Vitus Azeem

Born in Bongo-Soe in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region of Ghana. Mr. Vitus Adaboo Azeem was among the pioneers of the Bongo-Soe Roman Catholic Primary School and proceeded to the Zuarungu Middle Boarding School. However, after two years, Mr. Azeem gained admission into the Notre Dame Minor Seminary Secondary School and then Navrongo School where he obtained the GCE Advanced Level Certificate that also qualified him for admission into Ghana’s premier university. Mr. Azeem holds a Bachelors’ degree in Psychology with Economics awarded by the University of Ghana, Legon and a Master of Arts degree in Sociology awarded by the University of Akron in the United States of America. Mr. Azeem also holds a Master of Taxation (M. Tax) degree also awarded by the same university and a Post-graduate Diploma on Effective Social Policies for Human Development, awarded by the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague. Mr. Azeem joined the now defunct Meat Marketing Board after his National Service in the Bawku Secondary School. After working with the Board for six years, Mr. Azeem moved to the then Internal Revenue Service in 1987 where he served for eight years before breaking for his post-graduate studies in the United States of America in January, 1995. Even though he returned to the IRS after his studies in 1999, he resigned after a year and moved to the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) to start the Centre for Budget Advocacy (CBA) in 2000. In his continuous desire to grow and develop a profession, Mr. Azeem moved again to the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) to head the civil society organization that focuses on making a contribution towards curbing corruption in the country. Mr. . Azeem had the opportunity to work with a private firm in the US, Forest City Enterprises in Cleveland as a Tax Accountant. Mr. Azeem’s consultancy assignments have included various policy analysis, including gender budget analysis and tax policy analysis as well as researches on corruption and governance in Ghana and Africa. Mr. Azeem proceeded on compulsory retirement from GII in 2016 and set up a consultancy firm called Bongo Soe Famabase (BSF) Consult. Mr. Azeem was the first Presiding Member of the Bongo District Assembly and was also the first National Chairman of Bonaboto and later on the National President in 2016. He is currently the Chairman of the Tax Justice Coalition - Ghana and a member of the Steering Committee of the Right to Information Coalition. Mr. Azeem is married with four children. He is a Roman Catholic and lives in Kasoa in the Central Region.