Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Biography: Age, Wife Rebecca, Children

Who is Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in Ghana?

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a revered Ghanaian politician, legal luminary, diplomat, and the current President of the Republic of Ghana.

He won the 2020 presidential election against his main contender, former president John Dramani Mahama, and was sworn into office on January 7th, 2021, for his second term.

President Akufo-Addo is also currently serving his second term as the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

He previously served as the Attorney General & Minster of Justice (f2001-2003), and later as Minister of Foreign Affairs (2003-2007) during the administration of former President John Agyekum AKufuor.

Nana Addo was also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa South Constituency in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

Date of birth

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was born on Wednesday, March 29th, 1944.

Age

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo currently 79 years old and will be 80 years come March next year, 2024.

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Parents

Nana Akufo-Addo was born to Mr Edward Akufo-Addo (former chief justice and ceremonial President from 1970 to 1972) and Madam Adeline in Swalaba in Accra, Gold Coast (now Ghana).

Hometown

Nana Akufo-Addo comes from Akropong-Akuapem and Kyebi in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

Early Life

Nana Akufo-Addo is a Presbyterian. He was raised in Ga-Maami, Accra Central, and also in Nima, Accra.

Nana Akufo-Addo’s father, Mr Edward Akufo-Addo — from Akropong-Akuapem in the Eastern Region — served as Ghana’s third Chief Justice from 1966 to 1970, Chairman of the 1967–68 Constitutional Commission, and ceremonial president from 1970 to 1972.

His maternal grandfather is the late Nana Sir Ofori Atta — the King of Akyem Abuakwa — who was a member of the Executive Council of the Governor of the Gold Coast before Ghana’s independence.

Three of out the ‘Big Six’ — The Founding Fathers of Ghana — were Nana Addo’s relatives and they included:  J.B. Danquah (his great uncle), William Ofori-Atta (uncle), and Edward Akufo-Addo (his father).

Education

Nana Addo began his basic primary education at the Government Boys School, Adabraka in Accra, and later settled at the Rowe Road School (which is now Kimbu) in Accra Central.

He travelled to England for his O-Level and A-Level examinations, studying at Lancing College, Sussex where he got the nickname “Billy”. He also joined the Anglican faith from 1957–1961.

Soon after he started the “Philosophy, Politics and Economics” course at New College, Oxford in 1962, Nana Addo left for Ghana to teach.

In 1962, Nana Addo returned to Ghana and started teaching at Accra Academy Secondary School.

In 1964, he joined the University of Ghana, Legon, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics (BSc Econ) in 1967.

Nana Addo returned to England and subsequently joined Inner Temple where he trained as a lawyer under the apprenticeship system known as the Inns of Court — where no formal law degree was required.

He was called to the bar in England (Middle Temple) in July 1971. And in July 1975, he was called to the Ghana bar.

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Wife Rebecca Akufo-Addo

Nana Addo is married to Rebecca Akufo-Addo (formerly Rebecca Naa Okaikor Griffiths-Randolph).

Mama Rebecca Akufo-Addo was born on Monday, March 12th, 1951, to Judge Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph — who was the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana during the Third Republic — and Frances Phillipina Griffiths-Randolph (née Mann).

She went to Achimota Primary School and Wesley Grammar School in Accra.

Mama Rebecca furthered her education at the Government Secretarial School and later worked as a secretary at the Merchant Bank in Ghana before relocating to the United Kingdom where she worked as a legal secretary for Clifford Chance/Ashurst Morris Crisp — a multinational law firm in the United Kingdom.

Does Rebecca Akufo-Addo have Children?

Nana Akufo-Addo and Madam Rebecca are blessed with five daughters namely Gyankroma Funmi Akufo-Addo, Edwina Nana Douka Akufo-Addo, Adriana Dukua Akufo-Addo, Yeboakua Akufo-Addo, and Valerie Obaze.

Career as an astute lawyer

Nana Akufo-Addo as a lawyer began working in France at the Paris office of the defunct New York-based international law firm, Coudert Brothers for close to five years (from 1971 to 1975).

In 1975, he returned to Ghana and worked in the chambers of U.V. Campbell (from 1975 to 1979).

In 1979, Nana Addo and his good friend Dr Prempeh both founded the law firm,  Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co.

Akufo-Addo has served on the boards and committees of a number of political, legal, commercial, and social organizations in the country.

He was the first Chairperson of DHL (GH) Ltd; Chairperson, Kinesec Communications (Co) Ltd., publishers of The Statesman; and the first Chairperson of the Ghana Committee on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

He was responsible for, through his association with the US Company Millicom, the introduction of mobile telephony in Ghana.

Football Career

Well, just in case you didn’t know, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was once an active football player who dazzled spectators with his astonishing skills.

Whilst a student at the University of Ghana, Legon — between 1964 & 1967 — Nana Akufo-Addo used to be a football player for the university’s team.

Nana in his youth briefly played alongside national football hero and coach, the late Cecil Jones Attuquayefio for the defunct “Real Republikans” football club which was established by the late president of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

Political Life

In the late 1970s, Nana Addo served as the general secretary of the People’s Movement for Freedom and Justice (PMFJ) — a group that led the “NO” campaign in the UNIGOV (of General Kutu Acheampong) referendum of 1978, which was designed to solicit popular support for a one-party military-led State.

