Ghana’s Jasikan Catholic Diocese Gets New Shepherd as Pope Leo XIV Accepts Retirement of Bishop Akwasi

Accra, 24 December, 2025 / 9:30 AM

Pope Leo XIV has accepted the retirement of Bishop Gabriel Akwasi Ababio Mante from the pastoral care of Ghana’s Catholic Diocese of Jasikan and appointed Mons. Simon Kofi Appiah as his successor.

Bishop Akwasi, who turned 78 in July, has been at the helm of Jasikan Diocese since his Episcopal Consecration in May 1995.

The latest administrative changes in the Ghanaian Catholic Diocese were made public on Tuesday, December 23, and published by the Holy See Press Office.

A native of Jasikan Diocese in the Oti Region of Ghana, where he was born on 1 July 1964, Bishop-elect Kofi was ordained a Priest for the then Diocese of Keta-Ho in July 1990. Some four years later, in December 1994, he was incardinated in the newly erected Episcopal See of Jasikan, which had Bishop Akwasi as the pioneer Local Ordinary.

His Priestly Ordination followed studies in philosophy and theology at St. Peter’s Regional Seminary in Pedu, Ghana’s oldest Major Seminary hosted by Cape Coast Catholic Archdiocese.

The holder of a doctorate in theological ethics from the University of Tübingen in Germany (1995-2001) has also a postgraduate diploma in psychology from the University of London, and a diploma in teaching higher education from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi.

As a Priest, the Ghanaian Bishop-elect has served in various portfolios, including formator at the St. Patrick Formation House (1999-2001); Diocesan Chancellor and Vocations Promoter (2001-2003); and pastoral collaborator in the parish of Kadjebi (2003-2011), among others.

At his December 23 Episcopal appointment, Mons. Kofi has been serving as lecturer, since 2011, at the University of Cape Coast and at St. Peter’s regional Seminary in Pedu.

When consecrated Bishop, Mons. Kofi will shepherd the people of God in Jasikan Diocese that has a population 58,100 Catholics across 19 Parishes served by 43 Priests, according to 2024 Vatican statistics.  

Fr. Francis Madonna Ayaric contributed to this story