As she ambled majestically towards the awaiting microphone to address the nation, the audience veered into a rendition synonymous with hungry and hopeless children delighted at the sight of their lovely, caring and accommodating mother “maame oo dendei, maame oo dendei” upon reaching the microphone, she humbly embraced the audience with a motherly response of “atuuuu”.

In a relaxed but courageous demeanour, a fierce but purposeful tone, she effortlessly delivered an extempore speech that has raised the standard beyond expectations and compelled all tongues to start wagging across the length and breadth of Ghana. She brought honour and dignity to the running mate slot.

It was a performance full of ambling trot, cleverly interlaced with humour, it shows the control and imagination of a puppet master at the height of her art.
That was no other than, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the running mate to H.E. John Dramani Mahama for the 2024 general elections, during her outdooring at the University of Professional Studies.

Her speech was natural, genuine and engaging. It resonated with the audience and compelled them to react throughout the delivery.

She exhumed confidence, she was daring, articulate, coherent, fluent, expressive, impassioned, silver-tonged, well-expressed and above all courageous and purposeful.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang proved that she is a woman of substance, dignity, humility and courage. Even Martin Luther King Jr the acclaimed most renowned speaker of all time would have been proud of this performance.

The speech was pregnant with vision, courage, reconciliation, forwardness and inclusivity. The learned but humble professor stressed the importance of the 2024 elections and how winning the elections should be for a purpose, which includes the opportunity to heal our country again, to pull the country back from “the praecipes of destruction, of normalising corruption, of incomprehensive greed, from deep despair” adding that “It is to work towards a Ghana where citizens have hope, and are determined to regain their independence of thought and of agenda”.

She decried the culture of disrespect, intimidation and overlooking of the citizenry by the political class, because of their voting pattern and their spoken languages.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang has demonstrated that she is in touch with the ordinary Ghanaian, as she clearly enumerated the common man’s concerns. Her invitation to all and sundry to the onerous task of rebuilding a broken Ghana, of restoring hope, was a remarkable clarion call.

She bemoaned that, “the levels of greed, unbridled arrogance, unrestrained impunity, sheer dishonesty, bare-faced hypocrisy, incompassion, as displayed by this incumbent government” have never been experienced in this country. The NDC running mate couldn’t have said it any better.

Her body language and gestures were similar to that of a courageous but humble lion who abhors injustice while waiting for an opportunity to bring justice and equity to the subdued. She went on to vow her loyalty to H.E. John Mahama, stating that she would not abandon him in difficult times and would not claim to have been merely a driver’s mate.

“I will not in advancement of self-seeking ambition, declare to the world that I was only the driver’s mate.”

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang sent a direct warning to the government’s appointees regarding corruption, revealing that “John and I have agreed that, whoever has participated in the plunder of the state will be held accountable, this is not a threat, it is a promise which is premised on the wishes of the citizens across the political divide and hinged on the principles of accountability”. This is a declaration of an intent to fight corruption from a determined honest and patriotic leader.

She deprecated the “promotion of ethnocentric elitism” by the current government, “which is masquerading as intellectualism, weakness striating as courage, and chronic capitalism masked as development in freedom, shameless hypocrisy, pretending to be objective”, to thunderous applause. She carried the audience along throughout, it was compelling to listen to Prof. Opoku-Agyemang in such a fierce and daring tone.

Her speech, encapsulates all the ills currently going on this country, ranging from the disastrous National Cathedral, the Agyapa deal, clearing malfeasance, unemployment, microeconomics challenges, BOST contaminated fuel, PDS, Australian visa scandal, Kelny GVG, and excavators flying faster than guinea fowls.

The Professor also admonished the Electoral Commission to be fair in the 2024 general elections adding “A word to the wise is in Assin-North”.

Clearly, Prof. Opoku Agyemang has evolved and arrived as a political leader, she has raised the standard, and her lack of personal attack is recommendable. Even though the speech was laden with punch lines, her narratives were nationalistic and issues-based, it suffices to say that as a vice president, she will not embark on the partisan lines that the position has been reduced to by the current vice president.

With her as a Vice to H.E. John Mahama, there will be a renewed hope in Ghana’s political journey, development and growth will be the new order of the day.