), Fixing the Energy Sector (2016) and Ghana Business Report (2017). Each was described as a 13-part documentary/public-education series. Fixing the Urban Mess was broadcast on GTV and associated with Citi FM; Fixing the Energy Sector was broadcast on GTV. The productions were supported by the World Bank, energy-sector companies and banks. Before broadcast, private stakeholder screenings brought together government and private-sector representatives, with Ampofo moderating some discussions.
He has also published opinion editorials in the Daily Graphic, including contributions between 2008 and 2020.
Strategic Communications and Public Affairs
Ampofo expanded into strategic communications and public affairs after leaving GBC and founded Channel Two Communications in 1992. His corporate communications work has included AngloGold Ashanti, Ecobank, Zenith Bank, Ghana Oil Palm Development Company, GCB Bank, Kosmos Energy and the Ghana Stock Exchange. He also worked with the Institute for Democratic Governance on constitutional reform and multi-party local government reform campaigns, supporting the production of their public education material. His public education work included collaboration with the World Bank on a documentary driven public education campaign named, Fixing the Urban Mess, along with related development communication. In 2008 he served as campaign strategist and lead spokesperson for the Convention People’s Party presidential candidate Papa Kwesi Nduom.
Corporate and Executive Leadership
Ampofo was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Upstream Petroleum Chamber in March 2020. Contemporary reports described him as a veteran journalist and communications strategist. The Chamber represents companies involved in Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry and promotes industry growth, advocacy, education and stakeholder engagement. During his tenure, Ampofo has been associated with efforts to promote domestic gas utilisation, expand indigenous Ghanaian membership, produce position papers to focus the industry issues, publish an annual report on the state of the upstream sector and establish an annual oil and gas
conference. He has represented the Chamber in discussions on investment, regulation, local content, production and gas. He has addressed events including the Ghana Oil and Gas Conference and Africa Oil Week. He is also a board member of the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation and serves on its Investment and Business Strategy Committee. As of 2026, he remains CEO.
Awards and Honours
Ampofo received Best Radio Reporter in 1987 and Journalist of the Year in 1988, both while serving as a national service employee. He also received the UK Government Flagship Britannia award in 1990 for journalism study at the Centre for Journalism studies at the University of Wales.