She defied all odds both in her party’s parliamentary primary and the general elections last year to become the youngest Member of Parliament (MP) since the inception of the Fourth Republic for the people of Kwabre-East constituency in the Ashanti Region.
She is the person of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Kwabre East constituency, Hon. Francisca Oteng-Mensah.
Born at Aboaso Hospital on February 14, 1993 in Mamponten in the Ashanti Region to Dr. Kwaku Oteng, Managing Director (MD) of the Angel Group of Companies, and Mrs. Joyce Oteng, a business woman, the young Francisca knew what she wanted to do while growing up.
Apparently Francisca, who celebrated her 24th birthday few days ago on Valentine’s Day, shares the same birth date with her mother. As the first born of four of her parents, Francisca, as she is affectionately called, has all along wanted to make her parents and her community proud, hence her decision to go into politics so that she can influence decisions that will inure to the benefit of humanity, especially women and the vulnerable.
Contrary to the perception that she was born with golden spoon in her mouth, Ms. Oteng-Mensah told Weekend Today that she tasted real poverty when growing up as a child as her parents had to struggle to feed her and the rest of the family.
Francisca had her basic and primary education at three different schools all in the Ashanti Region. She first had her basic education at Mamponten Roman Catholic School, then to Revival Preparatory at Breman and Supreme Saviour International where she completed her Primary Six.
For her Junior High School (JHS) education, she attended Angel Complex Education also in the Ashanti Region which belongs to her father. St Rose’s Senior High School (SHS) at Akwatia in the Eastern Region was also where she had her senior high education.
Her insatiable quest for more academic laurels compelled her to enrol at the Faculty of Law at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) where she is currently reading law.
Francisca became active in politics at the age of 21 after joining Kwabre East NPP also at the age of 18. What pushed her into politics was her desire to empower women through her training centre.
Although she knew it was not going to be easy winning the Kwabre East seat, especially in the primary, her good human relations did the trick for her as she is not only the youngest amongst the 275 MPs in the 7th Parliament, she also became the only MP who had the highest number of votes in both parliamentary and presidential elections in the country.
Claiming that she is a lucky girl, Francisca will not decline any appointment from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, although she is a first-time MP. However, she will not lobby for any appointment.
Francisca, who is a Christian, is single and hopes to get married by the end of 2020. Her favourite food is ‘Tuo zaafi,’ a local delicacy of people in the Northern Region. She likes listening to music and reading novels at her leisure time.
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