Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the man of the moment

Ghanadot profile, December 23, 2007

Ghanadot profile, December 23, 2007 - He has been regarded as a president in waiting for so long and has been rated as the man most likely to succeed current President John Agyekum Kufuor. And on Sunday December 23, 2007, he has been elected by the NPP Congress to lead the party for the 2008 elections.

What are his chances for success in the elections and also as president? The view by many is that they are all excellent.

They quote his style and approach as deep, sure and certain to carry his message across. The fact that he could be the first French-speaking Ghanaian leader is also an asset that foretells a boost in the bonds of understanding between Ghana and all her neighbors.......
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Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was born March 29, 1944 and was the Foreign Minister of Ghana since April 2003 until his voluntary resignation in August this year. Before then, he was the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice from 2001 to 2003.

Akufo-Addo was one of the founding members of the New Patriotic Party - the current ruling party of Ghana - in 1992, and was also the founder and first chairperson of the Ghana Committee on Human and People's Rights.

For Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the appearance at the NPP Congress in 2007 was his second.  The first was his brave attempt to challenge his senior at the Bar, John Kufuor, to lead the New Patriotic Party in 1998.  The tradition of the NPP, which allowed the most experienced to lead the party, favored the then candidate John Kufuor. And as they say, the rest became history.

Ironically, Nana Akufo-Addo was to face the same tradition in 2007 when this time he was challenged by Alan Kyerematen; a young charismatic politician with a patrician bearing. Nana Addo won the majority vote.

NPP strategist and Chief Patron of Friends of Nana Addo (FONAA), Victor Newman had this to say back in the early days of the the campaign for the PP candidacy:

“Nana Addo has not only served the party with distinction, he has the leadership qualities to win that big electoral challenge ...... He is the only ‘complete candidate. You don’t have to like him. You just have to accept that he is the only one who can deliver, period”.

Mr. Newman has often compared the Nana Addo to Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, a comparison which seems to be gaining some truth today at Nana Addo's victory.

But Nana Addo has more to compare him with than Gordon Brown; his own name.  His pedigree is chuck full with political stars.

The first to make public notice of this pedigree after his victory was President Kufuor himself.

Presidet Kufuor noted that Nana's pedigree "as a party man was unquestionable." 

Indeed, the president cited Nana Addo'ss whole life experience as that of a man who was being prepared for this moment in history.  His family, his education, political affiliations, the President said, "all go to tell that he is truly destined for this position - he is related to as many as three of the members of the Big Six - J. B. Danquah was his granduncle, Edward Akufo-Addo was his father and William Ofori-Atta was his uncle."

That said, President Kufuor raised Nana's hand at the 2007 NPP Congress as the man chosen by his party, hopefully, to succeed him.

Nana Addo's father was Edward Akufo-Addo, who became Ghana’s third Chief Justice, was later the President of the Second Republic during the Progress Party government of Prime Minister, Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, from 1969 to 1972.

His father’s residence, Betty House, in Korle Wokon in downtown Accra, served as the headquarters of the country’s first political party - the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC). Forty years later in1992, his family’s Ringway Hotel became the venue of the weekly press conferences for the NPP. That property was later bombed allegedly by an agent of state security under President Rawlings.

Early Education
What many people do not know is that Nana Akufo-Addo was born in Swalaba, in the backstreets of Accra. He had his primary education at the Government Boys School (Syto) and later Rowe Road School (now Kinbu).

He also grew up in Nima, a place that no man in his right mind would describe as an upscale community.  Nima, in fact, is a shanty town and the place of most of the down trodden.

Nana Addo was also a great sportsman. He played alongside Fiifi Atta Mills and Abel Edusei in the University soccer team at Legon, and also played for Real Republicans. He was later chosen by the legendary Ohene Djan, then Director of the Central Organization of Sports (COS), as administrative secretary of Real Republicans.

Marxism
A Marxist during his formative years as an Economics student at Legon in the 1960s and had many intellectual battles with his father, a pillar of the UP. But his father was to have the last laugh in February 1966 as his son was chased out of campus barefooted with socialist friends such as Kweku Mensah (Abel Edusei, CEO of GNPA) and the late J.C Akosa (of Tip Toe Gardens fame), to his house for refuge after the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah. The old man was said to have just sat in his chair on the verandah laughing as his first born came home panting for cover.

The ideological transformation started shortly afterwards when the young Akufo-Addo returned to Europe to continue with his studies and work. The the synergy of his father's conservatism and his own short flirtation with socialism began to work to produce in this man an enduring popular appeal with the public.

Akufo-Addo returned to Ghana after practicing law for five years in France, and joined the national struggle against military dictatorship. In 1977, he was the first person to join General (Okatakyie) Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa to oppose Kutu Acheampong’s attempts to form a one-party state under the guise of UNIGOV.

As General Secretary, of the broad-based People’s Movement for Freedom and Justice (PMFJ), he was instrumental in bringing about the downfall of Acheampong, and in 1979, in restoring multiparty democratic rule to Ghana.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Akufo-Addo used the courts to defend the Constitution, promote human rights, and civil liberties. During that time, he traveled throughout Ghana, establishing what would become the local organs of the NPP. In 1992, when the newly founded party organized the First National Delegates Congress, Akufo-Addo provided the bulk of the funding. In the aftermath of the gargantuan electoral fraud of 1992, Akufo-Addo doubled as the team leader of the group that published the famous Stolen Verdict, whose arguments led to substantial reforms of the electoral system.

In 1996, during the first competitive parliamentary elections of the Fourth Republic, Nana Akufo-Addo won the Abuakwa seat against considerable odds. Seen as the man most feared by then President Rawlings, all resources were marshaled to help Nana Akufo-Addo’s cousin, the incumbent Owuraku Amofa, to prevail: anything to prevent this firebrand, intelligent, charismatic and eloquent lawyer and opposition politician from becoming a member of the legislature. The stop-Nana-Addo campaign failed and, since then, he has been perceived as the man Rawlings fears most.

He was also instrumental in initiating a series of reforms of the legal system and the Ministry of Justice, prominent amongst them being the establishment of the new Commercial Court and the Business Law Division of the Justice Ministry.

President Kufuor’s first major cabinet reshuffle in March 2003 took Nana Akufo-Addo to the Foreign Ministry. His eloquence, command of the French language, and powerful negotiation skills made him a brilliant choice to implement President Kufuor’s diplomatic initiatives, the successes of which are self-evident.

The image of the country has been considerably enhanced during his tenure as Foreign Minister. Effective involvements in Liberia and Guinea Bissau, and the leading role he played as a member of the International Working Group (IWG), whose work was to help restore peace to troubled Cote d’Ivoire, attest to his excellent diplomatic skills.

In the process, he raised Ghana's diplomatic profile in the world community.  Ghana, during his tenure as Foreign Minister, was elected by her peers ahead of influential countries in the sub-region like Nigeria and Burkina Faso to occupy the West African (non-permanent) seat on the UN Security Council for 2006 – 2007.

In 2004, she was elected as one of the pioneer members of the AU Peace and Security Council, a mandate that was renewed at the AU Summit in Khartoum in January 2006.

 

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