John Kufuor
John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor is a Ghanaian politician who served as the tenth President of Ghana from 2001 to 2009. He was the fifth Chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008 and his victory over John Atta Mills at the end of Jerry Rawlings' second term marked the first transition of power in Ghana from a democratic party to another democratic party.
Kufuor's career has been spent on the liberal-democratic side of Ghanaian politics, in the parties descended from the United Gold Coast Convention and the United Party.
As a lawyer and businessman, he was a minister in Kofi Abrefa Busia's Progress Party government during Ghana's Second Republic, and a Popular Front Party opposition frontbencher during the Third Republic.In the Fourth Republic, Kufuor stood as the New Patriotic Party's candidate at the 1996 election, and then led it to victory in 2000 and 2004. Having served two terms in power, he retired from politics in 2008. He is popularly known as the Gentle Giant.Early life and schooling
The scion of a royal maternal lineage, John Kufuor was born in Daaban, a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. He started his primary and elementary school at the Kumasi Government School located in Asem built by Sir Gordon Guggisberg. Kufuor was the 7th of 10 children of Nana Kwadwo Agyekum, an Asante and Nana Ama Dapaah, a Queen Mother. In 1951, he continued his primary education at Osei Tutu Boarding School from 1951 to 1953. At Prempeh College from 1954 to 1958, he schooled from Form 1 to Form 5. Arriving in London on 30 April 1959, he was by June accepted into Lincoln's Inn, London to study law, becoming qualified as a barrister in one year and eight months. He was called to the London bar in 1961. In the following year, he was called to the bar in Ghana before going on to Oxford University, graduating from Exeter College, in 1964. He was initially employed at the Ghana Commercial Bank in London as a manager and legal officer. He returned to Ghana in the year 1965 at the behest of his mother who wished him to practice in Africa. He practiced in the Chambers of Victor Owusu with another lawyer, Owusu Yaw. In 1966, he became the town clerk of Kumasi City Council. In the Second Republic's Parliamentary register, Kufuor listed his hobbies and interests as table tennis, reading, football, and film shows. He was once the chairman of Kumasi Asante Kotoko Football Club.Early political career
After completing his education, Kufuor returned to Ghana and launched his political career. In 1967, he became chief legal officer and town clerk for the city of Kumasi. By 1969, he was a member of Parliament and deputy foreign minister in the government of Kofi Abrefa Busia. Kufuor served as the Member of Parliament for Atwima Nwabiagya in the Second and Third Republics. He is a founding member of the Progress Party which was established in Busia's house. As Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, he represented Ghana on a number of occasions. From 1969 to December 1971, he led Ghana's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the Organization of African Unity Ministerial Meetings in Addis Ababa, and the Summit Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Lusaka. In 1970 he led the Ghanaian delegation to Moscow in the Soviet Union, Prague, and Belgrade to discuss Ghana's indebtedness to these countries. As the Spokesman on Foreign Affairs and Deputy Opposition Leader of the Popular Front Party Parliamentary Group during the Third Republic, he was invited to accompany President Hilla Limann to the OAU Summit Conference in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He was also a member of the parliamentary delegation that visited the United States in 1981 to talk to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on Ghana's economic problems. In January 1982, the leadership of the All People's Party, which was an alliance of all the opposition parties, advised some leading members, including the Deputy Leader of the Alliance, Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama, its general secretary, Dr Obed Asamoah and Kufuor, to accept an invitation from the Provisional National Defence Council to serve in what was purported to be a National Government. Kufuor was appointed the Secretary for Local Government in this new government. As Secretary for Local Government, he wrote the Local Government Policy Guidelines that were to be the foundation of the current decentralized District Assemblies.Elections
