We shouldn’t forget prayer and right living with God and never try to get ahead of Him because we may hit our heads against the wall. Just be hardwor… - Margaret Amoakohene

So I knew I was growing old but didn’t think I was that old to be a Council of State member; [a response she said stunned her caller] but I asked for an opportunity to think about it.

My father was educated up to middle school, and with his certificate, he got a job and started off as a bailiff but later had a job with VRA/NED in Tamale so it was from that institution he retired in 1998. He is now the Sanaahene of the Nsawkaw Traditional area. But my mum didn’t have a certificate so what she had to do was to do one job or the other so that she could, together with my father, put food on the table. Seriously, I saw her selling many things growing up and because I was the first child, I was doing most of the things with her.

It was my childhood dream to be a Foreign Affairs Minister because I thought traveling would be fun. However, the 1979 coup I indicated, killed that political ambition. Rawlings came into power in 1979 and staged his coup. With the violence and killings that characterised it, I said to myself, the only crime they committed was probably because they were in public office. That was what killed my interest so I said, well, let me just get my certificates.