Good choice! She needn't be a grassroots person – Benyiwa Doe

Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang need not be a grassroots party member to be the running mate to former President John Mahama in the 2020 general elections, a former Women’s Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ama Benyiwa Doe, has argued.

“I was excited and fully fulfilled when I heard that H.E. John Dramani Mahama has picked Sister Naana as his running mate”, an elated Benyiwa Doe told Benjamin Akakpo on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Tuesday, 7 July 2020.

“This woman”, she said, “as high as people see her, has a lot of humility, almost equal to that of John Dramani Mahama, so, I think the two of them will blend very well and will work for victory”.

Addressing the concerns expressed by some party members like former flag bearer hopeful Stephen Atubiga about Prof Opoku-Agyemang not being a grassroots person, the veteran politician said: “It’s not everyone that you expect to be a grassroots person like Ama Benyiwa Doe”, adding: “She [Opoku-Agyemang] was in the party, she’s a party member and she’s goes to her constituency, that’s what is important”.

“You know”, Benyiwa Doe pointed out, “There are people who come to Accra and never go home” but “she’s not one of those people”.

“She’s been going to Komenda and I know that her capabilities are definitely not in doubt, too, so, she’s a good choice for us”, she noted.

Asked what, in her estimation, Ghana’s first-ever female Vice-Chancellor adds to the NDC ticket, Benyiwa Doe answered: “She’ll bring a lot”.

“Prof is someone who you see as a tall academician, goes home very often to Komenda; she mixes with her people, and in the Central Region, we know her”, she mentioned.

“Even as the Minister of Education, look at the E-blocks that they started building. She was spearheading it, and, so, I don’t foresee any problem that the mass population who are women will have in not voting for her”, she said.

“So, I think that she’s certainly a good choice for both the party and for this country; and I, therefore, don’t think that people will say that she’s not a grassroots person. She’s OK. She was a minister who was dealing with the grassroots – going up and down”.

“If you meet her, you’ll like her; she’s a likeable person, she puts academic laurels aside and will interact with you and you’ll feel satisfied, so, I think that she’ll be able to blend nicely with H.E. John Dramani Mahama for NDC and total victory for the country”, Benyiwa Doe stressed.

“A lot of grassroots people called me and there were some who were initially asking me: ‘Does she attend rallies?’ and I said to them that: ‘It doesn’t mean that we have to see her on rally platforms and all that’. She has been working and I know that when she became Minister of Education, that was when the E-blocks were built ... so, I think that we have to give her our full support she and H.E. John Dramani Mahama, will deliver the goods”.

In her view, the NDC ticket now has a bigger chance of winning the 2020 polls. “I think we have about 70 per cent chance, so, we’ll need to work on the 30 per cent that will make it whole for our victory”.