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Inside the mesmerisng world of Merck Foundation’s Dr Rasha Kelej
Infertility is a global issue, but has serious psychological trauma and social stigma, especially on women in Africa.
In some cases, it ends up in verbal and physical abuses, violence in marriage and many times divorce. This is why infertility remains an issue in Africa that needs to be addressed.
One woman who is determined to change the lives of those affected by infertility is Egyptian Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej. She is the first African woman to be the Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) of Merck Foundation, (one of the world’s most important foundations) who has kept her efforts going for the last 10 years.
Dr. Kelej has worked towards breaking down barriers when it comes to challenges women living with infertility in Africa face. In promoting healthcare intervention, garnering media support to help remove the stigma, and facilitating further education for girls, her efforts have ignited positive change on the continent.
Impact
Dr. Rasha Kelej is the brain behind the inspiring ‘More Than A Mother’ campaign – a rallying call against female infertility stigma – for which she was recognised as one of the Most Influential Africans of 2019 and 2020.
The campaign, one of the most successful causes that has been spearheaded by Merck Foundation, empowers childless and infertile women through access to information, health, change of mindset and economic empowerment.
More than 20 African First Ladies, including Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, have rallied behind the campaign as Ambassadors of “Merck Foundation More than a Mother,” which is very impressive. This campaign provides training for Fertility Specialists and Embryologists to build and advance fertility-care capacity in Africa, Asia and developing countries.
So far, Merck Foundation has provided specialist training to more than 180 local fertility specialists and embryologists, and more than 150 Sexual and Reproductive-care Specialists from Ghana and 36 other countries.
Under her headship 1,700 media representatives from Ghana and 29 other countries from Africa and Latin America were trained on how to report on such sensitive issues and raise awareness in their respective communities.
But that is not all! Dr Kelej has in her capacity as CEO of Merck Foundation, developed many other impactful programmes such as the Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative (MFFLI), Merck Capacity Advancement Programme, Merck Cancer Access Programme, Merck Foundation Diabetes Blue Points Programme, and Merck STEM for women and youth, which Ghana was a beneficiary.
A role model
Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej was appointed by the President of The Arab Republic of Egypt as a member of the Egyptian Senate in 2020.
Lovingly called ‘Mama Africa’, Senator Kelej is an inspirational pioneer in transforming patient care in Africa. Over 1,300 doctors from 42 countries, including Ghana, have benefited from Merck Foundation scholarships of specialties training in critical fields.
“During Coronavirus pandemic, it has been more important than ever to build capacity and train specialised doctors. They may have a general practitioner, but no specialists. We simply made history in these countries such as The Gambia, Burundi, Guinea & Liberia,” she said this at one of the training programmes regarding the havoc COVID-19 has wreaked on the globe.
She has launched “I Can” Mentorship programme and “90 Minutes with Dr. Rasha Kelej” where, her knowledge and 27 years of experience can help in encouraging and guiding young Africans.
A style icon
Dr. Kelej is truly an African fashion icon and a champion of empowering fashion and art with purpose in Africa through supporting and mentoring potential new African fashion designers. She launches an annual competition through Merck Foundation for best design, song and film that carry messages to address sensitive social and health issues.
She has this for Africa and the rest of the world, “My vision is to develop a community of young African fashion designers in order to catalyse a movement whose reach extends far beyond just fashion. But to create a culture shift and be the voice of the voiceless in their communities.”
According to her, “Fashion industry has already got enough flaks for being superficial. Let’s change this perception and create a meaningful fashion trend to educate our communities.”
In the field of music, Senator Rasha has produced and directed an inspiring pan- African song called, ‘My White Army’ as her personal contribution to thank the doctors and nurses fighting on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle.
The song, featuring singers from 11 African countries, in three languages; Arabic, English and French, has received commendations across the continent. Moreover, 20 songs have been released with popular African musicians of which two Ghanaian artistes, Cwesi Oteng and Adina, took part.
“This is my passion, and I am inviting all musicians across Africa to contact me and work with us to make a change. I am eagerly waiting,” she says.
Advice
“Passion, dedication, consistency, hardwork, strategic thinking, flawless execution, and close follow-ups are the key components to success, along with the ability to network and communicate rightly with the partners. Honesty and trust are also required to be able to succeed in such a field.
