Profile Of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was born 29 March 1944, in Swalaba, Accra. He is a Ghanaian politician who ran for President of Ghana in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections as the New Patriotic Party candidate. He is from Kyebi in the Eastern Region (Ghana). He is married to Rebecca Akufo-Addo (née Griffiths-Randolph). They have five daughters and two grandchildren.

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 (the third Chief Justice of Ghana and later ceremonial President of the Republic from 1969 to 1972), who was his father.
Nana Akufo Addo has called for unity in NPP play

Nana Addo received his primary education at the Government Boys School and went to Orielly Secondary School, and later at the Rowe Road School (now Kimbu), both in Accra Central. He went to England to study for his O‑Level and A‑Levelexaminations at Lancing College, Sussex. He returned to Ghana in 1962 to teach at the Accra Academy before going to read Economics at the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1964, earning a BSc(Econ) degree in 1967.[2][3] He subsequently studied law in the UK and was called to the English Bar (Middle Temple) in July 1971. Akufo-Addo was called to the Ghana bar in July 1975.

Akufo-Addo stayed in France for three 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.

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 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.

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.

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 1993.

In 1992 he became 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.

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 thousands of people onto the streets of Ghana to protest the Value Added Tax (VAT) initiative which was being introduced by the government of Ghana under the then President Rawlings. Some pundits in Ghana believe that this was instrumental in re-establishing the New Patriotic Party as more formidable force after Prof Adu Boahen.

In October 1998, Nana Akufo Addo competed for the presidential candidacy of the NPP and lost to John Kufuor.

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 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, 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. Akufo-Addo again contested in the 2012 national elections against the NDC candidate John Mahama and lost.

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.

On December 9, sitting president John Mahama conceded defeat to Nana Akufo-Addo.