Ursula Owusu-Ekuful

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, MP Ablekuma West

Graphic.com.gh Personality Profiles Oct - 16 - 2023 , 12:30

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful is a Ghanaian politician born on October 20, 1964. She is also a lawyer, women's rights activist, and a politician who has been actively involved in politics and public service. She is a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

She is on the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee and Appointments Committee.

She is the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation and a three term Member of Parliament for the Ablekuma West constituency in the Greater Accra Region.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful has a degree from the University of Ghana and the Ghana School Of Law, where she obtained a Bachelor in Law. She was called to the bar in 1990. She obtained a master's degree in Conflict, Peace and Security from the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre. She holds a certificate in Government Integrity from the International Law Institute, Washington DC.

She was the Managing Director of WESTEL, the second National Telecoms Operator, Managing Consultant with N. U. Consult, Legal, Governance and Gender Consultants and also the Chairperson for the Social Development Committee – which developed all social intervention policies and programs for women, children, persons with disability and the aged for the NPP manifesto 2016.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful as the Minister of Communications, she has overseen the government’s infrastructure programme for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Sector, the development of a robust framework to support the digitalisation of the economy and the scaling up of e-government services with a national broadband and total connectivity for the unserved and underserved at the heart of the agenda.

Politics

In 2012, she was elected to be the Member of Parliament for the new constituency Ablekuma West Constituency as their first member of parliament.

In 2015, she contested and won the NPP parliamentary primaries in the Ablekuma West Constituency. She retained her parliamentary seat during the 2016 Ghanaian general elections, by winning with 34,376 votes out of the 60,558 valid votes cast making 56.96%. She and other female MPs were subject to personal attacks after there was a dispute over places reserved for female members of parliament. She was reported as saying that she was considering her future in politics, but the following year she became the Minister of Communications.

Socio-politics

In 2015, she and other women MPs were subject to personal attacks after there was a dispute over places reserved for women members of parliament. She was reported as saying that she was considering her future in politics, but the following year she became the Minister of Communications. Before her current position as the Minister of Communication, she served on different boards and in different capacities in her professional career.

In April 2018 she suffered a backlash from a section of the Ghanaian community when she made headlines for sharing a post on social media that suggested Ghanaian Muslims were intolerant. On Saturday, the 29th day of September 2018, She was installed as the Nkosuohemaa (Development Queen) by the traditional leaders and the people of Akem Asuom in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The instalment took place at the Palace of Asuomhene Osabarima Ofosuhene Apenteng II.

Anti-LGBT+ Bill

In 2021, when the Ghanaian anti-LGBT bill was proposed, she criticised components of the bill as incentives to promote laziness and dishonesty so the bill will have to be revised. She also in May 2021, advised LGBT+ individuals in Ghana to keep their activities private as Ghanaians were unable to accept same-sex relations.

In July 2023, during the second reading of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021 also known as the Ghanaian anti-LGBT bill in parliament, she had a rebuttal with Hon. Murtala Mohammed when he made claims of her being an LGBTQ+ individual. During that same delivery, she reiterated the existence of LGBT+ individuals in the Ghanaian community and families. She further went to speak on the need to have laws that protected and respected the rights of every Ghanaian.

Honours and awards

On Saturday, 29 September 2018, she was installed as the Nkosuohemaa (Development Queen) by the traditional leaders and the people of Akyem Asuom in the Kwaebibirem District of the Eastern Region of Ghana. The ceremony took place at the Palace of Asuomhene Osabarima Ofosuhene Apenteng II.

In February 2019 she was honoured by the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in recognition of her work in the protection of the rights of women and children at the 2019 FIDA Africa Regional Congress held in Abuja, Nigeria.

She was awarded the ‘CRANS MONTANA FORUM’ S GOLD MEDAL, in Geneva, Switzerland.