Elizabeth Akua Ohene

Ghana is now considered the safest country for African journalists, and freedom of the press is reportedly thriving. World Press Freedom Day, sponsored by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, was hosted in Ghana in May 2018. This was a significant gesture, as under the regime of Jerry John Rawlings journalists were often classified as enemies of the state and were often tortured and killed. Ohene was working as the editor of the Daily Graphic in Ghana while Rawlings was in control of the country. She published an editorial questioning Rawlings' rule, and she had to leave the country to escape his wrath. She went to London, and established the magazine Talking Drums, with two colleagues who escaped with her. The purpose of Talking Drums was to have a platform to expose the human rights abuses happening in Ghana. She was appointed the Chairman of the Board of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Ohene has been criticized by the Volta Youth Forum for her lack of support for traditional rulers, specifically for her harsh words against Togbe Afede XIV, the Paramount Chief of the Asorgli State and the President of the National House of Chiefs, in 2018. Miss Elizabeth Ohene was the government spokesperson in President Kufuor's Administration.

She has stood up for freedom of the press. In 2016, she advocated for a reporter who was banned from the Ghana Parliament for suspected misreporting, stating that she believes a reporter's job is to push boundaries, and that mistakes should be a teachable moment but nothing more severe.

Ohene worked as a journalist at the Daily Graphic and in 1979 became the first woman in Africa to edit a major national daily newspaper. She went into exile after criticising the government of Jerry Rawlings. She is a former Minister of State to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports. She is also part of the award-winning BBC Focus on Africa team. Ohene was also the spokesperson in former President John Kufuor's administration.

She attended Mawuli School and gained admission to the University of Ghana in 1964, graduating with B. A. (Hon.) degree in English in 1967. She also attended the University of Indiana, in Bloomington, Indiana, USA, where she obtained a Mass Communication Certificate. She was a Press Fellow from January to June 1983 at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom.

Elizabeth Akua Ohene (born 24 January 1945) is a Ghanaian journalist and a politician. She served as Minister of State for Tertiary Education in Ghana under President John Kufuor. She had previously served as the Editor of the Daily Graphic, the first woman in the role.

Elizabeth Ohene was born on 24 January 1945 in Ho in the Volta Region of Ghana.