Ms Joana Gyan Cudjoe, an aspirant in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Amenfi Central’s Parliamentary Primaries in the Central Region, says she is poised to win and lead the party to victory in the 2024 general elections.
Ms Cudjoe, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Golden Empire Legacy Limited, is the only female among the five candidates contesting in the primaries and placed fifth on the ballot paper.
She told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Tema, “I am going to win the primaries with about 95 percent as the first female to contest for the seat in the constituency.”
She said that having been cleared by the party’s special appeal committee after being disqualified from the race, she believed it had put her in a better position for the delegates to vote massively for her as they all now knew that the allegations against her were false.
As to why she was contesting for the seat, she explained that she wants to give hope to women, especially those in Amenfi Central, in the Central Region, and encouraged the young girls to strive to reach the top so they could achieve greater heights rather than settling for teenage pregnancies and becoming overly dependent on men.
She said, “As a philanthropist and entrepreneur, I want to give hope to the people. If I go into politics, as a woman, I will be able to encourage the girls; these are the ones we need to raise because if you give the opportunity to the women in Ghana in politics, we will be able to support the men too”.
Ms Cudjoe, who is also the Director of Keche Global Limited and a Board Member of GEM Multimedia Ghana Limited, gave the assurance that when she was voted for and subsequently as the Member of Parliament for Amenfi Central, she would continue her philanthropic work, which she has always done.
According to her, with her entity, the Joana Gyan Foundation, she would solicit funds and provide scholarships, training, and investments in social amenities, among others.
Ms Cudjoe, who is an exporter of precious metals and has over 20 years of experience in the mining sector, touched on the issue of galamsey and said alternative livelihoods must be provided to those engaging in illegal mining, and processes must be put in place to train and register them to engage in sustainable mining.
Ms. Cudjoe, who is also the Mpuntuo Hemaa (development queen mother) of Wassa Agona Amenfi, said governments and other stakeholders must come together and find better ways of using the numerous natural resources the country was blessed with to better the lives of the youth, adding that a country like Dubai, which does not have the natural resources, is using gold to transform their country.
