Biography of Ursula Owusu
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (born October 20, 1964) is a Ghanaian lawyer and legislator who represent the Ablekuma West seat. She is the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation at the moment.
Early life
Ursula is from Akim Oda in Ghana’s Eastern Region. She graduated from Labone Senior High School and continued her study at Mfantisman Girls Secondary School. She completed her education at the University of Ghana and the Ghana School of Law, earning an LLB. In 1990, she was admitted to the bar. She graduated from the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre with a master’s degree in Conflict, Peace, and Security.
Pre-political career
She worked as a lawyer for ten years at Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co. before moving into the telecommunications market as the CEO of a telecom and technology company.
Ursula has served on many boards and in various positions during her professional career.
- Managing Consultant with N. U. Consult Legal, Governance and Gender Consultants,
- Executive Member of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Ghana,
- Former President of FIDA Ghana
- Former Vice President of the Africa Regional FIDA International.
- Member of the Ghana Bar Association,
- Member of the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA)
- Acting Managing Director of Western Telesystems (Westel) (September 2005 to May 2008) and
- Corporate and External Affairs Director, ZAIN Ghana (April 2008 to January 2009).
Politics Career
She was elected as the first Member of Parliament for the newly formed Ablekuma West Constituency in 2012.
She ran for and won the NPP’s Ablekuma West Constituency parliamentary primaries in 2015. She won 34,376 votes out of 60,558 valid votes cast, or 56.96 percent, in the 2016 Ghanaian general elections, retaining her parliamentary seat.
After a disagreement over reserved seats for female members of parliament, she and other female MPs faced personal abuse. She was thought to be seeking a political career, but the next year she was appointed Minister of Communications.
President Akufo-Addo named her the Minister in Charge of the Ministry of Communications in 2017. She is the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation at the moment.
She ran for re-election as a member of parliament in the 2020 Ghanaian general election as the NPP’s parliamentary candidate in December 2020. She kept her seat as the incumbent Member of Parliament for the Ablekuma West Constituency after receiving 37,363 votes out of 69,353 casts.
Rev. Kweku Addo of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was her closest challenger, receiving 30,733 votes, while the other candidates from the other parties, GUM, LPG, and PNC, received 359, 330, and 65 votes, respectively.
Personal Life
Dr. Sam Ekuful, a Ghanaian optometrist working in the United Kingdom, is her husband and they have one child. She considers herself to be a Christian.
Honours
The traditional chiefs and the people of Akyem Asuom in the Kwaebibirem District of Ghana installed her as the Nkosuohemaa (Development Queen) on Saturday, September 29, 2018. The ceremony was held at Asuomhene Osabarima Ofosuhene Apenteng II’s palace.
She was honored by the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in February 2019 at the 2019 FIDA Africa Regional Congress in Abuja, Nigeria, for her efforts in the preservation of women’s and children’s rights.
