General News of Tuesday, 13 October 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

I am not an economist but I understand the economy – Naana Opoku-Agyemang to critics

Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang

Vice Presidential Candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has hit back at her critics who have sought to question her economic management capabilities.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang in an interview with Nana Aba Anomoah of GhOne monitored by Ghanaweb, emphasizing the constitutional requirements of a vice-presidential candidate stated that whiles she cannot claim to know everything even in literature which she is an expert, she knows enough to execute the economic management role of a vice president.

“In their own party (NPP) they’ve had the late Vice President Aliu Mahama, was there a comment on him? Was he an economist? The vice president will chair the Security Council, must I be a security expert? So what are they talking about? What is the economy, how did I run the University of Cape Coast if I didn’t know one plus one? I am in literature and I am proud to be in literature. I will never pretend to know everything even in literature. I am not an economist, but I know the economy,” she stated.

She further questioned whether the criticism was born out of the fact that she is a female and when asked if she is willing to take on the sitting Vice President, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia in a debate, she answered “why not?,” after which she sarcastically added, “and if he debates on economy I am going to debate him on literature, it is going to be very interesting.”

Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast and former Minister of Education under the John Mahama administration ahead of the 2020 general elections has been appointed as running mate to former President Mahama who is seeking a comeback to power.

Whiles there has been little about her political life coming under criticism, some members in the New Patriotic Party have questioned her economic management background, citing the responsibility of vice presidents as Chairpersons of the Economic Management Team to buttress their point.