NDC confirms Prof. Opoku-Agyemang as running mate
In settling on Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang as running mate for the December 7 presidential election, former President John Dramani Mahama put faith in her integrity, modesty, intellectual capacity and team role, National Democratic Congress (NDC) top guns have indicated.
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More than a mere compromise choice from the rumoured list of respected candidates, the astute academician and Ghana’s first female Vice-Chancellor is regarded as a unifying force, an attractive personality within the academic environment locally and globally, and a response to affirmative appeal at the highest level of local politics.
Moments after the party issued a statement confirming her nomination, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said Mr Mahama had demonstrated consistency, an unwavering commitment to inclusivity and innovation, and a belief in the Ghanaian woman.
“I am not one to take lightly the confidence reposed in me, neither am I oblivious of the national decay and widespread despondency in the country,” she said in a statement.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang expressed her readiness and commitment to partner Mr Mahama to serve Ghanaians with “integrity, dignity, truthfulness, hard-work and patriotism to reposition our dear country as a beacon of hope and opportunity”.
She expressed her appreciation to the NDC Council of Elders, the National Executive Committee, the rank and file of the party, friends and all Ghanaians for the support and endorsement.
A statement signed by the General Secretary of the NDC, Fifi Kwetey, yesterday stated that Professor Opoku-Agyemang is a distinguished academic and leader renowned for her dedication to education and public service.
Her nomination, the NDC explained, underscored the party’s unwavering commitment to inclusivity, diversity and the empowerment of women in leadership roles.
“Possessing extensive qualifications and experience, Professor Opoku-Agyemang brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the NDC's presidential ticket,” it stated.
The statement said Mr Mahama had expressed confidence in his running mate.
It quoted Mr Mahama to have said that “I am proud to have Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang as my running mate.
Her integrity, dedication and vision for a better Ghana make her the ideal candidate to join me in leading our party to victory in the upcoming elections”.
Profile
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s profile is a combination of academic excellence and managerial brilliance spanning more than five decades.
She has hardly come across as a regular politician even when she served as Minister of Education under Mr Mahama, and party officials tout her as a dignifying character for the Vice-Presidency, one who ticks the box of inclusivity, and a voice for women and other vulnerable groups.
Other attributes such as professional approach to governance, focus on accountable and ethical leadership based on a distinguished career, including her days as a Vice-Chancellor; experience, and her global appeal as an academic weighed heavily in her favour as the race finally reached the home stretch at two crucial meetings yesterday.
First at the meeting of the Council of Elders and then at the NEC meeting, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s nomination received unanimous endorsement, with a few paying tribute to her public image, untainted personality, outstanding career, and for being an inspiration to girls and women.
The party, sources said, recognised her contribution to the good performance of the party in the 2020 elections when she was first nominated as the running mate to Mr Mahama.
Although the NDC ultimately failed to annex the presidency, the party made gains in the votes and clawed back a good number of parliamentary seats, including a few in the Central Region, her home region, in a turnaround to its fortunes in the 2016 general election.
International network
Party officials said her Vice-Presidency at this time of Ghana’s economic life would be welcomed as she could leverage her wide-ranging international network to assist Ghana's restoration, while she is known for her belief in the youth and her ability to create opportunities for them due to her more than three decades of nurturing young people as a lecturer and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast.
The party sees her as one who appeals to the intellectual community, while her refusal to be drawn to the rugged life of a rough-talking politician has earned her praise since her entry into mainstream political administration.
Her students cut across generations, many of them serving in different areas of the country’s social and economic lives.
Indeed, she was the one who blazed the trail of women’s rise to the position of Vice-Chancellor on Ghana’s tertiary education front, daring to step into a life that had for long been reserved for men.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang had been thrust into the public limelight much earlier in 1996 when she became the first personality locally to interview then President Jerry John Rawlings.
That interview session marked a form of watershed in both the Ghanaian media landscape and the local political arena as President Rawlings before then was regarded an unlikely candidate for a media event.
Years later, she was one of the few personalities of integrity the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) could fall on to moderate the presidential debates.
Credentials
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s is the immediate former President of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) and Chairperson of its Africa Board.
She was appointed the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast in 2008, the first female Vice-Chancellor of a public university in Ghana.
Before heading that institution, she had served in various positions, including as Head of the Department of English, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Dean and Chair of the Board of Graduate Studies and the founding Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research, all at the University of Cape Coast.
She also served as Academic Director of the African Diaspora Studies programme of the School for International Training Study Abroad and was a member of the World Learning Global Advisory Board in the USA.
She was elected Ghana’s representative to UNESCO’s Executive Board in 2009 and re-elected for a second term to the UNESCO Executive Board.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, who is a product of Wesley Girls’ High School, is currently the Chancellor of the Harare-based Women’s University in Africa.
Publications
She has published and co-authored many books and articles on Women in Literature by respected publishing houses and in internationally peer-reviewed journals.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, who is a Christian by faith and Methodist by denomination, is blessed with three adult children: Dr Kweku A. Opoku-Agyeman; Dr Kwabena D. Opoku Agyemang and Dr Adwoa A. Opoku-Agyemang, as well as two grandchildren, Nana Kwesi and Papa Kweku.
