Gilbert Abeiku Aggrey Santana (born 16 February 1977), also known as Abeiku Santana, is a

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

media personality, entrepreneur and politician. He is also the CEO of Kaya Tours Ghana Limited a Ghanaian travel company.President

John Mahama John Dramani Mahama (; born 29 November 1958) is a Ghanaian politician who has been the 14th president of Ghana since January 2025. A member of the National Democratic Congress (Ghana), National Democratic Congress (NDC), he served as the 12th p ...

appointed him Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority late in February 2025.

Early life and education

Santana was born in

Koforidua Koforidua, also popularly known as K.dua or Koftown and now Kofcity, is a city and the capital of Eastern Region, Ghana, Eastern Region of Ghana. The city has a population of 183,727 people as of 2010. The city is a blend of colonial and moder ...

in the Eastern Region of Ghana. He started his basic education in Koforidua at Nana Kwaku Boateng Experimental School and he later attended

Ghana National College Ghana National College is a senior high school in Cape Coast, Ghana. Overview Ghana National College was founded on 20 July 1948, staffed by dismissed teachers from St. Augustine's College (Cape Coast), St Augustine's College and Mfantsipim Sc ...

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of Ghana, Ghana. It is located about from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately from Ac ...

, for his Ordinary Level certificate. He then attended

Ghana Senior High School, Koforidua Ghana Senior High School, Koforidua, popularly known as GHANASS (Help:IPA/English, /ɡəˈnæsː/ ), is a co-educational high school in Koforidua. It was preceded by the establishment of two colleges that ultimately combined into what is currentl ...

for his Advanced level Certificate. He holds master's degree in Tourism Management from the

University of Cape Coast The University of Cape Coast (UCC) is a public collegiate university located in the historic town of Cape Coast in the central region of Ghana. The campus has a rare seafront and sits on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It operates on two ...

, a Post Graduate in Public Administration from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Associate in Legal Studies and Litigation from New York Paralegal School, Advance Certificate in Public Relations and Advertising from

Ghana Institute of Journalism The University of Media, Arts and Communication- Institute of Journalism (UniMAC-IJ), formerly the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), is a public university in Ghana. The University is a merger of the erstwhile Ghana Institute of Journalism, the ...

. Santana is currently pursuing another master's degree at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS).

Career

Santana started his career in media as Assistant Programs Manager at Radio Z in Koforidua. He later moved to Radio Mercury where he worked as a Deputy Programs Manager from 1991 to 2001. From 2001 to 2002, he served as a radio drive time host for Ash FM 101.1 in Kumasi. In 2002, he moved to the Multimedia Broadcasting Group as a Radio host for Adom fm' s drive time show(Ofie kwan so) and later rose to become Head of Music programs and Events Promotion Coordinator until he left in 2010 to join the Despite Media Group's Okay FM. Santana was appointed as an ambassador for the COVID-19 National Trust Fund.

Tourism

Santana is the CEO and founder of Kaya Tours Ghana Limited where he was later named as a Tourism Ambassador for Ghana in 2017. A number of African tourism conferences, including as the Africa Tourism Leadership Forum in Namibia and the 8th Swahili International Tourism Expo in Tanzania, have sent invitations to the savvy radio and television broadcaster to attend in 2024.

Politics

In 2015, Abeiku was poised to represent the

National Democratic Congress (Ghana) The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is a social democratic political party in Ghana, founded by Jerry Rawlings, who was Head of State in Ghana from 1981 to 1993. He became the President of Ghana from 1993 to 2001. Following the formation of th ...

in the

2016 Ghanaian general election General elections were held in Ghana on 7 December 2016 to elect a President of Ghana, President and all 275 Members of Parliament of Ghana, Parliament. They had originally been scheduled for 7 November 2016, but the date was later rejected by P ...

as the parliamentary candidate for the Mfantseman in the

Central Region (Ghana) The Central Region is one of the sixteen administrative regions of Ghana. Ashanti and Eastern regions border it to the north, Western region to the west, Greater Accra region to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The Central Region i ...

In 2025, he was appointed as acting deputy director of the Ghana Tourism Authority by

Awards

*Abeiku Santana won the RTP Personality Of The Year at the 2021 Radio and Television Personality Awards. *At the glitzy event held at the Eko Hotels Convention Center in Lagos, Nigeria, Abeiku Santana, the manager and director of Kaya Tours, received recognition for his tireless efforts to promote travel throughout the continent, not only in Ghana. *He was nominated for the PAV Ansah Communicator Award in the 2019 EMY Awards in Ghana. *He won Special Recognition Award for Tourism Marketing and Promotion at the EMY Awards in 2020 for his contribution to tourism in Ghana.

Personal life

Abeiku Santana is married to Genevieve Benyiwah Aggrey after divorcing his first wife.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santana, Abeiku Ghanaian journalists Living people Ghanaian radio presenters 1977 births Ghanaian broadcasters Ghanaian business executives Ghanaian chief executives Ghana National College alumni University of Ghana alumni University of Cape Coast alumni Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration alumni Ghana Senior High School (Koforidua) alumni