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2024 Election: NAPO Unitedly Approved as Bawumia’s Running Mate by NPP’s NEC
The National Executive Council (NEC) of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has concertedly approved Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh as the running mate for Dr Mahamudu Bawumia for the 2024 general elections.
The National Council endorsed the decision on Thursday after earlier meetings with the National Executive Council, and the National Steering Committee of the party.
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, popularly known as NAPO, is also the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South in the Ashanti Region and former Education Minister and currently the Energy Minister.
The party highlighted that Dr Opoku Prempeh meets all the criteria for the running mate position, which led to his unanimous approval.
PROFILE OF NAPO
Matthew Opoku Prempeh (born 23 May 1968) is a Ghanaian medical doctor and politician. He is a member of the New Patriotic Party and a Member of Parliament for Manhyia South Constituency in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. He is a former Minister of Education. He is popularly known as NAPO. He is currently the Minister of Energy.
Early life and education
Matthew Opoku Prempeh was born on 23 May 1968 in Ashanti New Town, a suburb of Kumasi, and hails from Pakyi No. 2 in the Ashanti Region.
He started his basic education at KNUST Primary and continued to Prempeh College in Kumasi, Ashanti Region of Ghana, for his middle school education.
He studied Human Biology and Medicine at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and completed his MB CHB in 1994. He continued with post-graduate studies in MSc. Clinical Epidemiology at the Netherlands Institute of Health Sciences in 1998 and at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he studied Leadership and Government(certificate course). In 2002, he pursued postgraduate training in surgery in the UK (MRCS).
Career
Prior to entering parliament, Prempeh served as CEO of Keyedmap Security Services Limited from 2004 to 2009. He is also a medical doctor and served as a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2003.
Politics
Member of parliament
As a Ghanaian parliamentarian, he represents Manhyia South in Kumasi, formerly representing Manhyia. He was first elected to parliament in 2008 and is a member of the New Patriotic Party. In 2016, he was re-elected with 35,958 votes, or 87.17% of the votes cast in the district. He was a member of the health committee and the appointments committee. Prempeh contested the 2020 general election as a parliamentary candidate for the Manhyia South constituency under the banner of the New Patriotic Party and won by a large margin.
Minister of Education
He was appointed by President Nana Akufo-Addo on 10th January 2017 to serve as Minister for Education. He served in that role for 4 years until 6 January 2021 when the tenure of the president and his ministers ended.
In May 2017, President Nana Akufo-Addo named Prempeh as one of the nineteen ministers who would form his cabinet. The names of the 19 ministers were submitted to the Parliament of Ghana and announced by the former Speaker of the House, Mike Ocquaye. As a Cabinet minister, Prempeh was part of the inner circle of the president and was to aid in key decision-making activities in the country.
Prempeh also contributed to the educational sector of Ghana as a Minister of Education, such as improving the infrastructure,promoting vocational and technical education (TVET), and leading the government’s flagship programme FREE SHS.
Minister of Energy
In 2021, the President of Ghana, Nana Akuffo-Addo, after being re-elected as President, named Dr. Mattew Opoku Prempeh as Minister of Energy. He had previously served as the Minister of Education for President Nana Akufo-Addo’s first term.
Committees
Prempeh is a member of the Defense and Interior Committee and also of the Appointments Committee.
In May 2021, the University of Education Winneba conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate Degree.
In July 2021, the University of Professional Studies also awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
As a member of the Parliament of Ghana, he represents Manhyia South in Kumasi, formerly representing Manhyia.
The University of Cape Coast is the latest institution to recognize Dr. Prempeh’s contributions to the development of Ghana and his immense service to the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
In May 2022, a group by the name of Friends of NAPO presented some educational materials to schools in the Manhyia South Constituency to mark his 54th birthday.
Prempeh College named a dormitory block after him on 17 June 2023.
Election 2024
Ahead of the 2024 General Elections, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who was the incumbent Vice President of Ghana and elected Flag bearer to contest for Presidency on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party, presented Matthew Opoku Prempeh as his preferred choice of running mate, subject to clearance from the party hierachy.