Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was
born on March 29, 1944, in Swalaba, Accra, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was
raised in Accra, Ghana’s capital. His father’s residence in Accra was
effectively the headquarters of the country’s first political party, the United
Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), after it was formed at Saltpond on August 4,
1947. Three of the Big Six (founding fathers of Ghana) were Nana’s blood
relatives: J.B Danquah (grand uncle), William Ofori Atta (uncle) and Edward
Akufo-Addo, who became the third Chief Justice and later ceremonial President
of the Republic from 1970-72, was his father.
Akufo-Addo had his primary
education at the Government Boys School and later Rowe Road School both in
Accra Central. Nana went on to England to study for his O- Level and A- Level
examinations. He returned to Ghana in 1962 to teach at the Accra Academy before
going to the University of Ghana in 1964 to read Economics. After graduating as
an economist, he went on to read law in the UK and was called to the English
Bar (Middle Temple) in July 1971 and the Ghana Bar in 1975.
He is married to Rebecca,
daughter of the Speaker of the Parliament of the Third Republic of Ghana, the
late Mr. Justice J.H Griffiths-Randolph. They have five children, with five
grandchildren, and are both devout Church-going Christians.
LEGAL AND BUSINESS CAREER
Akufo-Addo stayed in France for
five years as a lawyer at the now-defunct New York-based international law
firm, Coudert Brothers. Apart from the welcome exposure to the dynamics of
international corporate transactions, his stay in France also made him fluent
in French.
In 1975, he returned home to
Accra to continue with his legal career. He joined the chambers of U. V.
Campbell from 1975 to 1979, and in 1979 co-founded the law firm Akufo-Addo,
Prempeh & Co., which has become one of the prominent law firms in Ghana.
Some Ghanaian lawyers who passed through his law firm are among the most
outstanding lawyers at the Ghanaian bar today. They include Sophia Akuffo,
Justice of the Supreme Court; Joyce Darko; Daniel Afari Yeboah; Philip Addison;
Joe Ghartey, a former Attorney General and Minister for Justice; Alex Quaynor;
Frank Davies; Kweku Paintsil; Ursula Owusu; Atta Akyea, Akufo-Addo’s successor
as MP for Abuakwa South constituency; Akoto Ampaw; Yoni Kulendi; Kwame Akuffo; Kwaku
Asirifi; and Godfred Dame.
Like the “Doyen of Gold Coast
politics”, J. B. Danquah, and others before him, Akufo-Addo used his law
practice to champion the cause of human rights, rule of law, justice, freedom,
and democracy. He was well known for giving free legal assistance to the poor
and fought for the rights and liberties of the Ghanaian people. Indeed, many of
the important constitutional cases of the modern era, which, inter alia,
protected the independence of the judiciary, the right of the citizen to
demonstrate without police permit, and the right of equal access of all
political parties to the State-owned media, were undertaken by him. He is
regarded as one of the most brilliant advocates in the history of the Ghanaian
Bar.
Akufo-Addo has served on the
boards and committees of a number of political, legal, commercial, and social
organizations in the country. He was the first Chairperson of DHL (GH) Ltd;
Chairperson, Kinesec Communications (Co) Ltd, publishers of The Statesman; and
the first Chairperson of the Ghana Committee on Human and Peoples’ Rights. He
was responsible, through his association with the US company, Millicom, for
introducing mobile telephony into the country.
POLITICAL CAREER
In his early thirties,
Akufo-Addo was the General Secretary of the broad-based People’s Movement for
Freedom and Justice (PMFJ), which was composed of political stalwarts such as
Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa, William Ofori-Atta, Komla Agbeli Gbedemah, Albert Adu
Boahen, Sam Okudzeto, Obed Asamoah, Godfrey Agama, K. S. P. Jantuah, Jones
Ofori-Atta, Johnny Hanson and Nii Amaah Amartefio (“Mr. No”). This group led
the “NO” campaign in the UNIGOV referendum of 1978, designed to solicit popular
support for a one-party military-led State. The “No” campaign ultimately
brought about the downfall of the Acheampong military government on 5 July
1978, and the restoration of multiparty democratic rule to the country in 1979.
Akufo-Addo had to go briefly into exile after the referendum, when his life was
in danger. But, from Europe, he could be heard constantly on the BBC World
Service, vigorously criticising the military rulers back in Ghana and calling
for a return to democracy. He is acknowledged as one of the leaders of the
pro-democracy movement in Ghana.
In 1991, Akufo-Addo was the
chairman of the Organising Committee of the Danquah-Busia Memorial Club, a club
dedicated to the preservation of the memory and ideals of the two great
advocates of Ghanaian democracy, J. B. Danquah and K. A. Busia, Prime Minister
of the Progress Party government of the 2nd Republic of Ghana. Akufo-Addo
travelled throughout Ghana to establish branches of the Club all over the
country in the grassroots style for which he is known. These branches
eventually transformed into local organs of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) prior
to the elections of 1992, which heralded the reintroduction of democratic
governance under the 4th Republic.
