GRi Feature Ghana 27 - 09 - 2000
Profiles of
presidential candidates
Profiles of presidential candidates
Accra (Greater Accra) 27 September 2000
The following are brief profiles of the seven
presidential candidates contesting the December 7 election compiled by the
Ghana News Agency (GNA).
Professor John Evans Atta Mills (NDC)
Professor John Evans Atta Mills, the
presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was born on
July 21st, 1944 and hails from Cape Coast in the Central region.
Prof. Mills' attended Achimota School from
1957-63 where he obtained the ordinary and advanced level certificates.
He studied at the University of Ghana, Legon,
from 1963-66 where he obtained the Bachelor of Law and Professional Certificate
in Law in 1967. He also studied at the London School of Economics and Political
Science where he obtained his LL M in 1968, School of Oriental African Studies,
University of London (PhD) in 1971 and the Stanford Law School, California
(Fulbright Scholar) in 1971.
Prof. Mills' employment record shows that
between 1971 and 1980, he was a Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of
Ghana, Legon, where he rose through the ranks to Associate Professor of Law in
1992.
He has also served as a visiting professor of
Temple Law School, Philadelphia, from 1978 to 1979 and 1986 to 1987 and Leiden
University, Holland from 1985 to 86.
From 1986 to 1993, Prof. Mills was the Acting
Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service and the substantive Commissioner from
1993-1996 when he was selected as the running mate to President Jerry Rawlings
for the 1996 elections.
He has contributed in various capacities to
University Administration including being Tutor, Librarian and Council member
of Legon Hall, member of Board of Social Studies and School of Administration,
member of Admissions Board, Staff Housing Loans Scheme and Chairman University
Superannuation Scheme.
Prof. Mills has more than one dozen
publications to his credit. These include Taxation of Periodical or Deferred
Payments arising from the Sale of Fixed Capital (1974), Exemption of Dividends
from Income taxation: A critical Appraisal (1977), Report of the Tax Review
Commission, Ghana, parts 1,2&3, (1977) and Ghana's Income Tax laws and the
Investor. An inter-faculty lecture published by the University of Ghana.
He is married to Ernestina Naadu, an
educationist, who works with the Ghana Education Service (GES). She was born on
October 4, 1944.
More…/
Prof. George Panyin Hagan (CPP)
Prof. George Panyin Hagan, the presidential
candidate of the Convention Peoples' Party (CPP), was born in Accra on August
7, 1938.
He attended St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School
in Accra for his GCE ordinary level certificate and continued to the St
Augustine's College at Cape Coast for the Advanced level.
Prof. Hagan holds B.A. (Hons) in Philosophy and
M.A. in African Studies from University of Ghana and Doctor of Philosophy in
Social Anthropology from the Oxford University, United Kingdom.
He has worked in various capacities since 1962
including the Welfare Officer, Scholarship Secretariat, from 1962 to 1964. He
was appointed Lecturer and Research Fellow at the University of Ghana (1968),
Senior Lecturer (1978), Associate Professor 1994 and Director of African
Studies (1997/98).
He has also served on a number of University
Committees, including the Academic Board, Task Force on Student Feeding,
Committee on the Disabled and the Dean of Students.
The CPP presidential candidate has also served
on a number of boards including the State Construction Corporation, Chairman
Academic Committee of National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI), and
Aquinas and St. Augustine Secondary Schools.
He was a representative of Ghana at the UNESCO
conference on Human Rights, member of the Ghana National anti-Apartheid
Committee, member of Board of Directors of the National Theatre and Adviser to
the National Catholic Secretariat and the Christian Council on Education
Reforms.
He is a member of the Justice and Peace Committee
of the Catholic Church of Ghana.
Prof. Hagan was a presidential aspirant of the
National Independence Party in 1992.
He is married to Dr Maria Hagan, Director of
the National Eye Care Unit, who was born on June 21st, 1940
More…/
Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor (NPP)
Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor, presidential candidate
of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), was born on December 8, 1938 at Damang in the
Ashanti Region.
A lawyer by profession, he studied at Oxford
University in United Kingdom from 1961 to 1964.
Mr. Kufuor started his working carrier as a
Kumasi-based Private legal practitioner from 1965 to 1969. He was City Manager
and Chief Legal Officer of the Kumasi City Council from 1967 to 1969.
He was a member of the Constituent Assembly
that wrote the 1969 Second Republican Constitution and the Progress Party's
parliamentarian for Atwima Nwabiaga constituency.
He was appointed the Deputy Minister of Foreign
Affairs in the government the late Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia.
Mr. Kufuor has served on a number of Boards, which
include chairman of the Board of Directors of Ashanti Brick and Construction
Company as well as Cojak Company Limited between 1973 and 1978.
He was again a member of the Constituent
Assembly that wrote the 1979 Third Republican Constitution. He entered
parliament for the Atwima Nwabiaga constituency on the ticket of the Popular
Front Party (PFP).
He was the Deputy Leader and Spokesman for the
PFP on Foreign Affairs. In 1982 he was appointed the PNDC secretary for the
Local Government.
Mr. Kufuor was the chairman of Asante Kotoko
Football club from 1988 to 1991 and in 1992 he contested the NPP's presidential
slot which he lost to Professor Albert Adu Boahen.
He again contested the party's presidential
slot in 1996 and led the Great Alliance, which comprised the People's
Convention Party (PCP) and New Patriotic Party (NPP), and lost to President
Rawlings.
