The Veep’s Beat: Adwumawura, Yams, and the Gospel of Grit
Authored by V. L. K. Djokoto
Good heavens, what a week it’s been for Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang — a veritable whirlwind of intellectual energy, cultural grace, and good old-fashioned national service. One might say she’s been everywhere at once — part sage, part farmer’s friend, and part headmistress of the Republic — guiding Ghana’s youth and institutions with both wisdom and warmth.
Let us begin, dear reader, with that most promising of endeavours — the Adwumawura Programme. Launched in April under President John Dramani Mahama’s steady hand, this flagship initiative has now taken full flight. The Vice President, addressing the fresh-faced entrepreneurs at the University of Ghana, did what only a leader of conviction can do — she reminded them that the future will not build itself. Ten thousand young business founders, plucked from over a hundred thousand hopefuls, have now been called to arms in the economic trenches. It’s a scheme not of idle slogans but of substance — a pragmatic push for enterprise rooted in discipline, focus, and good old Ghanaian grit.
The Vice President’s words were as bracing as sea air: this is no charity, no dalliance in development rhetoric. It is a call to action. Ghana’s youth, she declared, are not waiting for tomorrow — they are building today. Hear, hear!
But she did not stop at the gates of academia. No, indeed. The next act took her to Ho, that luminous “Oxygen City,” for the Asogli Teza Yam Festival. Amidst the splendour of the harvest, and under the noble gaze of Togbe Afede XIV, the Vice President struck a note both reflective and resolute. The yam, she said, is not merely a tuber; it is a metaphor for resilience, productivity, and community. And what a metaphor it is! In the face of galamsey devastation and agricultural strain, the government’s response — through the Feed Ghana and Nkoko Nkitsinkitsi programmes — aims to restore the dignity of the land and those who till it.
Her message was clear: Ghana must grow what it eats and eat what it grows — and it must do so with ingenuity, not dependency. One might almost call it the politics of the yam — earthy, wholesome, and altogether necessary.
And then, to crown it all, came the Ghana Teacher Prize celebrations in Ho. If the Adwumawura event was about enterprise, and the festival about culture, this was about the very soul of the nation — education. Flanked by a formidable team including Minister Haruna Iddrisu and her Chief of Staff. Alex Segbefia, the Vice President paid homage to the unsung heroes of every great republic — the teachers.
In a stirring address, she celebrated their role as architects of national destiny. The new Teacher Dabrɛ initiative, the forthcoming Digital Training Programme, and the focus on mental health and well-being — all signal a government taking education seriously, not as a slogan but as a sacred duty. She was unflinching in her call for discipline, integrity, and mutual respect within the teaching fraternity, insisting that the classroom must remain a sanctuary of learning and virtue.
In three days, the Vice President managed what many fail to achieve in a term — she reminded Ghana what leadership looks like when it is both compassionate and competent. She listened, she celebrated, she challenged. There is no hubris in her tone, no puffed-up rhetoric — just a quiet, persuasive authority that commands both admiration and trust.
So, to borrow from the grandiloquent dictionary of Boris himself — Professor Opoku-Agyemang is, quite frankly, on fire. She has shown that good governance need not be grim, that national renewal can be achieved with both brains and heart. If this is the rhythm of Ghana’s new dawn under Mahama, then by Jove — the future looks positively radiant.
Long may the Adwumawura spirit march on!