Mr John Dramani Mahama, the 2024 Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), says Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang is the right candidate to help execute his building “the Ghana we want” agenda.
According to him, Prof Opoku-Agyemang had vast experience and insights into effective human resource management, empowerment and social development, which were critical for national development.
“Naana Jane is a passionate advocate of the Mahama 24-hour Economy Policy. She understands the importance of providing equal opportunities for women and young people to thrive in our economy.
“If we are to build the Ghana we want together, then Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang is truly the Vice President we need,” he said.
Mr Mahama said this when the Party officially outdoored her as his Running Mate for the 2024 elections, in Accra, on Wednesday.
Mr Mahama said, over the past few years, Ghana had sunk to the lowest depths in its history, eroding the gains made under the previous NDC governments.
Leadership, he noted, had been uninspiring and inept, adding that the current administration had failed to be”truthful and honest” with the people and refused to accept responsibility for the” woes” Ghanaians were grappling with.
“There can be no question in our minds that the effect of this maladministration has been so insidious and pervasive that today, our people have lost faith and hope in not just the government of the day but in our democratic system of governance,” he stressed.
To restore confidence in the system, the former President said, Ghana required a new leadership that could inspire hope, restore trust and believe in the people, stressing that such a leadership should be one that placed value on integrity, truth and accountability.
“Ghana needs a leadership that will roll its sleeves up, accept responsibility for our current reality, face the present storm stoically, and steer the ship of State into safe and calmer waters,” he added.
The former President said a Mahama-Naana government would work tirelessly to ensure transparency, accountability, and justice for all Ghanaians and install a sense of new hope.
Mr Mahama said Prof Opoku-Agyemang brought to the table enormous experience, stressing that as a former Minister for Education, the first female Vice Chancellor of a public university in Ghana, and celebrated as a scholar and administrator, her credentials were endless both on the continent and worldwide.
He added that Prof Opoku-Agyemang was a woman with unquestionable integrity whose reputation for honesty and ethical behaviour was unmatched, adding that she was a woman who would “accept responsibility and restore honesty to the Office of the Vice President”.
“If there was any indication of intent to ‘think outside the box’, be innovative, and use our best human resources to deliver the Ghana we all want, then it is in my choice of Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang as my running mate and potential vice president of Ghana going into the 2020 and 2024 General Elections.
“I do not doubt this, as her globally acclaimed credentials attest,” he indicated.
As Vice President, Mr Mahama said, she would ensure that women and young people had more access to jobs to create a more inclusive and prosperous society.
Prof Opoku-Agyemang, on her part, promised to repay the confidence reposed in her by remaining loyal and devoting herself to duty.
“I will share in our collective successes and, share responsibility for our setbacks if any. And, at the time of reckoning, HE John Dramani Mahama, I will not, in the advancement of self-serving ambition, declare to the world that I was only the driver’s mate,” she assured.