Mr. Kufuor was again chosen by the NPP as the
presidential candidate to contest the December election.
He is married to Mrs. Theresa Kufuor a nurse/midwife
who was born on October 25, 1935.
More…/
Dr Edward Mahama (PNC)
Dr Edward Mahama, the presidential candidate of
People's National Convention, was born on April 15, 1945.
He is an elected fellow of the West African
College of Surgeons (1994). He was appointed a lecturer and consultant of the
Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in 1990.
Between 1985 and 1990, he was Director of
Superior Medical Associates.
From 1978 to 1990 Dr Maham was a Staff
Physician Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Board of Health, City of Chicago and
Clinical Instructor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Northwestern University.
He was the Resident of the Department of
Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the Columbus Hospital, Chicago, from 1977 to 1980
where he rose to become the Chief Resident.
From 1974 to 1976 he was the Primary Health
Care Physician at the Baptist Medical Centre, Nalerigu.
Dr Mahama's pre-professional educational
background shows that he attended the Nalerigu Primary and Middle School from
1953 to 1959, Tamale Secondary School from 1961 to 1965 and the University of
Ghana from 1965 to 1972 where he was awarded the MB, Ch B Degree.
He is currently the President and Medical
Director of Superior Medical Centre in Accra, Lecturer and Consultant of the
Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
He is married to Comfort, an American
pharmacist, who was born on November 24, 1954
More…/
Dr Charles Wereko Brobby (UGM)
Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, the presidential
candidate of the United Ghana Movement (UGM), was born in Kumasi in March 1953.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Fuel
and Combustion Engineering and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Solar Energy
Engineering, both from the University of Leeds, UK.
The UGM presidential candidate also holds a
Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Middlesex,
Hendron, UK and is a Fellow of the Institute of Petroleum, UK.
Dr. Wereko-Brobby has been a practising
Consulting Engineer for almost 20 years and is a Research Fellow in Management
Science at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London.
He also worked as the Energy and Environmental
Planning Programme Chief at the Commonwealth Science Council, Commonwealth
Secretariat, London.
In 1988, Dr Wereko-Brobby was appointed the
Energy Policy Adviser to the PNDC and Executive Director of the National Energy
Board.
In 1995, he was appointed the Consulting Energy
Economist to the African Development Bank's African Energy Programme.
Dr Wereko-Brobby has authored two
university-level textbooks on energy and development, as well as numerous
technical papers and reports on energy and
environment.
He became the first African to be elected to
the leadership of the National Union of Students (NUS), UK, President of Leeds
University Union in 1978-1979.
His political carrier started with the advent
of the Fourth Republic in 1993. He established the Independent Media
Corporation of Ghana which set up the Radio Eye in 1994 and played an inspiring
role in the Alliance For Change (AFC), a political pressure group that organised
demonstrations against the introduction of VAT in 1995.
Dr Wereko-Brobby formed the UGM in 1996 after
resigning from the NPP.
He is married to Joyce Rosalind Wereko-Brobby,
an Evangelist, born March 27, 1946.
More…/
Goosie Obuadum Tanoh (NRP)
Mr. Goosie Obuadum Tanoh, the Presidential
Candidate of the National Reform Party (NRP), was born on February 7, 1956.
He holds the Bachelor of Law (LLB) and Master
of Law degrees from the University of Ghana and North Western University Law
School, Chicago, USA, respectively.
Mr. Tanoh's working experiences include being a
Board Member Worldspace Ghana, 1996, Managing Director and Chairman of the
Board of Transport and Commodity
General Limited in 1993 and Executive Director, Finance and
Administration of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (1989 to 1992.)
Other positions he held are Director and Board
Member Ecobank Ghana Limited from 1989 to 1992, Lecturer in Law University of
Ghana in 1982.
The NRP presidential candidate also served as a
member of the Consultative Assembly that drafted the 1992 Constitution.
He was a diplomat and member of Ghana's
delegation to the Security Council, General Assembly and the Preparatory
Commission on the law of the sea, all of the United Nations from 1986 to 1989.
Mr. Tanoh is married to Karen, an
Accountant/Banker at Ecobank International who was born on March 13, 1957.
More…/
Daniel Augustus Lartey (GCPP)
Mr. Daniel Augustus Lartey, the presidential
candidate of the Great Consolidated Popular Party, was born on August 1, 1926
at Winneba in the Central Region.
In 1940 he obtained a diploma at the London
Chamber of Commerce and Sloan's Shorthand Certificate of Proficiency in 1942.
He also obtained a diploma in commerce and industry from London School of
Economics in 1956.
From 1944 to 1958 Mr. Lartey worked with the
then United Africa Company (UAC) where he rose to Senior Management Status and
was posted to the Headquarters at Unilever House, London.
Mr. Lartey established a number of businesses,
including the Lartey and Lartey Books and Stationary, which later became the
nucleus of the Ghana Book Supply, Citadel Printing Press and the Federal Stores
of Nigeria.
His political carrier started in 1969 when he
contested the Gomoa East Constituency seat on the ticket of the National
Alliance of Liberals (NAL). In 1972 he was appointed a special adviser to the
government of the National Redemption Council.
In 1978 he represented the Gomoa Ewutu-Effutu
in the constituent assembly in the writing of the Third Republican Constitution.
Mr. Lartey was a founding member of People's
National Party (PNP) in 1979, was an aspiring presidential candidate of the
National Independence Party (NIP) in 1992.
He is married to Beatrice Nywepe who was born
on May 1, 1962.
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