“Believe in yourself, work hard and never allow anyone to get you down. Put your heart, mind and soul into everything you do. And when you make it, do not forget to support others around you,” she adds, to drum home the need for the succesful individuals to help those who are in dire need of help or support.
What next?
She is planning to start two important projects pretty soon.
“I will begin production of a TV programme directed at African countries to unearth their fashion talents, and also start my own fashion line targeting Africa, through which I will cooperate with new talented designers from time to time to spread community awareness in rural African communities. It is not only my hobby, but it is also part of my personal contribution towards my beloved Africa.”
With these creative initiatives, Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej is cementing her position in African pop culture and has truly become one of Africa’s unsung ‘sheroes’ of women empowerment and health advocates.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
From Doryumu to two Bars: The remarkable journey of Lawyer Nyarkotey Obu
From the quiet communities of Doryumu and Dodowa in the Shai-Osudoku area of Greater Accra to courtrooms in two West African countries, Lawyer Raphael Nyarkotey Obu’s story is one of unusual professional reinvention. 
On Friday, October 9, 2026, the naturopathic scholar was called to the Ghana Bar, following his earlier admission to the Bar in The Gambia in November 2024.
The milestone places him in a pioneering position. He has been reported as the first African naturopath to qualify as a lawyer in two West African countries—an achievement that combines natural medicine, academic leadership and legal training in a way rarely seen on the continent.
Beyond the ceremonial wig and gown, however, lies a larger question: how will he use the law to improve the regulation of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) in Africa?
The early journey
Nyarkotey traces his roots to Doryumu in the Shai-Osudoku district. Part of his childhood was spent with his grandmother in the Suhum-Amrahia area, before his family journey took him to Teshie Lascala, where he began his basic education.
He later attended Ghanata Secondary School, Dodowa. These formative experiences preceded a career that would take him from classrooms in Ghana to professional legal training in Banjul and clinical and academic engagements in Asia.
Those beginnings matter because his achievements did not emerge from a single, straightforward professional path. He first built a name in Ghana’s developing natural medicine sector as an educator, researcher, author and advocate for stronger standards.
Education and difficult questions
That conviction informed the establishment and development of Nyarkotey College of Holistic Medicine in Ashaiman. The institution pursued structured professional education and competency-based training, including work connected to national occupational standards for naturopathy and holistic medicine.
Yet its growth brought the challenge familiar to emerging health professions: educational ambitions can advance faster than the laws governing those who complete the training.
The College faced questions within Ghana’s tertiary education regulatory environment, while Nyarkotey also became involved in a public dispute with the Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC).
At the centre was disagreement over the reach of the Traditional Medicine Practice Act, 2000 (Act 575), and its application to naturopathy and other complementary and alternative medicine disciplines. The dispute entered the courts, where the interpretation of statutory authority remains a matter for legal determination.
Why he studied law
It was against this backdrop that law became increasingly central to his work. After obtaining his law degree, Nyarkotey proceeded to the Gambia Law School and was called to the Gambian Bar in November 2024. He subsequently completed the route to admission in Ghana, culminating in the October 2026 ceremony. The second Bar call gives his professional story an especially Ghanaian significance: the legal questions that shaped his ambitions can now be addressed with the benefit of Ghanaian legal qualification.
The distinction is noteworthy, but he regards it as a means rather than an end. His interest is not simply in representing individual practitioners. He wants to contribute to laws that separate legitimate professional training from unsupported claims, define safe scopes of practice, provide fair disciplinary processes and protect patients. The objective, he argues, should be regulation that is firm, clear and suitable for Africa’s diverse healthcare landscape.
India and a wider horizon
In August 2026, Nyarkotey led 16 Ghanaian naturopaths to India for clinical immersion at Arujiva Ayurveda and Naturopathy Hospital in Karnataka. Their exposure included Ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, nutrition and lifestyle-based care.
Subsequent interactions with Indian universities and professional institutions widened the educational exchange. For him, the visit offered a practical view of how training, research, hospitals and public policy can interact within established traditional medicine systems.
