Akua Donkor

Akua Donkor (c. February 1952 - 28th October 2024) was a Ghanaian farmer and politician.^[2] She was the founder and leader of Ghana Freedom Party (GFP).^[3][4]

Akua Donkor was born in February 1952 and hailed from Ejuratia in the Afigya Kwabre District^[5] in the Ashanti Region of Ghana (then the Gold Coast). She was a Cocoa farmer by profession and was not known to have had any formal education.^[6]

Akua Donkor birthed a daughter who goes by the name Ama Serwaa Bonsu.^[5]

Akua Donkor was elected an assembly woman for Hemang.^[6] She applied to contest as an independent candidate in the 2012 election to become president of Ghana but was disqualified by the electoral commission on accounts of not meeting the requirements set for the election. She later decided to give her support to Paa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People's Party.^[7] Her party was disqualified by the Electoral Commission from contesting in the 2016 election.^[8] Despite not being able to contest any election, Akua Donkor insisted that she should be addressed as Her Excellency, a title for the president.

In January 2016, Donkor's GFP headquarters located at Kabu in the Eastern Region was gutted by fire.^[9] Speaking on the incident, Donkor said the disaster was a test which would not deter her quest to become the president of Ghana.

In 2020, Donkor was among the three female presidential candidates to be cleared to contest the 2020 presidential elections.^[10] Out of the 12 candidates that contested, she came fifth.^[11]

In 2024, Donkor announced Mr. Philip Kwabena Agyeman Appiah Kubi,^[12] known in the media as Roman Fada, as her running mate for the general election.^[13][14]

Donkor successfully filed her nomination to contest in the 2024 presidential elections,^[15] and placed number 3 on the ballot paper.^[16]

Akua Donkor threatened to drag John Dramani Mahama, the 2024 presidential candidate for the National Democratic Congress, to court over derogatory comments on her qualification as a presidential candidate during an Inter-Party Advisory Committee meeting which was held on 15th October 2024 in Accra.^[17][18]

Akua Donkor promised to implement free education from basic to secondary level.^[19] She also promised to eliminate import taxes to enable people engage in more imports. She mentioned the establishment of a free zone at the Tema Port to attract more businesses into the country.^[6] This, she said, were achievable through the judicious use of Ghana's natural resources such as gold, cocoa, shea butter and salt.^[19] She also advocated that Ghana refine its own resources, especially crude oil.

Akua Donkor has claimed Muammar Gaddafi of Libya as her political icon. Inspired by the late Libyan leader, Donkor stated Ghana should be "rubbing shoulders" with the northern African country.^[19]

She also wanted the country to elect its first female president, stating women had the capacity to "help change the fortunes of the country for the better".^[19]

On 10th October 2016, the Ghana Electoral Commission announced the disqualification of Akua Donkor, together with 12 other presidential candidates from contesting the 7th of December election.^[20][4] She admitted that her nomination form was fraught with errors, as pointed out by the Electoral Commission. She called on members and executives of the party not to lose hope as the party would come back in 2020 to contest the presidential race.^[21]

Akua Donkor passed away on 28th October 2024 at the Ridge Hospital Accra, where she was receiving medical treatment for an undisclosed condition after experiencing illness during her campaign activities ahead of preparations towards the 2024 Ghanaian general election.^[1][22] She had been diagnosed with abdominal complications two days prior.^[23]

The Ghana Freedom Party (GFP) has been disqualified from the 2024 presidential election.^[24]