EARLY LIFE Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor was born on December, 1938 in Kumasi, Ghana. He had his Secondary Education at Prempeh College where he passed at the top of his class. He enrolled at Lincoln Inn, London, and was called to the Bar in 1961 at the age of 22. He then entered Oxford University where he passed his Honour’s BA degree in 1964 in Economics, Philosophy and Politics. with the Master's degree by the University. Mr. Kufuor comes into this arena with credentials and experiences unmatched in Ghana's history. His public service spans over thirty years. In 1967, he was appointed Chief Legal Officer and Town Clerk (City Manager) of Kumasi, the Second Largest City of Ghana Kufuor served as the Member of Parliament for Atwima Nwabiagya in the Second (1969-1972) and Third (1979-1981) Republics. He was a member of the 1968-69 and the 1979 Constituent Assemblies that drafted the Constitutions of the Second and Third Republics respectively. In addition, he was a Founding Member of the Progress Party in 1969, the Popular Front Party in 1979 and is a Founding Member of the New Patriotic Party. He has twice been elected as a Member of Parliament, during the Second and Third Republics. He has also been in political detention on two occasions as a result of military coups that overthrew the Second and Third Republics. He has been a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and in this capacity, he represented Ghana on several occasions. As the Spokesman on Foreign Affairs and Deputy Opposition Leader of the Popular Front Party (PFP) Parliamentary Group during the Third Republic. Mr. Kufuor was appointed the Secretary for Local Government in this new Government. As a Secretary for Local Government, he authored the Local Government Policy Guidelines that were to be the foundation of the current decentralized District Assemblies. He, however, resigned within seven months of acceptance of the position after having satisfied himself that the PNDC Government was not the national Government that it promised to be.
ELECTIONS
John Kufuor served two terms as president of the Republic of Ghana from 2001–2008.On 20th April 1996, Kufuor was nominated by 1034 out of 2000 delegates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) drawn from all the 200 Constituencies of the Country to run for the President of Ghana on 10th 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 23rd 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 7th December, Kufuor came in first place with 48.4%, while John Atta-Mills, came in second with 44.8%, forcing the two into a run-off vote. In the second round, held on 28th December, Kufuor was victorious, taking 56.9% of the vote. When Kufuor was sworn in on 7th January 2001, it marked the first time in Ghana's history that an incumbent government had peacefully surrendered power to the opposition. Kufuor was re-elected in presidential and parliamentary elections held on 7th December 2004 for his second and final term, 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 had 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. His administration is said to have received the most financial assistance of any in the history of Ghana, due essentially to donors' distrust for the military governments before it, as well as those with some military connections.
Ghana under President Kufuor brokering peace in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d'lvoire and Guinea-Bissau among other African states to the successful negotiations that brought peace and major post-war reconstruction to Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia. On the global stage, President Kufuor has 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 has found expression in his invitation to major international meetings and conferences including the founding summit of the AU, G8 Summits and the World Economic Forum, among others. He served as Chairman of the ECOWAS for two consecutive terms – 2003 and 2004.President Kufuor had his mandate renewed in 2004 and was sworn into office on 7th January 2005. Policy direction in President Kufuor's second term has built on the foundations laid in the first four years. The administration is pursuing Ghana's socio-economic transformation in the second term using the three-pronged approach of private sector development, human resource development and good governance. At the international level, President Kufuor is consolidating Ghana's position as the voice of Africa, credible peace broker, beacon of democracy (Ghana is the first country to undergo Peer Review under NEPAD's Africa Peer Review Mechanism). On 29 January 2007, Kufuor was elected as the Chairperson of the African Union for the 2007–2008 AU session. Kufuor was involved in a car crash during his presidency on 14 November 2007. Kufuor was reported to be uninjured. On 7th January 2009, he handed power to his long-time political rival John Atta-Mills after he defeated Nana Akuffo Addo in the 2008 elections.