John Kufuor

John Agyekum Kufuor ( born December 8, 1938 in Kumasi ) is a Ghanaian politician and served from January 7, 2001 to January 7, 2009 President of Ghana.

Training

Kufuor first visited the Prempeh College in Kumasi. Later he studied law at the University of Oxford and graduated with a Bachelor here in economics, philosophy and politics in 1964 from. In 1961 Kufuor was admitted at Lincoln 's Inn as a lawyer.

Political career

Since his return to Ghana in the late 1960s he has been active in politics. First Kufuor worked as a senior court clerk and administrative officer for the municipality of Kumasi.

Twice he was one of the constituent assemblies at: first 1968/1969, when the ruling since a coup on February 24, 1966 military government initiated the return to democracy, and a second time in 1979, when Jerry Rawlings of the next existing since January 13, 1972 military government a had prepared bloody end.

1969 was one of the founders of the Kufuor Progress Party (PP), ten years later he was at the foundation of the Popular Front Party (PFP ), between which candidate Victor Osuwu lost against Hilla Aeschlimann on 9 July 1979. In the parliamentary elections his party had received 42 of the 140 seats on 18 June 1979. Until the coup of 1972 and the second Rawlings coup on 31 December 1981 he was a member of each of the parliament and was temporarily detained by the overturning respectively.

Diplomat

He was from 1969 to December 1971, Deputy Foreign Minister and led the delegation of Ghana at the General Assembly of the United Nations as well as at meetings of the Organization of African Unity ( OAU) and the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Lusaka in 1970. During the same year he was at the head a Ghanaian delegation, which visited the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. The coup of 1972 interrupted his diplomatic career. In 1980, he acted as foreign policy spokesman of his party and deputy opposition Ghanaian President Hilla earth guide Limanns the OAU Summit in Freetown. He also traveled with a delegation of Ghanaian deputy in the U.S. and led in 1981 talks with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Minister

The since the end of 1981 again reigning Rawlings invited in January 1982, a leading representative of the All People's Party (APP ) merged parties to participate in the government. Kufuor was appointed Minister for Local Administration. In this office he campaigned for a decentralization of the administration. Unhappy with the direction of Rawlings rule and the massive, especially in the first period disregard for human rights, he resigned after seven months.

President

He later co-founded the New Patriotic Party (NPP ), with 1034 of 2000 delegate votes named him on April 20, 1996 presidential candidates. In the elections on 7 December 1996, he reached 39.6 % of the vote, Rawlings was re-elected in 1992 as the first ballot. His party, which had won 60 of the 200 seats in 1996, he was nominated on 23 October 1998 again for top candidates and elected him as party leader.

In the presidential elections of 2000 he reached 2000 48.4 % of the votes in the first ballot on December 7. In the second round he won against former Vice President Rawlings, John Atta Mills by 57.4 % of the vote. On January 7, 2001, he took up his new post. The NPP had reached in the parliamentary elections 99 of the 200 seats through a by-election the number rose to 100 John Atta - Mills was also his main rival, as he confirmed on 7 December 2004 in the first round with 52.45 % for another four years in office been. The parliamentary elections won the NPP with 128 of the 230 seats now. Kufuor pays special attention to the promotion of education and training in his country and the development of infrastructure. During his tenure, inflation has been contained and solid economic growth can be achieved. Kufuor was allowed because he has already begun his second term in the 2008 presidential election no longer a candidate.

In 2007 he was elected president of the African Union.

Family

Kufuor and his wife Theresa Mensah have five children, both of which are Roman Catholic. The family lives in Accra.

Awards

• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, 2007
• Special stage of the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 2008
• World Food Prize, 2011