India also supplied a lesson in patience. Nyarkotey recalls being told by an Indian colleague that gaining recognition for an educational institution can involve years of persistence. He drew from that conversation a renewed commitment to documentation, programme quality, clinical preparation and continued regulatory engagement. 
QAI partnership and standards
A recent development is the College’s Memorandum of Understanding with India’s Quality and Accreditation Institute (QAI). The partnership is intended to support quality assurance, curriculum improvement and professional development across naturopathy and related complementary medicine disciplines. It marks a shift from pursuing recognition principally through advocacy towards building systems that can be independently assessed.
For Nyarkotey, the agreement offers a platform for developing that quality culture while respecting the jurisdiction of Ghana’s own educational and professional regulators.
An African professional agenda
His thinking has also become continental. In March 2026, representatives associated with naturopathy from 11 African countries established the African Naturopathic Federation, with Nyarkotey as founding president.
The Federation seeks to advance professional education, research, ethics and cooperation. Its potential lies in helping African countries discuss common training benchmarks while allowing each country’s laws, institutions and healthcare needs to shape implementation.
Nyarkotey is additionally promoting an India–Africa AYUSH Centre for Education, Research and Regulatory Cooperation. The proposed platform would connect African institutions and policymakers with Indian expertise, not only in training and clinical exposure but also in standards, research and responsible investment.
He believes African traditional knowledge and India’s institutional experience can form a productive partnership without either being treated as a substitute for scientific scrutiny or patient safety.
A law firm with a specialised mission
Perhaps his most distinctive future plan is a law firm devoted substantially to TCAM and healthcare regulation. He envisages advising governments, professional bodies, colleges, hospitals, clinics and businesses on legislation, registration, licensing, contracts, institutional compliance, patient rights and professional accountability.
He also hopes to assist African countries seeking to draft or modernise legal frameworks for traditional, complementary and alternative medicine.
That ambition follows naturally from his own encounters with overlapping institutions and contested regulatory mandates. More coherent frameworks could clarify which authority regulates practitioners, which oversees academic qualifications and which controls medicinal products.
Such separation would help protect the public while creating lawful pathways for properly trained professionals. Any reform, however, will require consultation with health authorities, patients, conventional medical professionals and complementary medicine stakeholders.
An achievement and a responsibility
Nyarkotey’s story is not free of controversy. His positions on regulation have attracted criticism, and his institution has faced scrutiny. A balanced assessment must recognise those disputes without allowing them to erase the work he has undertaken.
Nor should international partnerships, professorial titles or two Bar calls be mistaken for proof that every proposal is sound. His legacy will depend on the standards he helps establish and the results they produce.
From Doryumu, Dodowa, Suhum-Amrahia and Teshie Lascala to Ghanata Secondary School, Banjul, India and the Ghana Bar, the arc of his journey is striking.
Yet its next chapter may matter more than its earlier honours. If his legal training helps African countries adopt workable TCAM legislation, if his educational partnerships deliver measurable quality, and if his proposed specialist practice contributes to patient protection, the impact will extend far beyond one individual.
The first African naturopath to have qualified as a lawyer in two West African countries now faces a larger professional assignment: turning a remarkable personal achievement into durable legal and educational progress for natural medicine across Africa.
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He once sold kenkey to pay his school fees, and now wears the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police. DCOP Kofi Sarpong, police officer and award winning gospel musician is charting a journey few could script.
In an interview with The Spectator chronicling his rise, the newly promoted DCOP took us on his journey through the ranks.
Early Life
“I was born in Berekum in the Bono Region, then Brong Ahafo, to Comfort Yeboah, affectionately called Maame Yaa, and the late Chief Inspector Kofi Sarpong,” he said.
His family story is one of resilience. His mother had two children before her husband died in an accident. She later married Kofi Sarpong’s father, a police officer, and had two more, himself and his junior brother. “So we are four, unfortunately one is deceased, just last year, so we are three now.”
School and struggle
He started at Berekum Methodist Primary under the old ‘Sito’ system. In Form Two, he moved to Obuasi to stay with a guardian for his Form Three education, then returned to Berekum for Form Four. He later attended Berekum Senior High School where he studied General Arts and shone as an athlete, a sprinter in the 100m, 200m and 4x400m relay.
