Business mogul Sir Sam Jonah has said he is not interested in becoming John Mahama’s running mate for the 2024 elections.
In a statement to Metro TV’s ‘Good Evening Ghana’ he said, “Anyone who knows me well will attest to the fact that I have no interest whatsoever in going into the murky world of politics.”
He disclosed how he turned down offers to be Vice President under former President Jerry John Rawlings in the 90s.
“As a matter of fact, if I was interested, I would have been Vice President in 1992 and 1996 when I was offered the position on a silver platter,” he explained.
The former Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited boss further described reports of him becoming NDC flagbearer John Mahama's runnung mate as “worthless speculation.”
Profile of Sam Jonah
Samuel Esson Jonah is a Ghanaian businessman who is currently the executive chairman of Jonah Capital, an equity fund based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Jonah was previously president of AngloGold Ashanti and shared the strategic leadership of the company with its chief executive officer, Bobby Godsell.
Jonah attended secondary school at Adisadel College in Cape Coast, Ghana, then earned an associateship in mining eEngineering at the Camborne School of Mines in Cornwall, England, and subsequently an MSc degree in mine management at Imperial College of Science and Technology in London.
He joined Ashanti Goldfields Corporation in 1979, working in various capacities, including underground operations. At the age of 36, he became the chief executive officer, and supervised the transformation of Ashanti Goldfields into a mining multinational.
During his tenure, he increased gold production from 240,000 ounces per annum to over 1.6 million ounces in over ten years, and oversaw the company’s listing as the first operating African company on the New York Stock Exchange.
His diversified investment company, Jonah Capital, is the second-biggest shareholder in the pan-African microlender Bayport, as well as a major shareholder in Houses for Africa, a company that has undertaken middle-class housing construction projects in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Nigeria, where it also provides finance.
In 2009 he became a non-executive director of Vodafone. Currently the Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, Jonah chairs the boards of Equator Exploration Ltd, Scharrig Mining, Equinox Minerals, Uramin, Moto Goldmines Ltd and Range Resources Ltd.
He also serves or has served on various boards, including Transnet, Mittal Steel SA, Ashesi University, Standard Bank of South Africa, Lonmin, the Commonwealth African Investment Fund (Comafin), the Advisory Council of the UN Secretary General’s Global Compact, President Olusegun Obasanjo’s International Investment Advisory Council on Nigeria, President Thabo Mbeki’s International Investment Advisory Council of South Africa, and President John Kufuor’s Ghana Investors’ Advisory Council.
As well as his directorships, Jonah is a member of the advisory board of the London Business School. His academic awards include an honorary doctorate (DSc), given jointly by the Camborne School of Mines and the University of Exeter in 1996.
Jonah House in Adisadel College, his alma mater, is named after his father, Thomas Jonah, and opened in 1997. In June 2003 Sam Jonah became the first Ghanaian in the 21st century to be knighted in the UK; he was presented with an honorary knighthood by the then Prince of Wales in recognition of his achievements as an African businessman, a leading business executive from the Commonwealth and an international public figure.
Jonah has been listed among the richest people in Ghana.