Boakye was born in 1962 in the Ashanti region of Ghana. He was the eldest of six children and as the oldest was given great responsibility within the family. From an early age Boakye was exposed to University life. His father was a plumber at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana and his mother served as a cook at the same school. For a time, the family lived on campus in special facilities provided by the school. This exposure to higher education had a profound affect on Boakye’s siblings, which culminated into two of his brothers pursuing degrees in pharmacology and optometry.