After O-Levels, his batch was the last to write the exams, his dream was to become a teacher because of his love for children. But financial hardship forced a detour.
“I decided to help myself by going to buy maize and started preparing kenkey to sell at lorry parks and markets in Berekum,” he recalled.
According to him, the people from Berekum know this story. “I can make all types of kenkey, Fante Kenkey, Ga Komi and others. Don’t be surprised to see Kofi Sarpong Kenkey one day.” The proceeds paid his upkeep.
For this reason, he advised the youth “Don’t see life as a smooth journey but find something prudent to do to help yourself in difficult times.”
After grinding his education to a halt due to financial challenges, he now holds a Degree in Public Administration from GIMPA, a Master’s in International Relations and Diplomacy and Project Management, plus other higher certificates, with more in the offing.
The Police Call
When teaching did not materialise immediately, he moved to stay with his father at Osu, Accra. In 1994, he visited former IGP Nana Owusu-Nsia at Police Headquarters, who told about ongoing police enlistment.
In his head he declined, but outwardly he accepted to try reluctantly. Later, watching TV news and seeing long queues of young people aspiring to join the Police, he was inspired to reconsider.
He went to Berekum for his certificate. Accra enlistment had closed, so he joined the Kumasi exercise. He was selected, passed the exams and went to the Koforidua Police Training School, Galloway. After passing out, he was posted to the Logistics Unit at Police Headquarters.
At Headquarters, a senior officer encouraged young constables to further their education. He took a course in Purchasing and Supply via distance learning from a UK institution. 
Upon completion, the Police administration promoted him from Constable Class One to Chief Inspector, a leap that paved the way for him to enrol at the Police Academy. He graduated as ASP, and the climb to DCOP began.
“The officer corps starts from Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) from the cadet,” he explained. “When you graduate from the Police Academy, you are awarded ASP, and you move to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), that’s when I released album to start my music career professionally.”
From there, he rose to Superintendent of Police (SP), Chief Superintendent, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), and now Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP). Next is Commissioner of Police (COP).
Music found him in Sudan
On peacekeeping duty in Sudan, officers from different nations came together to hold fellowship led by a Nigerian officer. In December that year, with top-ranked officers present, Kofi Sarpong led the service to the admiration of all.
On his return to Ghana, a Colonel, who was a Matron at 37 Military Hospital and a member of the 37 Methodist-Presbyterian Church invited him to their harvest service. He ministered, and as he stepped out of church, a man approached him with an offer to record him. He declined.
Days later, at the office, the man, Ernest Kwesi, who owned Media Excel Production sent an elderly man to pursue him. He still declined. This compelled Ernest Kwesi himself to visit him at the office. “He told me he had seen something in me.”
Just after Ernest Kwesi left,Kofi Sarpong wrote to then Director General/Welfare, Mohammed Alhassan, and Paul Tawiah Quaye the Inspector General of Police (IGP) at the time. “He opened the letter and said he had been waiting all this while because he had seen me perform at police officers’ events.”
He was summoned to the IGP’s office, a call which scared him, however, it was a good news; his request was approved. Against this backdrop, he informed Ernest Kwesi who quickly visited that evening with highlife musician Akwaboah Jnr., who taught him his first song, ‘Me ko nso hw3 mu’, and they went to the studio.
A song earlier recorded in reggae by Zapp Mallet was totally transformed by Nacee, so they released both versions on the album. Nacee, he says, hugely supported promotion, as did Mark Okraku-Mantey.
He also acknowledge Oware Jnr. who also wrote songs for him.
After his maiden album’s success, police leadership congratulated him. He says he is happy to have inspired other officers to write to the Service to pursue other interests.
An autobiography, he reveals, is in the offing.
Family and food
He is married to Mrs Salomey Sarpong with three children, two boys and a girl: Nana Nketiah, Maame Afia Yeboah Sarpong and Papa Kwabena Aseda Sarpong.
His hobbies are watching athletics and being with family. His favourite foods are fufu and konkonte with groundnut soup.
On music, he teased a collaboration with a top Nigerian artiste, promising fans “hot praises” soon.
He concluded by thanking Ghanaians for their support since his promotion, and thanked the Inspector General of Police for his guidance.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
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