Eva Naa Merley Lokko (died 6 October 2016) was a

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

ian

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

and politician. She was the first woman to be chosen as the vice-presidential candidate of the Progressive People's Party (PPP). She partnered the

flagbearer A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...

of the PPP,

Paa Kwesi Nduom Paa Kwesi Nduom or Papa Kwesi Nduom, (born February 15, 1953) is a Ghanaian business consultant, politician, and founder of Ghana's Progressive People's Party (Ghana), Progressive People's Party. A three-time candidate for president, he was the ...

in the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections. She was also the first female Director General of the

Ghana Broadcasting Corporation The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) was established by law in 1968 with a triple mandate as a State Broadcaster, Public Service Broadcaster, and a Commercial Broadcaster in Ghana. Headquartered in the capital city, Accra, GBC is funded by g ...

Early life and education

Lokko was from a

Ga-Adangbe The Ga-Dangbe, Ga-Dangme, Ga-Adangme or Ga-Adangbe are an ethnic group in Ghana, Togo and Benin. The Ga or Gan and Dangbe or Dangme people are grouped as part of the Ga–Dangme languages, Ga–Dangme Ethnolinguistics, ethnolinguistic group. The ...

ethnic group. Lokko attended

Wesley Girls' High School Wesley Girls' High School (WGHS) is an educational institution for girls in Cape Coast in the Central Region, Ghana, Central region of Ghana. It was founded in 1836 by Harriet Wrigley, the wife of a Methodist Church in Singapore, Methodist minis ...

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of Ghana, Ghana. It is located about from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately from Ac ...

, where she was a student athlete and sports captain who competed and won trophies in hurdles, javelin 100-metres, relays and high jump. She was an engineer by profession and held

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Satellite Communications Engineering from the then

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(USSR) and a

in Intelligent Management Systems, System Analysis and Design from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Working life

Lokko was the first

satellite communications A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. ...

engineer and the first woman engineer to be employed at the

(GBC) in 1972. She was part of the engineering team that installed and maintained Ghana's first colour television infrastructure in 1985. She worked in more than forty countries across the world in various capacities. She served as regional programmes coordinator of the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

initiative for

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

development in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. She also served with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

for thirteen years and as chair of the UN Federation of International Civil Servants Association and the United Nations Staff Council and as a member of the UNDP News Advisory Board. In 2002, she was appointed

Director-General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of the GBC, becoming the first and only woman to hold that position since the corporation was established in 1953. She worked in that role until 2005 when she was replaced by Yaw Owusu Add

Lokko was also the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Totally Youth, a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

(NGO) based in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

, Ghana. She was a member of the

Regent University College of Science and Technology The Regent University College of Science and Technology (often referred to as Regent-Ghana) is located in Accra, Ghana. It was registered in September 2003, and received accreditation to operate as a tertiary institution in 2004. In January 2005 ...

council, after her death the university immortalized her by instituting a scholarship scheme "''Eva Lokko Scholarship''" to be given out to brilliant but needy female student.

Political career

Vice presidential bid

She was a member of the Progressive People's Party. In the lead up to the

2012 Ghanaian presidential election General elections were held in Ghana on Friday 7 December 2012 to elect a president and members of Parliament in 275 electoral constituencies. Owing to the breakdown of some biometric verification machines, some voters could not vote, and voting ...

, she was chosen by the founder and flagbearer of the Progressive People's Party,

as his running mate, making her the first woman to be selected as a vice presidential candidate for the party. At the end of the elections the incumbent president,

John Dramani Mahama John Dramani Mahama (; born 29 November 1958) is a Ghanaian politician who has been the 14th president of Ghana since January 2025. A member of the National Democratic Congress (Ghana), National Democratic Congress (NDC), he served as the 12th p ...

of the National Democratic Congress emerged winner with 5,574,761 votes whilst the PPP placed third with 64,362 votes.

Member of parliament bid

Ahead of the 2016 elections, Lokko had declared her intention to stand for the parliamentary elections for Klottey Korley Constituency on the ticket of the PPP. Until her death she was billed to compete in a tough contest against

Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings (born 1 June 1978) is a Ghanaian medical doctor, politician, activist and campaigner who is the eldest daughter of the 1st President under the 4th Republic of Ghana Jerry Rawlings (1993–2001) and former first lady Na ...

of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), daughter of

Jerry Rawlings Jerry John Rawlings (born Jerry Rawlings John; 22 June 194712 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer, aviator, and politician who led the country briefly in 1979 and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1993 and then se ...

, and Philip Addison of the

New Patriotic Party The New Patriotic Party (NPP; ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative political party in Ghana. Since the democratisation of Ghana in 1992, it has been one of the two dominant parties in Ghanaian ...

(NPP). The election was subsequently won by Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings.

Religious life

Eva Lokko was a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and a member of the

Methodist Church of Ghana The Methodist Church Ghana is one of the largest and oldest mainline Protestant denominations in Ghana. It traces its roots back to the landing of the Rev. Joseph Dunwell on 1 January 1835 in Cape Coast, in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). The Rev ...

. She was a member of the highest decision-making bodies of the church—Conference and Synod. She was also the chairperson of the Youth Advisory Board and served on other committees of the church in various capacities. She also served as the church's National ICT consultant.

Personal life

Lokko hailed from the

Greater Accra Region The Greater Accra Region has the smallest area of Ghana's Regions of Ghana, 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of 3,245 square kilometres. This is 1.4 per cent of the total land area of Ghana. It is the List of Ghanaian re ...

of Ghana and was fluent in several local and international languages. She spoke Ga,

Twi Twi (; ) is the common name of the Akan literary language of Asante and Akuapem. Effectively, it is a synonym for 'Akan' that is not used by the Fante people. It is not a linguistic grouping, but more of a common name used by inland Akans as ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. She was married to Nii K. Bentsi-Enchill and together they had two children.

Death and burial

She died on 6 October 2016 at the age of 64, in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

, where she was receiving treatment after a short battle with ill-health. She was buried on 18 November 2016 at the Osu cemetery after a memorial service was held at the forecourt of the

State House State House or statehouse may refer to: Buildings *Aso Villa or State House, the official residence of the President of Nigeria *Government House, Dominica or The State House, the official residence of the President of Dominica * State House, Bar ...

. The service was attended by notable politicians and civil servants including the flagbearer of PPP, Paa Kwesi Nduom and his running mate

Brigitte Dzogbenuku Ms. Brigitte Dzogbenuku is a Ghanaian politician and beauty queen who won Miss Ghana 1990. During 2020, she was the presidential candidate for the Progressive People's Party. She presented her first acceptance speech as a flagbearer on 12th Sept ...

, Naana Jane Opoku Agyeman the then Minister of Education,

Stephen Adei Stephen Adei (born 14 December 1948) is a Ghanaian economist, administrator and writer who is a former Director General and Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. He is a former chairperson of the National Deve ...

a former rector of the

GIMPA The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) is a public co-educational university spread over four campuses (Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Takoradi) and made up of six schools, ten research centers located at Greenhill in Accra ...

and her contenders for the Klottey Korle constituency, Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings of the NDC, daughter of former president Rawlings and Phillip Addison of the NPP.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lokko, Eva Naa Merley 2016 deaths 21st-century Ghanaian engineers 21st-century Ghanaian women engineers 21st-century Ghanaian women politicians Broadcasting in Ghana Ga-Adangbe people People educated at Wesley Girls' Senior High School Place of birth missing Place of death missing Progressive People's Party (Ghana) politicians Year of birth missing