The 2024 presidential candidate of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mahamudu Bawumia, consulted President Akufo-Addo at Jubilee House on Tuesday (25 June 2024) on the selection of his running mate, sources close to the Office of the President have confirmed to Asaase Radio.
The move comes barely six months to the 2024 general election, which is seen as a straight fight between John Mahama of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the NPP’s Bawumia.
It is not yet clear whom Dr Bawumia has settled on as his running mate, but our sources said the president offered his advice and blessed the NPP presidential candidate’s choice after the meeting.
By convention, the NPP presents a balanced ticket that has one each of the two candidates (presidential and vice-presidential) hailing either from any of the five Northern regions or from the southern part of Ghana (mostly from the Akan-speaking Ashanti and Eastern Regions).
With the NPP’s 2024 presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, hailing from the North East Region, any of the three NPP front-runners for the vice-presidency, if selected, would help the party to maintain the Christian/Muslim, North/South and Akan/non-Akan traditions with which the party has come to be identified over the past 32 years.
Of the three front-runners, Bryan Acheampong, who was born on 27 November 1972, is the youngest (aged 51), Matthew Opoku Prempeh is 56 and Yaw Osei Adutwum is 60.
Yaw Osei Adutwum
Dr Adutwum was born on 9 April 1964 and hails from Jachie in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in land economy (business administration with a major in real estate) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology before migrating to the United States of America.
He also holds a Master’s degree in education management from the University of La Verne in California and a PhD in education policy, planning and administration from the University of Southern California.
Dr Adutwum is renowned for founding the New Designs Charter Schools in Los Angeles, California, but before that he worked for ten years as a mathematics and information technology teacher at the Manual Arts High School, also in LA. During this period, he founded the International Studies Academy, a small learning community for students to help them thrive academically and socially.
He also served as the lead maths teacher on the University of Southern California/Manual Arts Neighbourhood Academic Initiative. He was a member of the task force established by the National Research Center for Career and Technical to develop a US-wide, national model for career and technical education at the high school and college levels.
Matthew Opoku Prempeh
Born on 23 May 1968, Matthew Opoku Prempeh is a medical doctor and health worker. He was first elected to Parliament in 2008 and is a long-standing member of the New Patriotic Party.
Opoku Prempeh studied human biology and medicine at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, later pursuing postgraduate studies at the Netherlands Institute of Health Sciences and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Before Parliament, Dr Opoku Prempeh served as the chief executive officer of Keyedmap Security Services Ltd from 2004 to 2009. He was a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2003.
He is a nephew of the former president John Agyekum Kufuor.
In January 2017, President Akufo-Addo named Matthew Opoku Prempeh to his inaugural, 19-member cabinet. As a cabinet minister, he has been a member of the president’s inner circle and has been involved in key decision-making in Ghana over the past eight years.
Bryan Acheampong
Bryan Acheampong is the Minister of Food and Agriculture and the MP for Abetifi, in the Eastern Region. He is the chairman of the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs as well as a member of the defence and interior, appointments and selection committees of Parliament.
Dr Acheampong is the immediate past minister of state at the Ministry of the Interior and a former minister of state in the Ministry of National Security.
He was a member of Parliament’s trade and industry committee from 2016 to 2020. He served as a soldier in the US Air Force (now retired) where he received training in anti-terrorism, force protection, the laws of armed conflict, conventional defence, weapons, small arms and fuels.
His experience spans security, intelligence, politics and business leadership. He is a serial entrepreneur, having founded many successful businesses in technology, real estate, agriculture, hospitality and media.
Dr Acheampong was an adjunct lecturer in electronic business at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) during the 2021/22 academic year.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree, three Master’s degrees and a graduate diploma in law as well as a PhD. His Bachelor’s degree in business management is from Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States, as is his Master’s in business administration.
He holds a Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in applied intelligence from Georgetown University in the US and a Master of Arts degree in security and intelligence from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.
He further holds a graduate diploma in law from the University of Law in UK.
Dr Acheampong earned his PhD in information systems from the University of Ghana Business School, his research examining mutual understanding in technology projects.
He holds certificates in building, leading and sustaining innovative organisations from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in effective leadership in management and administration from the University of Ghana Business School, and in public relations, advertising and marketing from the Ghana Institute of Journalism.
Dr Acheampong has six publications and many articles to his credit. His Bryan Acheampong Foundation engages in poverty reduction, health, education and agriculture programmes.
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