President Kufuor: A Hero Of Our Time

President John Agyekum Kufuor since his initiation as Ghana’s President has achieved a lot of meritorious heights that have indubitably brought Ghana glory and respect among his peers in Africa and beyond. It took President Kufuor, the true hero of our time after Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to restore the confidence, respect and dignity that our Nation lost sometime ago in the face of the world after independence.

Between 2003 and 2004, President Kufuor was the chairman of the Draft Committee of the AU Peace and Security Council, an important council under the ambiance of the continental Union. He was also the chairman of ECOWAS in 2003, got the nod again for the second term which expired in 2004.

President Kufuor is the first democratically elected President since Ghana’s 4th Republic and among the few African leaders that are invited to the meetings of the most powerful and influential Great 8 Nations of the world, G8 at Gleneagles. On President Kufuor’s conscious effort of bringing respect and dignity to Ghana, he became the first African President to accede himself and his government to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in 2003. This monumental step attracted respect and commendation from African Leaders such as Presidents Obasanjo and Thabo Mbeki. According to them it was a demonstration of courage and a sign of good leadership. All these and more have indeed brought respect to Ghana.

These are great heights that are on par with the all time best political leader in Ghana and Africa, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. All these ostentatious achievements of President Kufuor in conjunction with his immerse diplomatic skills, negotiating abilities, relatively excellent human right records, rule of law, good governance, prudent economic policies and his political pedigree culminated in the historical victory of His Excellency President John Agyekum Kufuor’s election as AU Chairman.

It is of importance to clear the air that even Congo with all her problems had their President, Nguesso, chairing the AU so it is no big deal if President Kufuor is AU Chairman now. President Kufuor’s election was absolutely different from that of the Congolese President Danis Sassou Nguesso. Nguesso’s AU chairmanship was a compromise after some member heads of states had raised objections. But President Kufuor was unanimously elected without a single objection. All the 52 Presidents including Sudanese President Al-Bashir who had been sidelined for the second time agreed that president Kufuor is the best among his equals to champion the course of Africa.

This is what the Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said “Sudan has voluntarily accepted to decline in favour of Ghana.” In addition, Alpha Oumar Konare said “by consensus vote President Kufuor of Ghana has been elected to the presidency of the African Union.” On his part Dr. Ibn Chambas, ECOWAS President and the former NDC MP for Bimbila in an interview with GTV also said “we in Addis Ababa are very happy that it was a unanimous decision not a compromise as in the case of Nguesso. It is a plus for the President and Ghana.”

Ghana has had several Presidents since independence, they have come and gone but none of them was able to bring the continental chairmanship back to the soil where it all started. Some African countries like Ethiopia and Egypt have taken the seat twice or more. All those years Ghana was kept in the wilderness as far as the continental seat was concerned, but thank God for President Kufuor the hero of our time, he has brought the chairmanship back to Ghana after almost 42 years since Kwame Nkrumah occupied the seat and 50 years down the line of Ghana’s independence.

Most significantly, the next AU Summit is going to be held in Ghana come July 2007 and the agenda for the Summit will be “An AU government: towards the United States of Africa.” It has taken President Kufuor, the only President after Nkrumah to bring this historical victory to Ghana (the originator of the United States of African concept). Mr. President you have made tremendous contribution to the future success of Ghana. Let me stress, Mr. President, that you are the true hero of our time and one of the best examples of a new Africa in which responsibility counts.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.