Justin Kodua shares one of his best pieces of advice ever received
The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua, has described how he came into the law practice through the influence of the sitting president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Speaking in one of his earliest interviews after his victory on Sunday, July 17, 2022, at the Accra Sports Stadium, where the NPP held its National Delegates Conference, Justin Kodua said that he might not have pursued law had the president not urged him to.
Describing how this happened, he said that while he was nurturing a career in politics – bearing in mind that he comes from a long line of NPP stalwarts - he encountered the president one day.
In that meeting, JFK, as he is popularly known, said the president (who was then the Minister of Foreign Affairs) encouraged him to equally get training in law since it would boost his career in politics.
“I remember he said to me, ‘Young man, you are very eloquent and I will like you to be part of the young people I will groom in the party’.
“I was very honest with him, I told him I wanted to pursue politics as a career. So he advised me then – that was 2009 – that if I am interested in politics and it is something I want to do as a full-time job, why don’t I go to law school. For that one, you have a backup profession and you don’t need to rely on someone to give you employment.
“You know, the moment you get into politics, you are ‘tainted’ and if you are not careful and your government loses elections, people will be uncomfortable employing you but if you are a lawyer, you can be self-employed,” he said in the JoyNews interview monitored by GhanaWeb.
And while that would seem to have been all the President Akufo-Addo did for him, Justin Kodua added that the president paid the fees for his first term at the law school.
“That was in 2010, and that was how I went into law school. In fact, it was one of the best pieces of advice anyone has given to me,” he added.
Justin Frimpong Kodua’s win over the colossus, John Boadu, is one that is yet to leave the lips and minds of many Ghanaians.
But who exactly is this man?
JFK, as he is popularly known polled 2,837 votes, with John Boadu trailing behind him with 2,524 votes.
As a lawyer with a specialisation in corporate and commercial litigation and arbitration, with a particular interest in land disputes and asset management, Kodua became the favourite of the grassroots, hence his victory at the Accra Sports Stadium.
He was appointed in 2017 to head the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) by President Nana Addo Dankwa and was charged to lead the drive to address the youth unemployment canker in Ghana.
JFK, before he was appointed the YEA CEO, was the Ashanti Regional Youth Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He holds an LLB from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and a Barrister of Law from the Ghana School of Law.
Justin Frimpong Kodua also holds a Bachelor of Science in Land Economy from the same university.
Born on November 14, 1982, in the Ashanti region, Justin Frimpong Kodua attended Opoku Ware School. He then proceeded to Hackney Community College, London, United Kingdom, where he obtained a City and Guilds Certificate in Information Communication Technology.
He later enrolled at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) where he studied Land Economy in the year 2002.
He obtained his LLB certificate from the institution and was later admitted into the Ghana School of Law for his Professional Law Degree and from there, he was called to the Bar.
JFK also holds a Diploma in Financial Management from the Institute of Commercial Management, Bournemouth, United Kingdom.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and NPP General Secretary, Justin Kodua