Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, the running mate to the flag bearer of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr John Mahama, has said the country must not reach a point where people would reduce the office of a politician to insulting people.
The NDC vice presidential aspirant is of the opinion that the culture of the politics of insults should be eschewed as Ghanaians were not raised to insult.
Speaking in a yet-to-be aired interview with Veteran broadcaster Kweku Sintim Misa on the KSM show, Prof Opoku-Agyemang said: “We shouldn’t get to the level where we think that to be a politician, you must insult people”.
“I don’t think so”, she said, adding: “When the fabrics of society get weak, none of the policies will help you.”
She added: “Our parents didn’t raise us to go insulting people,” Prof Opoku-Agyemang told Kweku Sintim Misa (KSM).
On Wednesday, Mr Mahama assured Ghanaians that he and his running mate, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, will never engage in politics of insults.
“My running mate, Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, who I am presenting to you today, has been encouraged by the Osu Mantse to be strong and courageous in the face of, what he feared would be, a barrage of insults and attacks on her person, just because she has decided to serve her country at the highest level, help shape its destiny and ensure shared prosperity for all,” former President Mahama stated in Accra when he presented Prof Opoku-Agyemang to the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG).
“Indeed, these unprovoked attacks, insults and lies have already started but I can assure you and all Ghanaians that Naana Jane and I will never engage in insults and name-calling of our opponents in response,” he said.
“Our children are watching, listening and copying what we do and it’s important that we continue to serve as good role models to them.”
The former President, who is a Christian, said the Bible assured him that the God who began this mission would continue it to a fruitful conclusion.
He described Prof Opoku-Agyemang as “God-fearing, a woman of unquestionable integrity, hardworking, a results-oriented person; who had carved a niche for herself as a distinguished scholar in Ghana and on the African continent and, indeed, across the world”.
“If you listen to her maiden address, you will find that she has a remarkable appreciation of our challenges as a nation and what it will take for us to attain the highest pedestal of human and physical development that we are capable of as a country.”
He said among the many achievements, she chalked as Minister of Education; one that he deeply appreciated was the discipline that she brought to bear in the Education sector.
Under her stewardship, absenteeism reduced drastically from 27 per cent to 11 per cent by 2016 when they left office, he explained.
“It was, therefore, no surprise that for four consecutive years Ghana took the first place in the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Exams, a position we have lost since we left office.”
He said they would work together if elected, God willing, to execute the 10 billion dollar ‘Big Push Infrastructural Plan’, under which they would complete the 200 community day secondary schools, which they began and many other abandoned projects.
“Our country needs to change course from the despicable destructive and unprincipled kind of politics we are currently witnessing,” he said.
“There is so much work to do and there is so much to build. We cannot succeed if we abandon projects funded with taxpayer’s money just because our opponent began them.
“We cannot succeed if we target and destroy the businesses of people perceived to be in support of an opposition party; causing families to lose their livelihoods.
“We cannot succeed when instead of uniting our people we promote tolerance and division.”
The former President appealed to the leadership of the Christian Council of Ghana not to stay silent on happenings in Ghana.
Prof Opoku-Agyemang told the Christian leaders that she was there to seek their blessings and prayer support, adding that, whatever be the outcomes, they would be first and foremost pleasing to God before they were pleasing to anybody else.
The Reverend Prof Paul Yaw Frimpong-Manso, the President of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, advised politicians to refrain from trading insults in this year’s campaign.