Nana Akufo-Addo

Nana Akufo
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office April 2003 – 31 July 2007
President	John Kufuor
Preceded by	Hackman Owusu-Agyeman
Succeeded by	Akwasi Osei-Adjei
Attorney General of Ghana
In office 7 January 2001 – April 2003
President	John Kufuor
Preceded by	Obed Asamoah
Succeeded by	Papa Owusu Ankomah
Member of Parliament for Akim Abuakwa South
In office 2005–2009
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Samuel Atta Akyea
Member of Parliament for Abuakwa
In office 1997–2005
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1944-03-29) 29 March 1944 Accra, Ghana
Political party	New Patriotic Party
Spouse	Rebecca Griffiths-Randolph
Alma mater	University of Oxford University of Ghana Inns of Court School of Law
Website	Campaign website

Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo (/ˈækʊˈfoʊ-ædˈoʊ/ a-kuu-foh-ad-OH) (born 9 March 1944, in Swalaba, Accra) is a Ghanaian politician who ran for President of Ghana in the 2012 presidential elections as the New Patriotic Party candidate. He is from Kyebi in the Eastern Region (Ghana). Nana Akufo-Addo is married to Rebecca Akufo-Addo (neé Griffiths-Randolph). They have five daughters and two grandchildren.

Early life and education

Nana Akufo-Addo was raised in Ga Maami (Accra Central) and in the Nima area of Accra. His father's residence, Betty House at Korle Wokon 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 4 August 1947. Three of the "Big Six"—the founding fathers of Ghana—were his relatives; J. B. Danquah (grand uncle), William Ofori Atta (uncle) and Edward Akufo-Addo, who became the third Chief Justice of Ghana and later ceremonial President of the Republic from 1969 to 1972, was his father.

Akufo-Addo received his primary education at the Government Boys School and later at the Rowe Road School (now Kinbu) both in Accra Central. He went 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 then the Ghana Bar in 1975.

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 most prominent law firms in Ghana. He is acknowledged as one of the most brilliant advocates of his day, if not in the history of the Ghanaian Bar.

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, Ursula Owusu, Atta Akyea, Akufo-Addo’s successor as MP for Abuakwa South Constituency, Akoto Ampaw, Yoni Kulendi, Kwame Akuffo and Godfrey Dame.

Akufo-Addo has served on the boards and committees of a number of political, legal, and social organizations in the country. He was the first Chairperson of DHL, Ghana Limited; Chairperson, Kinesec Communications Company Limited, publishers of the Statesman and the first Chairperson of the Ghana Committee on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Political career

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 and the right of the citizen to demonstrate without police permit, were undertaken by him. He is acknowledged as one of the leaders of the pro-democracy movement in Ghana.

At the age of 33, Akufo-Addo became 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, 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, ultimately bringing 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 BBC World Service, fighting against the military rulers back in Ghana and calling for a return to democracy.

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 NPP after the ban on party politics was lifted, prior to the elections of 1992.

In 1992 he became the first national organiser of the NPP and, later that year, campaign manager of the party's first presidential candidate, Pof. Albert Adu Boahen, the man of courage who broke the “culture of silence” in Ghana.

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 more than a million people onto the streets of Ghana to protest the harsh political and economic conditions of the Rawlings era. It is well established that those demonstrations helped create the environment for the victory of the NPP in the 2000 elections.

Member of Parliament

Akufo-Addo was elected three times between 1996 and 2004 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 and later as Foreign Minister for five years, Akufo-Addo served in the government of President Kufuor with distinction.

As Attorney-General, he was responsible for the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law, which had been used to intimidate the media and criminalise free speech. The repeal has enabled the Ghanaian media to 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 which 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.

2008 presidential election

Main article: Ghanaian general election, 2008

Akufo-Addo resigned from the Kufuor government in July 2007 to contest for the position of presidential candidate of his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the then ruling party of Ghana, for the 2008 elections. Competing against sixteen 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, in the first round he received 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 total 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.

2012 Presidential election

Main article: Ghanaian presidential election, 2012

On 7 August 2010, the NPP elected Akufo-Addo for their presidential candidate for the 2012 general elections. He received the votes of 79% of the delegates. The electoral convention was also the largest any political party had ever convened in Ghana or in any African state.

Akufo-Addo and the NPP campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, and to provide Free SHS (Secondary High School) education for children across Ghana.

Akufo-Addo came second to incumbent president John Dramani Mahama with 47.7% of the vote.

Allegations of rigged election results

Akuffo-Addo claims that the 2012 general elections voting was rigged, as the NPP were leading and won the 2012 general elections by 51% as opposed to the NDC's 47% on the Electoral Commission of Ghana's official website at approximately 16:00 GMT on 9 December 2012. Akuffo-Addo and the NPP have stated that their evidence of vote-rigging clearly shows that the 2012 Ghana general elections was heavily rigged. Akuffo-Addo and the NPP asked the Electoral Commission of Ghana and their chairman Kwadwo Afari-Gyan to use the "72 hours withdrawal of election results law" that is written in the "constitution of Ghana" to "investigate" their "strong evidence" of obvious vote-rigging. Akuffo-Addo is yet to concede defeat.

Personal life

Akufo-Addo is a keen sportsman, who still trains regularly on the treadmill. He was, in his youth, an excellent footballer and played for the famous Ghanaian club of the time, Real Republicans, with well-known Ghanaian stars like Jones Attuquayefio, Anue Cofie, Edward Boateng, and others. He was Ghana’s squash champion for a period in the 1970s.He also did some boxing. He is an avid reader, particularly of political biographies, history books, and novels. He loves highlife, jazz, and classical music and is a big fan of movies.

Nana Akufo-Addo is married to Rebecca Akufo-Addo (neé Griffiths-Randolph) who is the daughter of judge and the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana during the Third Republic of Ghana, Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph. They have five daughters and two grandchildren.

References

• GhanaWeb: Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
• EIN News: Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo