Still considering the fact that the report that was out by the Daily Guide newspaper has not been refuted or challenged in any way, GhanaWeb continues its series on the possible names that could become John Dramani Mahama’s choice for running mate.
It must be reiterated that it is not official, as was reported by the newspaper, that the former president of Ghana and current flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has decided to drop his choice of Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang for the position.
However, just as have been done in previous reports, GhanaWeb throws the spotlight on a candidate who is not alien to links that have been made to the running mate position of the NDC before.
Julius Debrah served as the Chief of Staff under John Dramani Mahama’s presidency and is considered one of the closest persons to the former president.
In the following research profile on the man, dfslivenews.com details all the strengths of the former Chief of Staff, as well as the other qualifications and qualities that make him a possible contender for the running mate slot of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Julius Debrah:
Personal Life and Educational Background
Julius Debrah was born on April 24, 1966. He is 57 years old now. His mother, Kate Opokua, was a trader, while his father, James Debrah, was a regional cocoa officer for the Eastern Region and an agriculturalist. Julius Debrah is from the Royal Aduana Clan of Obomeng Kwahu in the Eastern Region. Debrah attended Mpraeso Secondary School to complete his GCE O’ level Certificate before continuing to the Achimota School from 1987 to 1989, to obtain GCE A’ level Certificate. He graduated from the University of Ghana, Legon, with a BA in Archaeology and Sociology and an MA in Archaeology with specialization in Museums and Heritage Studies. In 2011, with funding from TICAD IV, he attended the University of Ryukus in Okinawa, Japan, to study Sustainable Tourism Development in African Countries. Subsequently, he became a JICA aluminus. He also undertook research studies and excavations at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway in 2018. His fields of study solidified his understanding of Ghana, its history, and its developmental requirements. He is married and has three children. Socially, Julius Debrah is regarded as a deeply patriotic person, diligent worker, morally upright, and a unifier.
Professional Career
Julius Debrah is an accomplished politician, social development expert, and businessman. He has gained a thorough understanding of Ghana’s socio-economic development needs. He also has good appreciation of what is necessary to manage and facilitate the country’s systematic transformation for improved livelihoods for Ghanaians. This awareness emanates through his entrepreneurial work across a variety of sectors, as well as assignments in tourism and his political activities. For nearly 18 years of his professional life, he has created several businesses in the real estate, banking, construction, water and beverage, insurance, broadcasting, automobile inspectorate, tourism, the hospitality industry, and agricultural sectors. He is also into manufacturing and continues to work with other entrepreneurs to create more jobs through business financing. He was able to hone his managerial abilities through these businesses, especially in terms of managing people and creating value while working with constrained resources to develop Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).
His job in the tourism industry also offered him significant coverage of Ghana and the entire African Continent. This enabled him to make a major contribution to the nation’s development. His passion for the development and promotion of tourism prompted him to organize numerous tours around Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and The Gambia. In the West African tourism industry, he is one of the most sought-after tour leaders. As a professional, he values collaboration and maximizing the potential of his team members to produce desired outcomes. His main goal is to work with the Ghanaian government to create a national partnership that will maximize job growth and economic development by utilizing the entrepreneurial spirit of youthful Ghanaians. His area of interest is youth empowerment. He executes assignments with an excellent attention to detail.
Political Career
Julius Debrah has been very passionate and active politically. He belongs to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and has participated in several initiatives, including grassroots mobilization, and holding numerous NDC positions in the Eastern Region. From 2001 to 2005, he was the Eastern Regional Propaganda Secretary. Subsequently, between 2005 and 2012, he served as the Eastern Regional Chairman. All this activism has equipped him with an appreciation of what is needed to strengthen our country’s democracy, as well as requirements for its growth and sustenance. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority from 2009 to January 2013. Under his direction as the CEO of the then Ghana Tourist Board, and the Ministry of Tourism, ACT 817 was passed by Parliament in the middle of 2011, enhancing the role of the Ghana Tourism Authority in promoting tourism in Ghana.
In February 2013, President John Dramani Mahama named Julius Debrah as the Eastern Regional Minister. He was however, immediately reappointed as Regional Minister for Greater Accra after barely a month in the Eastern Region. He held the position of Greater Accra Regional Minister for a year, during which time he actively promoted the growth of local governance in the context of national development. Julius Debrah also served as the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development from 2014 to 2015. In that capacity, he consistently collaborated with appropriate state agencies to advance order in important areas of national development such as his flagship street naming and sanitation projects. He is remembered for his practical solutions to the aggressive Street Naming and the National Sanitation Exercises when he was the sector minister. The success of the National Sanitation Campaign, which now sees stakeholders at the national, regional, district, community, and household levels, undertaking activities to maintain a healthy environment, can be attributed to his vision and drive. Experts perceived this as a move to ensure broad participation of local governments and citizens in decision-making and nation-building.
In February 2015, Julius Debrah was appointed Chief of Staff by the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama. He was Chief of Staff until January 2017. Debrah performed his duties as the Chief of Staff to the President of the Republic of Ghana with dedication and management of the President’s Office, as was to be expected. He provided the President with excellent support in the implementation of his agenda for national development. He is very optimistic about the future of Ghana. Julius Debrah ran for parliament in the Suhum constituency in the years 2000, 2004, and 2012, however he was unsuccessful on all those occasions.
Source: ghanaweb.com
