Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who will become Ghana’s fifth president of the Fourth Republic when he is sworn in on 7 January 2017, is a lawyer, politician and human rights activist.
He was born in Accra on 29 March, 1944. His father was Edward Akufo-Addo, who was Ghana’s Chief Justice before becoming the ceremonial president from 1969-1972. His uncles were prominent politicians in Ghana – Dr J.B. Danquah and Mr William Ofori-Atta.
His political career started in 1977, when he became the General Secretary of the People’s Movement for Freedom and Justice (PMFJ), a group established to oppose the then military government’s proposal of a non-party government dubbed “Union Government”.
He is a founding member of the centre-right New Patriotic Party (NPP).
This is his third attempt to win the presidency after losing to Professor John Evans Atta Mills in 2008 and John Dramani Mahama. At 72, he becomes the oldest man to ever win a presidential election in Ghana.
Akufo-Addo served three terms in parliament as the MP for the Abuakwa South constituency in the Eastern Region.
He served from 2001 to 2007, as a cabinet Minister, in the government of John Agyekum Kufuor. He served first as Attorney General for two years and later as Foreign Minister for five years.
He obtained his first degree in Economics from the University of Ghana in Accra before studying law in the United Kingdom.
He was called to the English Bar (Middle Temple) in July 1971 and to the Ghana Bar in July 1975
He is married to Rebecca. He has five daughters and two grandchildren.
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