Antagonising Napo will add nothing much to education - Opoku-Agyeman

Former Education Minister, Professor. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman has ruled out retaliation to her predecessor’s ‘disgrace’ comments and rather chosen to describe it as his opinion which he is entitled to.

Prof. Opoku Agyeman received a ‘lash out’ from Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh few months after he took over as Education Minister under the Akufo-Addo government.

He tagged her as an “embarrassment”, one who didn’t understand education and one who left the Education Ministry saddled with debts.

“Her four-year tenure under John Mahama was an embarrassment,” Dr. Opoku Prempeh told the late Kwadwo Asare-Baffuor Acheampong popularly known as KABA on Asempa FM on Tuesday, 14 November 2017.

Reacting to the comments on the 21 Minutes with KKB show, the educationist said;

“I heard that…and he is entitled to his opinion. What I expected is that as somebody who had taken over from me, we’d have the opportunity to work together but if that wasn’t the case, it didn’t really bother me”

“The comment that oh I was the worst minister, a disgrace and so on, you know worse is a comparative word, it would have been nice for me to get his report on the study he has done on all ministers who’ve ever come to reach that conclusion but I didn’t want to go antagonizing”.

“I didn’t think that would add much value to education, I didn’t see the point because I thought that if there was something he didn’t understand he could have called me and in so far as he didn’t and decided to go public that way, I didn’t want to join him…”

“I’ve been in education for a bit, I’ve played my role in many capacities, whether as hall warden or as head of department or dean or Vice Chancellor or minister. I’m not the one to grade myself, I can only say that I did the best I could she continued.

Quizzed about whether her response was an attempt to avoid offending the minister, she said,

It’s not about offence, I don’t see the point, What does that aid? How does that contribute to education, that two ministers of education are throwing insults at each other, I don’t think that is helpful,” she noted.