“I was almost killed in the line of duty for this country” – Dr Adutwum recounts

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, a New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential hopeful, has recounted how he escaped death in the line of duty for Ghana.

The former Education Minister revealed he was almost killed during a regional tour to promote the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy while returning from Bawku to Buipe.

According to Dr Adutwum, the attackers were masked and fired multiple shots at his vehicle.

Speaking in an interview on Joy News, Dr Adutwum narrated, “One of my journeys back from Bawku, Buipe, my car was shot at, literally killed on the line of duty. I almost lost my life,” he said.

When I went to the Buipe Police Station, they said it had never happened before. Nobody has ever shot into a government vehicle because they know you don’t carry money. Normally, they will attack traders and not somebody in a Land Cruiser. I almost lost my life”, he recounted.

When asked if he thinks it was a targeted assassination, he replied, “I don’t know, but all that I know is that the side of my car was bullet-ridden, and I saw these people who had masks on.

“We turned a corner; we saw them with their masks on, and then they started shooting. My driver had to do a zigzag, go this way, come this way, to dodge the bullets. It was a very difficult day, and we escaped that”, Dr Adutwum narrated.

Dr Adutwum continued, “I remember the Chief of Staff on the phone with me throughout the night to make sure I arrived in Kumasi safely. When we got to the Buipe Police station, and we stopped, that is when the tyre went flat. They shot into the tyre nonstop, so that they could stop there. So, I was almost killed in the line of duty for this country.

Dr Adutwum, in that same interview, has said the greatest threat facing Ghana is poverty.

He highlighted that Ghana must confront poverty head-on with bold and innovative solutions.

According to Dr Adutwum, his presidential ambition is anchored on fighting poverty through education reform.

He added, “The President of Ghana means that you have a mindset that tells you that things can be better than what I’ve inherited or what I see today.

“If I ask anybody, what’s the greatest challenge facing Ghana on the street, a number of them will talk about the cost of living, issues, things are very difficult.

“At the end of the day, I conclude that the greatest threat facing this nation is poverty, and that we have to be frontal with it”.

The former Education Minister further added that Ghana’s development history shows lost opportunities.

He added, “Why is it that we built factories in the 1960s, but they are gone. Why is it that we started so well, and countries like Singapore come here and they marvel at the pace of transformation of Ghana?

“In fact, some economists thought that Ghana will be the first black nation to become developed. What went wrong? What did we miss?”

Dr Adutwum further cited Singapore, saying, “When Lee Kuan Yew came to Ghana and visited us in 1963, he was amazed as to the Ghanaian transformation that was taking place at the time.

“In fact, it is on record that he wrote in his diary that he had seen something in Africa, and Ghana has gold, diamonds, cocoa, and other resources that he didn’t have, but he was going to focus on human capital development.

It is also said that he mentioned the fact that he didn’t understand why a developing country would have such a great university, but the university was being headed by a non-scientist”.

The former education minister added, “So in his mind, he knew clearly that education was what was going to change Singapore, but not just any education, STEM education at the foundation, built on it with engineering innovation. Then, before you know, you have a country that is emerging out of poverty.

So essentially, my quest to become, first the flag bearer of the NPP and then to become the president of Ghana is for us to do what we have never done, for us to directly look at poverty and say, what kind of education system should we create that will enable us to become innovators, critical thinkers, collaborators, effective communicators, what is called the four CS, so that we can begin to tackle our issues around it through a different prism. We need to be able to look at age-old problems with a new set of eyes and devise solutions that we’ve never seen before.”

Watch the video below:

NPP 2028 Presidential Hopeful Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum recounts escaping death in the line of duty for his party.#JoyNews pic.twitter.com/FBqCqR1uxG

— JoyNews (@JoyNewsOnTV) September 17, 2025