The National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Mahama has picked his former Education Minister Naana Opoku-Agyemang as running mate for the 2020 general elections.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s Vice-Presidential candidacy was revealed at a meeting of the NDC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) at the party’s headquarters at Adabraka in Accra Monday.
The announcement brings closure to months of speculation and several fake news stories on the former president’s choice for a running mate for his comeback bid.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang is a veteran educationist and became the first female Vice Chancellor of a public university of Ghana when she was appointed to head University of Cape Coast (UCC) in 2008.
Before then, she served at various levels of the university’s hierarchy.
When Mahama won the 2012 elections, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang was appointed to head the Ministry of Education and she held the position until the party lost power in 2016.
She has also served as Ghana’s representative to UNESCO’s Executive Board, a position she was elected to in 2009.
The Ghana Women of Excellence Award has been conferred on the professor in recognition of her contribution to the development and promotion of quality education in Ghana.
She is the incumbent Board Chair of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), an organization she has been a member of since 2014.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang obtained secondary education at Wesley Girls SHS in the Central Region.
She proceeded to the University of Dakar, Senegal where she earned a Diploma in French Studies or Diplôme Supérieure d’Etudes Françaises.
She got a B. A. (Hons) with a Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast in 1977.
She proceeded to Canada where she gained her Masters and PhD from York University in Toronto in 1980 and 1986 respectively.
