Presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has said his decision to settle on Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang as his running mate for 2020 elections was not because she is a woman.
Former President Mahama stated that Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang was chosen because of her impeccable credentials in the field of academia and her competence serving as the Minister of Education.
Speaking at the palace of Asantehene Otumfour Osei Tutu (II), Mr. Mahama said Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s stewardship at the education ministry led to tremendous achievements in the sector including the provision of infrastructure and improvement in the quality of education at the Junior High School and Senior High School levels.
Enumerating her achievements in the education sector, he said she initiated and superintended over the construction of E-blocks across the country as well as the provision of adequate text books for students. Mr. Mahama recounted that prior to her assumption of office as education minister, four students had to share a single text book as result of inadequate text books but that, the former president said, changed to four books per student during her tenure as minister of education.
Mr. Mahama also disclosed that the former education minister’s tenure reduced significantly incidence of teacher absenteeism from 27 percent to 7 percent. All these achievements, Mr. Mahama stated, reflected in students’ performances culminating in Ghana emerging first in West Africa at the BECE and WASSCE examinations.
Mr. Mahama said the Council of Elders and National Executive Committee of the party considered these success chalked by the Professor and her excellent career as an academic in choosing her as the vice presidential candidate of the NDC.
“Prof. Naana Opoku Agyemang was chosen not on her gender but her academic credentials and political competence. She was the brain behind the introduction of the E-blocks, Prof. Naana Opoku Agyemang was able to eradicate the ‘four children to one book ‘menace’ which had bedeviled G.E.S for a number of years during her tenure as Minister of Education. Prof. Opoku Agyemang was able to reduce the 27% teacher absenteeism before NDC government came to power to 7% and it reflected in BECE and WASSCE thus Ghana became first in terms of BECE and WASSCE performance in West Africa,” he said.
The former President also expressed concerns over the widespread leakages of examination questions that characterized the ongoing West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
