Some may receive national attention, either as pioneers in the electoral process, as potential candidates, or as candidates of minor parties with a significant national presence.
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Here are the female vice-presidential candidates in Ghana from 1996 to 2020
Many women have sought to become President of Ghana but they were not voted to occupy the high seat of the land.
Naana Opoku-Agyemang and Brigitte Dzogbenuku
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The Vice-president of the Republic of Ghana is the second-highest executive official in Ghana.
The Vice, together with the President of Ghana, is directly elected by the people through a popular vote to serve a four-year term of office.
The provisions of article 62 of the 1992 Constitution apply to a candidate for election as Vice-President:
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(a) he/she is a citizen of Ghana by birth
(b) he/she has attained the age of thirty-five years
Here are the women who have been appointed as vice-presidential candidates in Ghana from 1996 to 2020.
- Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang of the NDC in 2020
Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, settled on Prof. Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang as his running mate for the 2020 polls.
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Prof Opoku-Agyemang regarded as a woman of integrity is the first female running mate of the two leading political parties in the country [NDC and NPP].
She beat former Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor who was assured of the slot after Dr. Kwesi Botchwey turned down the offer on personal reasons mostly on trust.
Names like Cadman Mills, Nii Noi Thompson were all racing for the position ahead of the general elections in December 2020.
Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang is the current Africa Board Chairperson of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE). She has been a FAWE member since 2014. She is a former Minister of Education in Ghana.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang was appointed the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast in 2008, the first female Vice-Chancellor of a public university in Ghana.
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Naana Opoku-Agyemang
Pulse Ghana
- Brigitte Dzogbenuku of the PPP in 2016
In 2016, Brigitte Dzogbenuku, was appointed as the Vice Presidential candidate of the Progressive People's Party (PPP).
She assured the electorate that the party would involve the best brains in managing the country's resources.
Madam Dzogbenuku, who is a former Miss Ghana, said the PPP is the only party in the country that has nominated a woman as a running mate in this year’s elections saying this shows the trust and confidence the party has in women.
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Brigitte Dzogbenuku is the Founder and Executive Director of Mentoring Women Ghana (MWG), which runs programs that inspire and empower young women and girls into making a positive difference in their communities. She won the Fortune/Goldman Sachs Women’s Leadership Award in 2008.
Prior to her work at MWG she was General Manager of Aviation Social Centre, a fitness and recreational center in Accra, where she introduced various innovative fitness programs and events into this niche industry in Ghana.
In her role, she managed the Barclays Bank Club House for four years, until September 2015. She has also established Ve Flavour Industries, an edible palm-oil production and packaging for-profit company that works with women in the Volta region of Ghana, contributing to their socio-economic empowerment.
Brigitte is driven by the Ghanaian woman’s strong will to succeed no matter the odds and has a dream of seeing women in key leadership roles in Ghana.
Brigitte holds a BA in Modern Languages from the University of Ghana, Legon.
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Brigitte Dzogbenuku
Pulse Ghana
- Eva Lokko of PPP in 2012
Prior to the 2012 elections, flagbearer of the Progressive People's Party (PPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, selected Mrs. Eva Naa Marley Lokko to be his running mate.
Lokko attended Wesley Girls' High School in Cape Coast. She is an engineer by profession and holds a master's degree in Intelligent Management Systems, System Analysis, and Design.
Mrs. Eva Lokko has a long history of public service. The recent high profile office she occupied was the position of the Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.
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Madam Lokko's character, background, and experience are groundbreaking in Ghanaian politics. Madam Lokko is an assertive and accomplished professional.
She is a family woman who comes from a proud Ga home and tradition. She is fluent in Ga, Hausa, Twi, Fanti, English, and Russian with working knowledge of French and has traveled to 44 countries.
She has worked for the United Nations, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), and operated as the CEO of a critical, youth-oriented Non-Governmental Organization.
In 2016, Eva Lokko passed away after a short illness.
Eva Lokko
Pulse Ghana
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- Nana Akosua Frimpomaa-Sarpong of CPP in 2012
The flagbearer of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr. Abu Sakara, has named Ms. Cherita Sarpong, a 56-year-old social worker and, philanthropist, as his running mate for the 2012 elections.
Until her selection by Dr. Sakara, Ms. Sarpong, the daughter of a former organiser of the CPP, Sarpong Kumankuma, was the Dwantoahemaa of the Dormaa Traditional Area in the Brong Ahafo Region, with the stool name Nana Akosua Frimpongmaa II.
She abdicated when she agreed to partner with Dr. Sakara in the elections.
Born on February 5, 1956, Ms. Sarpong attended the Mfantsiman Girls’ Secondary School in Saltpond for her secondary education and the Kumasi Polytechnic, where she obtained a Diploma in Business Studies.
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She obtained further education at the Washington School for Secretaries, the Montgomery Community College, and the Notre Dame University, all in the US.
She is also a former National Organiser of the 31st December Women's Movement and one of the initial five people who developed the concept for the formation of the movement.
Ms. Sarpong has worked variously with Working Mothers Incorporated, an employment agency for domestic care; Optimum Care Agency, a nursing care agency that provides permanent and temporary workers for nursing homes, and the University of Maryland Early Childhood Department, all in the US.
She is also the proprietor of Caring Kids International, a local non-governmental organisation which assists children and the youth in education, and Youth in Excellence Service for Mother Ghana (YES), a volunteer youth corps that organises the youth to adopt schools and form reading clubs.
- Helen Sanorita Dzatugbe Matervi of the PNC in 2012
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In 2012, the flagbearer of the People’s National Convention (PNC) Hassan Ayariga is likely to outdoor a communications expert and educationist Helen Sanorita Dzatugbe Matervi, as his running mate for December elections, to the party's National Executive Committee.
- Patricia Ameku, running mate to Emmanuel Ansah Antwi – DFP in 2008
- Petra Amegashie, running mate to Dan Lartey – GCPP in 2000
- Adeline Dedo Nartey of the PNC in 1996
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