Citizens from the Upper East Region have complained about not knowing the appointed Ministers representing them at the national level, especially in the NPP Akufo-Addo- Bawumia second administration.
However, interestingly out of 91 appointed Ministers and Deputies, Upper East Region only had three (2) deputy Ministers and a Regional Minister for the people of the region.
Stephen Yakubu is a Ghanaian politician and was a Member of Parliament for Binduri constituency in the Upper East Region of Ghana. He is currently the Upper East Regional Minister and also the Chairman of Regional Security Council.
Early Life and Education
Stephen Yakubu who was born on May 25, 1966 at Gotisaliga – Binduri in the Upper East Region also hails from the same farming community in the Binduri district of Upper East region. He obtained a BSc in Planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and a Postgraduate diploma in Information Systems from Thames Valley University Slough, UK.
Political life
Yakubu is a member of the New Patriotic Party(NPP). During the 2008 general elections, Mr. Yakubu contested the Binduri seat which had always been won by the National Democratic Congress, on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party.
He became the first NPP candidate to have broken the monopoly of NDC in the constituency by winning the seat with 9,103 votes out of the 18,050 valid votes cast which amounts to 50.43% of all valid votes.
He was sworn-in as a Member of Parliament of the 5th Parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana, representing the people of Binduri Constituency on the 7th of January 2009 to the 6th of January 2013.
He was later appointed as a Coordinator for settler communities leading to the 2016 elections, where he and others were tasked to take care of eighteen (18) settler communities, where the party had not been performing well.
They successfully achieved their mandate by snatching new seats in parliament as well as appreciation in the Presidential votes across the eighteen (18) constituencies.
As a way of appreciating his effort, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in July 2017 appointed him as Ghana’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco.
The former Member of Parliament for Binduri was again nominated in January 2021 by President Akufo-Addo to head the Upper East Region.
Mr. Yakubu who was a one-term MP, served in various roles in Parliament and outside of it.
Personal life
He is a Christian and worships with an Adventist church. He is married with one child.
Career
He is into Development Planning, Architecture, and Quantity Surveyors.
Hon. Abdulai Abanga is a Deputy Minister for Ministry of Works and Housing and a Member of Parliament for the Binduri Constituency in the Upper East Region since 7th January 2021 and currently serves on the Committee on Government Assurance as the Vice Chairman.
Hon. Abanga Abdulai was born on 25th May, 1970 in Akwatia, Eastern Region but hails from Binduri/Bawku in the Upper East Region of Ghana.
The Deputy Minister had his elementary education in Akwatia L/A Primary School and proceeded to Bansi Primary School in Binduri. He then proceeded to Bawku Junior High School and continued to Ghana Secondary School, Tamale, for his Secondary Education. He obtained a Diploma in Business Studies in Accounting at the Tamale Polytechnic and was awarded a Bachelor of Commerce (BCOM) Degree at the University of Cape Coast in 1998. Hon Abdulai holds a Master’s Degree in Development Finance, Professional Chartered Accountant Certificate in 2005 from the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG).
He was the Finance Officer from January 2001 – March 2007 at the National Governance Programme (NGP) and the Management Accountant at the Millennium Challenge Account of the Ghana Programme from 2007 -2008.
He was appointed as the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the Bawku Municipal Assembly from January 2008 to February 2009. For his efforts and resilience to work, he served as the Lead Consultant and Fund Manager for the Agriculture Credit Programme, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC, USA) Ghana Programme (MIDA) from February 2009 to February 2021.
At the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), he was also the Financial and Business Consultant. He served as the Financial Consultant/Facilitator for Radbdah Africa Build Ltd from 2011-2016 and later, became the Financial Consultant at the Cegelec Oil and Gas (multinational oil/gas company of Dubai, UAE and Paris, France) from 2013 – 2014. Hon. Abdulai Abanga founded the Savannah Microfinance Ltd (Bank of Ghana Regulated Finance Institution) in 2014.
Hon. Abanga was the Chief Executive Officer/Founder of the Banse Tropical Foods Ltd and Local Country Agent, Business and Financial Advisor, VDL Buses and Coaches, Belgium as well as Local Country Agent, Business and Financial Advisor at the Viabuild, a Belgium Construction Company in 2019. He was the Financial Consultant and Business Investment Facilitator in 2017.
He has participated in several conferences and capacity building programmes organised by the Africa Development Bank (ADB), Accra in (2001), Danida Fellowship Centre, Cowi Copenhagen Denmark in (2003), World Bank Ghana (2013) and Chartered Diploma in Oil and Gas Accounting also in (2013) at the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana. He is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG).
Honourable . She was born in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region but originally from Garu in the Upper East Region. She graduated from the University of Ghana with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and English Language and Law for her second degree.
In 2008, while she was schooling at the University of Ghana, she served as the Vice President of Akuafo Hall Junior Common Room and Chairperson of the SRC Week Planning Committee.
In January 2017 she was appointed as the Deputy Communications Director at the Office of the President, Jubilee House, Accra, Ghana.
Prior to her political appointments, she worked at the Lansdown Resort, Aburi, and SRM Engineering Limited, where she served as a house manager and a Clerk respectively.
She previously served the then-candidate Nana Akufo-Addo as a campaign aide in the 2016 and 2020 general elections.
She was part of the legal team of President Nana Addo Dankwa-Akufo-Addo during the 2020 Presidential Election Petition.
Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana
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