You don't need to be a mafia or dirty to become a politician - Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang

The running mate for the National Democratic Congress for the 2024 elections, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has expressed her strong disagreement with the idea that politics is corrupt.

She disputes the fact that politics is for dishonest and unethical individuals.

In an interview on GhanaWeb TV’s Election Desk, she said, "If the definition is to be mafia and dirty and so what, and I'm none of that I'm happy, and I don't think you have to be a mafia or dirty or whatever to become a politician. I don't think so. So if that is their definition I'm glad I don't fall into that category."

Shedding light on her perspective, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang questioned why the exercise of power should be perceived as corrupt.

"You see, what is politics? Let us go down to the definition of politics. If politics is access to power and exercising power, why should that be so difficult for anybody to understand, society is structured that way. Are we going to say, excuse me to say, all our chiefs are thieves or they are dirty but they exercise power?

"In our church, our leaders exercise power, in the political arena our leaders exercise power, so we need to find what is it that differentiates the exercise of power in one place as to the other, and what is so wrong and what cannot be fixed," she added.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang also mentioned the double nature of politics.

"I think I have said it elsewhere so at the risk of repeating myself to say that we can make our politics as dirty as we want, and we can make it development-oriented as it should be," she stated

She hinted at the presence of many Ghanaians who are committed to the country's well-being if not for anything, sharing ideas, cautioning against the use of benchmarks that might discourage such individuals from participating in politics.

"There are many well-meaning people in this country, many people who love Ghana enough to want to contribute, even if for nothing share ideas. And if we are going to use all these benchmarks to push them away, are we ready to move forward as a country? Do we want to move forward or we don't? Who is saying it is dirty, is that person in it or out of it, does that person have access to power or not, how does that person use that power?"

Watch the full interview below;

RAD/ADG