Agnes Naa Momo Lartey

Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey is a Ghanaian politician who has been the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Krowor in the Greater Accra Region since January 2021. In 2025 President John Mahama made her Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, the ministry responsible for child protection, social welfare and programmes such as school feeding and LEAP cash transfers.

Krowor born

Lartey was born on 16 April 1976 in Krowor, the coastal constituency east of Accra that includes Nungua. She took her O Levels at Nungua Secondary School and her A Levels at West Africa Secondary School. She then studied at Central University, took a master's degree at the University of Cape Coast and an MPhil at the University of Professional Studies, Accra, and later earned a PhD at the University of Ghana. She has also trained in organisation and systems development at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland in the United States.

From assembly member to MP

She entered politics in 2000 and built her base in local government. She was an elected assembly member and became Presiding Member of the Krowor Municipal Assembly, the person who chairs the assembly's meetings.

Her first run for Parliament in December 2016 ended in defeat by the New Patriotic Party's Elizabeth Afoley Quaye. In the 2020 rematch she took the seat with 41,850 votes, about 56 per cent, and she was re-elected in December 2024 with 39,198 votes.

Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection

Mahama nominated her for the gender portfolio in January 2025. At her two-hour vetting on 22 January 2025 she promised to clear the arrears owed to school feeding caterers and to widen the programme, called for maternity leave to be extended to six months, and argued for Ghanaian family values to be taught in schools.

As minister she has called for collective action to protect children and has argued that Ghana has moved "from advocacy to enforcement" on gender equity and disability inclusion, with social protection becoming a legal right rather than a favour. In 2025 the Impactful Women Awards named her an Outstanding Woman of Honour.