‘Local politics was not part of my plans’ – Elvis Ankrah’s big breakthrough into politics

Elvis Afriyie Ankrah had just finished reading a Master’s degree course in International Relations and was hoping that he would receive a callback from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to start his dream job with them.

And as is the case for most young graduates, the urge to experience working in any environment that presented him with much more made his hopes even greater.

But Elvis Ankrah said something that jolted his dream sideways and put that long-time dream on permanent hold.

And it all started when he was approached by one of the stalwarts of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ato Ahwoi, to take up an unusual job: a spokesperson for a presidential candidate.

The job was for him to deputise as a spokesperson for the late former president of Ghana, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, who was by then campaigning to become Head of State.

He explained to GhanaWeb TV’s Edward Smith Anamale that when that call came through, it was not one of the things on his mind.

“I went to do my Masters in International Relations and when I came back, I was on the verge of… I’d actually gone to ECOWAS to put in an application for a job and I was expecting a response because I had spoken with Dr. Chambas and all that, and then Mr Ato Ahwoi called me and said he wanted me to be the deputy campaign spokesperson for Prof Mills’ presidential primaries.

“It was a very difficult decision to make: go to ECOWAS, go and earn some good dollars because I studied international relations so that had been my interest; to work with an international agency: ECOWAS, AU or the United Nations, so local politics was not part of my plan,” he explained.

Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, however, explained in the election Desk interview on GhanaWeb TV that after a while, he agreed to take on that job, also because of something profound that Ato Ahwoi said to him.

“And he said, go and do this thing for us, and after several months, I eventually agreed because he told me something: ‘If you go to your ECOWAS or UN and after 15 years you come back to Ghana, don’t you know you’ll be a stranger, and your colleagues would have gone ahead of you? So, what will happen to all the experience you gathered as SRC president and NUGS.

“So, that really got me thinking so I took up the challenge and so, myself, Ludwig and Rojo, we went round with Prof Mills around the whole Ghana. We went to almost every city, town, village – every nook and cranny. It was a very eye-opening experience and that is where I gathered a lot of data and network with the grassroots,” he explained.

Watch the full interview below on GhanaWeb TV:

You can also watch this edition of GhanaWeb Special:



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