In 1992, he was the first
national organiser of the NPP and, later that year, campaign manager of the
party’s first presidential candidate, Prof. Albert Adu Boahen, the man of
courage who broke the “culture of silence” in Ghana, and played such a crucial
role in the reintroduction of democracy.
In 1992, Akufo-Addo set up and
financed The Statesman newspaper, which has become the unofficial mouthpiece of
the NPP.
In 1995, he led the famous
“Kume Preko” demonstrations of the Alliance For Change (AFC), a broad-based
political pressure group, which mobilised millions of people onto the streets
of Ghana to protest the harsh economic conditions of the Rawlings era. Some
pundits in Ghana believe that this was instrumental in re-establishing the NPP
as a more formidable force after Professor Adu Boahen.
Akufo-Addo was elected three
times between 1996 and 2008 as Member of Parliament for the Abuakwa South
constituency in the Eastern region of Ghana. From 2001 to 2007, as Cabinet
Minister, first as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice for two years, and
later as Foreign Minister for five years, Akufo-Addo served in the government
of President John Kufuor with distinction.
As Attorney-General, he was
responsible for the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law, which, hitherto, had been
used to intimidate the media and criminalise free speech. The repeal has
enabled the Ghanaian media become one of the most vibrant and freest in Africa.
Under his chairmanship of the Legal Sector Reform Committee, the implementation
of the court automation programme was initiated.
As Foreign Minister, he was
fully involved in the successful Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) peace efforts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Guinea
Bissau, and was chairman of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council in 2003.
In 2004, Ghana was elected one
of the 15 pioneer members of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council,
a mandate that was renewed at the AU Summit in Khartoum in January 2006.
Akufo-Addo was chosen by his peers on the AU Executive Council to chair the
Ministerial Committee of 15 that fashioned the Ezulwini Consensus, which
defined the African Union’s common position on UN Reforms. He negotiated for
the 2007 AU Summit to be held in Accra as part of Ghana’s Golden Jubilee
celebrations, and chaired the AU Executive Council in 2007.
Ghana was elected by her peers
to take the non-permanent West African seat on the UN Security Council for
2006-07. In August 2006, Akufo-Addo chaired the meeting of the Security Council
which took the decision that halted Israel’s massive incursions into Lebanon.
Again, Ghana was elected to the new UN body, the Human Rights Council, with the
highest number of votes—183 out of 191—of any country, and as a pioneer member
of another UN body, the Peacebuilding Commission.
PRESIDENTIAL AMBITION
In October 1998, Nana
Akufo-Addo competed for the presidential candidacy of the NPP and lost to John
Kufuor, the man who eventually won the December 2000 presidential election and
assumed office as President of Ghana in January 2001. Akufo-Addo was the chief
campaigner for candidate Kufuor in the 2000 election and became the first
Attorney General and Minister for Justice of the Kufuor era.
Akufo-Addo resigned from the
Kufuor government in July 2007 to contest for the position of presidential
candidate of his party, the NPP, for the 2008 elections. Competing against 16
others, he won 48% of the votes in the first round of that election, but was
given a unanimous endorsement in the second round, making him the party’s
presidential candidate.
In the 7 December 2008
presidential race, he received, in the first round, more votes than John Atta
Mills, the eventual winner. In the first round, Akufo-Addo received 4,159,439
votes, representing 49.13% of the votes cast, placing him first, but not enough
for the 50% needed for an outright victory. It was the best-ever performance
for a first-time presidential candidate in the Fourth Republic. In the run-off,
Mills received 4,521,032 votes, representing 50.23%, thus beating Akufo-Addo by
the smallest margin in Ghana’s, and, indeed, in Africa’s political history.
Akufo-Addo accepted the results without calling even for a recount, thereby
helping to preserve the peace, freedom and stability of Ghana. Akufo-Addo again
contested in the 2012 national elections against the NDC candidate, the late
Mills’ successor as President, John Mahama, and lost. That election generated
considerable controversy, and was finally decided by the Supreme Court in a
narrow 5/4 decision in favour of John Mahama. Akufo-Addo is credited with
helping to preserve the peace of the country by the statesmanlike manner in
which he accepted the adverse verdict of the Court, at a time of high tension
in the country.
In March 2014, Akufo-Addo
announced his decision to seek his party’s nomination for the third time ahead
of the 2016 election. He secured an unprecedented, landslide victory of 94.35%
of the votes in the party’s presidential primary in October 2014, in a contest
with seven competitors. Akufo-Addo also served as Chair of the Commonwealth
Observer Mission for the South African elections in 2014.
He was elected President of
Ghana in the December 7 elections, after obtaining 53.85% of the total valid
votes cast, as announced by the Electoral Commission.
source: presidency.gov.gh
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