The running mate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2024 presidential election, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has reaffirmed the party’s commitment to holding corrupt members of the current government accountable.
During her inaugural address at an event to officially introduce her, Professor Opoku-Agyemang emphasized that she and former President John Dramani Mahama have agreed to ensure that those involved in looting state resources under the Akufo-Addo-led government face consequences.
She stated that this commitment is based on the wishes of Ghanaians and the principle of accountability.
“John and I have agreed, that whoever has participated in the plunder of the state must be held accountable. This is not a threat; it is a promise, premised on the wishes of our citizens across the various political and social divides, and hinged on the principle of accountability,” she stated during her inaugural address at an event to officially outdoor her on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.
“Across the political divide, across social and professional groupings, among the youth, you hear of complaints and stories concerning state capture, where this government has chosen to use its power not in the broader interest of all Ghanaians but to favour a small clique. What is that?” she questioned.
Addressing the audience at the UPSA Auditorium in Accra, she criticized the current administration for promoting cronyism and nepotism, which she believes has negatively impacted the Ghanaian population.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang highlighted issues such as ethnocentrism, which she claimed has been disguised as intellectualism, leading the country toward a state of near collapse.
She asserted that these actions have resulted in a country facing financial difficulties, natural resource challenges, and a population silenced through harassment and intimidation.
Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, a former Minister for Education and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, was nominated by former President John Dramani Mahama as his running mate for the 2020 election.
Continuing their partnership, Mahama has once again chosen her as his running mate for the 2024 election, potentially making her Ghana’s first female vice president.
“Let us face the facts: The promotion of ethnocentric elitism masquerading as intellectualism; nepotism cloaked as know-how; weakness strutting as courage; and crony capitalism masked as development in freedom; shameless hypocrisy acting as objectivity… these never served a country determined to make progress at any level.
“Rather, the most significant achievement of these things has been a country in near insolvency, its natural resources such as water and land and environment in rebellion, a people harassed and intimidated into numbness and as some say cynically, bribed into silence,” she stated.