On 20 April 1996, Kufuor was nominated by 1034 out of 2000 delegates of the New Patriotic Party drawn from all the 200 Constituencies of the Country to run for the president of Ghana on 10 December 1996. After campaigning for less than nine months, Kufuor polled 39.62% of the popular votes to Rawlings' 57% in the 1996 election. On 23 October 1998 he was re-nominated by the New Patriotic Party not only to run again for president but also to officially assume the position of Leader of the Party. Kufuor won the presidential election of December 2000; in the first round, held on 7 December, Kufuor came in first place with 48.4%, while John Atta-Mills, Jerry Rawlings' Vice-president, came in second with 44.8%, forcing the two into a run-off vote. In the second round, held on 28 December, Kufuor was victorious, taking 56.9% of the vote. When Kufuor was sworn in on 7 January 2001, it marked the first time in Ghana's history that an incumbent government had peaceful transition of power to the opposition. Kufuor was re-elected in presidential and parliamentary elections held on 7 December 2004, earning 52.45% of the popular vote in the first round and thus avoiding a run-off, while at the same time Kufuor's party, the New Patriotic Party, was able to secure more seats in the Parliament of Ghana.Presidency
His administration's domestic policy in the first term was marked by fiscal and monetary stringency on the economic front, aimed at stabilizing a national economy that stagnated and was in decline. His social vision was focused on unleashing the entrepreneurial, creative and innovative potential of Ghanaians as a means of creating wealth and hence dealing with the social challenges facing them. This socioeconomic vision was encapsulated in the Five Priority Areas Programme, viz., the pursuit of good governance, modernization of agriculture for rural development, private sector participation, enhanced social services and vigorous infrastructure development. His administration is said to have received the most financial assistance in the history of Ghana, due essentially to donors' distrust for the military governments before it, as well as those with some military connections. Kufuor's foreign policy was underpinned by what he termed "economic diplomacy". It is within this context that in Africa in general and in West Africa in particular, a good neighborliness policy has been pursued, which saw Ghana under Kufuor brokering peace in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau, among other African states. On the global stage, Kufuor actively sought the establishment of a just and equitable international social and economic order, while promoting and safeguarding the interests of Ghana through bilateral and multilateral agreements. His stature as statesman, democrat and credible spokesman for Africa found expression in his invitation to major international meetings and conferences including the founding summit of the AU, G8 Summits in Sea Island, Georgia and Gleneagles, Scotland, and the World Economic Forum. He served as chairman of the regional grouping ECOWAS for two consecutive terms – 2003 and 2004. In 2007, due to the policy successes his administration accumulated, Kufuor had his mandate renewed in 2004 and was sworn into office on 7 January 2005. Policy direction in Kufuor's second presidential term built on the foundations laid in the first four years. The administration pursued Ghana's socioeconomic transformation in the second term, using the three-pronged approach of private-sector development, human resource development and good governance. At the international level, Kufuor consolidated Ghana's position as the voice of Africa, credible peace broker, beacon of democracy and responsible member of the committee of nations. On 29 January 2007, Kufuor was elected as Chairperson of the African Union for the 2007–08 AU session. He was succeeded by Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania on 31 January 2008. Kufuor was involved in a car accident during his presidency on 14 November 2007, in which another car collided with his, causing it to roll over several times. Kufuor was reported to be uninjured.Health
He started the National Health Insurance Scheme to replace the existent cash-and-carry system; 11 million Ghanaians were registered under this scheme. He set up the National Ambulance Service and built more than 205 hospitals and clinics. He also built a state-of-the-art emergency centre at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. Kufuor also introduced free maternal health care in public hospitals for all expectant mothers.Education
Kufuor institutionalised the capitation grant for school children at the basic level, whereby each student was entitled to $2 for cultural sports and development. He also started the national school feeding programme. He changed the Senior Secondary School curriculum from three years to four years and renamed it Senior High School. He started the model school senior high school concept, in which some deprived schools were upgraded to the level of some first-class senior high schools.Access to finance
Kufuor launched the Microfinance and small loans program – a US $50million fund that makes micro loans available to the productive population – and introduced the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Program, which provides direct cash transfers to poor households in the country who could not support themselves. For the first time in Ghana's history, borrowing became so cheap and available that microfinance companies actually went on to the streets to encourage small-scale businessmen and women to apply for loans.