A sixty-one (61) year old retired educationist, former Communication Officer (CO) and a Parliamentary Aspirant (PA) of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Oti Region, Madam Pearl Akua Agyeman has composed and released a campaign song not only to support the flagbearer’s bid to annex the Presidency in the December polls but also commemorate the Vice President’s 61st birthday slated for Monday, 7th October 2024.
The song, already recorded in the studio in the Akan language and currently in audio form, highlights some of the leadership qualities and traits as well as some achievements of the Vice President and flagbearer of the NPP, Alhaji Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia under his boss and President of the Republic, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.
Speaking to our news team in an interview at Dambai, Madam Agyeman noted that during the recent nationwide campaign tour by the Vice President, he was described by many traditional leaders, the clergy, and other well-meaning Ghanaians as someone humble, an achiever, hardworking, knowledgeable, visionary and down-to-earth, leading to the many success stories of the NPP including achievements in the free Senior High School (SHS) policy, one district, one ambulance and the other social intervention policies, to mention a few.
According to Madam Akua Agyeman, these qualities and achievements of Dr. Bawumia, coupled with her love for the party since 1992 when she became a member of the NPP, motivated her to come out with the song. ‘Even though the song is currently in audio form, contrary to my wish to also have it in video form, I hope it will still communicate a very good message to many Ghanaians and subsequently encourage them to vote for the Vice President to lead the country from 7th January 2025’, the former PA for the Krachi East Constituency emphasized.
Madam Pearl Agyeman who is also an October born and younger than Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia for only two (2) days, stressed the need for Ghanaians to reward the Vice President in the December polls to continue his good works from next year.
She also called on the beneficiaries of the free SHS policy as well as their parents and guardians to remember, appreciate, and reward the NPP government and for that matter, Dr. Bawumia for positively impacting their lives with such a wonderful policy.
According to Africa Education Watch, over 2.5 million students have benefited from the free Senior High School (SHS) initiative as of February 2024. In 2023, a total of 445,641 first-year students were enrolled under the government’s flagship free SHS program 2023, bringing the total number of beneficiaries for the 2022/23 academic years to 1.3 million students as of August 2024.
On 9th September 2024, Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia disclosed in Accra that from 800,000 total enrolment in 2017, the free SHS student enrolment had now increased to 1.4 million, an increase in enrolment of over 600,000 in seven (7) years of the policy implementation.
In terms of cost, a total of Ghc8.4 billion has been spent on the free SHS policy in seven (7) years. This was according to the former Finance Minister, Hon. Ken Ofori Atta during the 2024 budget statement and fiscal policy presentation to the nation in Parliament in Accra. According to him, this investment had made it possible for some 5.7 million Ghanaians to access quality high school education over the past seven (7) years.
According to the campaign song composer and former PA for the Krachi East Constituency in the 2023 NPP primaries, investing such huge resources in the free SHS initiative by the government for all these years, is commendable, adding that but for the policy, these hundreds of thousands of secondary school students would have been home.
Madam Pearl Agyeman, a former CO for the Kpone Katamanso Constituency in the Greater Accra Region in 2012, urged the youth to abstain from violence and other forms of acts that can put them into trouble, assuring that the NPP manifesto has a lot that would turn around their economic fortunes if they elect Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia as the next President of the country.
In the 2023 Parliamentary Aspirant race in the Krachi East Constituency of the party, Madam Pearl Akua Agyeman lost to four (4) males in that race. Madam Pearl is also referred to in many circles as ‘Keteke’, ‘Vision Lady’, and ‘Soldier Without Uniform’. According to her, she eats, drinks, and bathes NPP not only from her humble home at Pai Katanga but also across Oti Region and the country as a whole.
