A US-based Ghanaian academic, Dr Kofi Akamani, has been shot dead in Illinois, United States, with his wife arrested in connection with the incident.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to reports of a shooting at about 5 p.m. on Saturday near Lake Road, between Murphysboro and Carbondale.
Dr Akamani, 48, was transported to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale after the shooting but was pronounced dead from injuries sustained in the incident.
Following an investigation, the sheriff’s office said his wife, 35-year-old Betty Akamani, was arrested and faces multiple charges over her alleged involvement in the shooting.
Authorities said the investigation remains ongoing and is still in its early stages. The Jackson County Ambulance Service, Jackson County Coroner’s Office and Jackson County State’s Attorney’s Office assisted with the investigation.
Academic career
Dr Akamani began his tertiary education in Ghana at Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology; in Kumasi, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Development Planning, specialising in Urban Planning.
He later pursued graduate studies at the University of Oslo in Norway, earning a Master of Philosophy degree in 2006 through the Centre for Development and the Environment.
He subsequently obtained a PhD in Natural Resources from the University of Idaho in the United States.
During his doctoral studies, Dr Akamani returned to Ghana for six months to research the impact of collaborative forest management on the social-ecological resilience of two forest-dependent communities in the Ashanti Region.
His death has brought an end to the career of a Ghanaian academic who built his professional life around forestry, conservation and sustainable development.
