Ursula Owusu

Owusu-Ekuful was born on 20 October 1964. She hails from Akim Oda in the Eastern Region of Ghana.[3]

Owusu-Ekuful attended Labone Senior High School and proceeded to Mfantisman Girls Secondary School to have her sixth form education. She furthered her education in University of Ghana and the Ghana School Of Law where she obtained an LLB. She was called to the bar in 1990.[5] She has attended courses including one at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre,[5] where she obtained a Masters in Conflict, Peace and Security.[6][7]

She worked for ten years as a lawyer at Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co. law firm before moving into the telecommunication industry to lead a telecom, technology company.

Owusu-Ekuful served on different boards and in different capacities in her professional career.[8] She served as a Managing Consultant, N. U. Consult Legal, Governance and Gender Consultants. She was the acting Managing Director of Western Telesystems (Westel) from September 2005 to May 2008 , and from April 2008 to January 2009, she was the Corporate and External Affairs Director, ZAIN Ghana.[9]

Owusu-Ekuful is a member of the Ghana Bar Association. She also served as an Executive Member of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Ghana and a member of African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA), Ghana.[8] Owusu-Ekuful has been a member of FIDA since 1990 and was a former President of FIDA Ghana and former Vice President of the Africa Regional FIDA International.[10]

In 2012, she was elected to be the Member of Parliament for the new constituency Ablekuma West Constituency as their first member of parliament.[11] In 2015, she contested and won the NPP parliamentary primaries in the Ablekuma West Constituency.[12] She retained her parliamentary seat during the 2016 Ghanaian general elections by winning with 34,376 votes out of the 60,558 valid votes cast making 56.96%.[3][13] In 2015, she and other women MPs were subject to personal attacks after there was a dispute over places reserved for women members of parliament. She was reported as saying that she was considering her future in politics,[14] but the following year she became the Minister of Communications.[11]

In 2017, Ursula Owusu was appointed as the Minister to head the Ministry for Communications by President Akufo-Addo.[15][16]

in December 2020,She contested for reelection as member of parliament in the 2020 Ghanaian general election as the parliamentary candidate for the New Patriotic Party. Going into the election as the incumbent Member of Parliament of the Ablekuma West Constituency, Owusu- Ekuful retained her seat after polling 37,363 out of 69,353 votes. Her closest competitor Rev. Kweku Addo of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) came in next with 30,733 votes, whilst the other candidates who contested from the other parties, GUM, LPG and PNC polled 359, 330 and 65 respectively.[17]

She is married to a UK-based Ghanaian optometrist, Dr Sam Ekuful, with one child.[5][18][19][20] She identifies as a Christian.[6]

On Saturday, 29 September 2018, she was  installed as  the Nkosuohemaa (Development Queen) by the traditional leaders and the people of Akyem Asuom in the Kwaebibirem District of the Eastern Region of Ghana. The ceremony took place at the Palace of Asuomhene Osabarima Ofosuhene Apenteng II.[21][22][23][24]

In February 2019 she was honoured by the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in recognition of her work in the protection of the rights of women and children at The 2019 FIDA Africa Regional Congress held in Abuja, Nigeria.[10]