He became the chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Danquah-Busia Memorial Club, travelling throughout Ghana to establish branches of the Club which eventually transformed into local organs of the formation of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) prior to the elections of 1992.

In 1992, after having joined the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo became the first National Organiser of the party and later that year, became the campaign manager of the party’s first presidential candidate, the late Professor Albert Adu Boahen.

In 1995, Nana Addo led the famous “Kume Preko (just Kill me)” demonstrations of the Alliance For Change (AFC) — a broad-based political pressure group to protest the harsh economic conditions of the late former president Jerry John Rawlings’ era.

Beginning 1996, Nana Akufo-Addo served as the elected NPP member of Parliament for Abuakwa South in the eastern Region of Ghana for three good terms (from 1996 to 2008).

In October 1998, Nana Akufo-Addo sought to lead the NPP by competing for its flagbearership but lost to John Agyekum Kufuor who eventually won the December 2000 presidential election in Ghana and assumed office as President of Ghana in 2001.

Under the regime of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Nana Akufo-Addo became a Cabinet Minister, Attorney General and Minister of Justice from 2001 until 2003.

He was later moved to the Foreign Affairs Minister position until 2007 when he resigned to contest as presidential candidate of the NPP which he won and became the flag bearer of the NPP in the 2008 presidential & parliamentary elections.

In the December 7, 2008, presidential election, Nana Akufo-Addo won the first round of voting with 4,159,439 votes representing 49.13% of the vote but could not become the president because he did not cross the requisite 50 percent plus one vote.

In the run-off or second round of voting held on December 28, 2008, Nana Akufo-Addo narrowly lost to his closest challenger, the late Professor Evans John Atta-Mills, taking 49.77 percent of the vote as against Mills’s 4,521,032 votes, representing 50.23%.

Nana Akufo-Addo after being elected for the second time as NPP’s flag bearer, stood for president in the December 7, 2012, general elections again.

He faced the National Democratic Congress’s John Dramani Mahama, who had then ascended to the presidency earlier that year after Atta Mills’s sudden demise, and six other contenders.

In the end, Nana Addo once again lost to John Dramani Mahama who had 50.7 percent whilst he (Akufo-Addo) he had 47.7 percent.

However, Akufo-Addo and the NPP lodged allegations of electoral fraud and challenged the results at the Supreme Court.

After several months in court, the justices of the Supreme Court in August 2013 upheld Mahama’s victory.

Akufo-Addo accepted the outcome and urged his supporters to do same. He was lauded for his response to the ruling, which helped diffuse tensions in the country.

In 2014, Nana Akufo-Addo served as Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Mission for the South African elections.

President of Ghana

In 2016, Nana Akufo-Addo stood as the NPP presidential candidate for a third time. He again faced John Mahama and five other candidates in the 2016 general elections, which was held on December 7.

Nana Akufo-Addo was declared winner with 53.8% of the vote, whilst his closest contender, John Dramani Mahama trailed him with 44.4% of the vote.

 Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was inaugurated as the president of the Republic of Ghana on January 7th, 2017.

During the first year of his term, he implemented one of his signature campaign promises, launching a program to put a factory in each of the country’s more than 200 districts.

In 2017, President Akufo-Addo rolled out the much-touted free senior high school education program.

In 2018, he appointed Martin Amidu as the first special prosecutor of Ghana to tackle the long-standing issue of corruption.

Although Ghana’s economy grew under Akufo-Addo, progress was interrupted by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

After his first 4-year-term, Nana Akufo-Addo once again faced former president John Dramani Mahama and some other 10 candidates in the 2020 presidential election which was held on December 7, 2020.

Nana Akufo-Addo was again declared winner by the EC chairperson Madam Jean Mensa with more than 51% of the vote whilst his rival, Joh Mahama trailed him with about 47% of the vote.

John Mahama disputed the election results and filed a petition at the Supreme Court, but the court upheld Nana Addo’s victory on March 4th, 2021.

Meanwhile Akufo-Addo had early on been sworn in for his second term on January 7th, 2021.

Net Worth

Nana Akuo-Addo as the President of Ghana earns GH₵29,000.00 monthly salary.

In all, his annual salary is GH₵348,000.00; monthly salary GH₵29,000.00; weekly GH₵6,692.31, and daily GH₵1,338.46.

Nana Akufo-Addo’s estimated net worth is said to be around $20,000,000. USD

Awards and Honours

• 2022 (10th October) — the University of Sorbonne in Paris, France presented a honorary doctorate degree to Akufo-Addo
• 2020 (January 20) — honoured at the fourth “Ghana Hotels Association Awards” for demonstrating visionary leadership by declaring the year of return and ensuring its successful execution.
• 2019 (May) — the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres named Akufo-Addo among the newly appointed SDG advocates as co-chair alongside the Prime Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg.
• 2019 (June) — the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) honoured Nana Addo with its “Merit Award for Heads of State” due to his tremendous contribution to sports development and projects in Ghana and for the successful bid for Ghana to host the 2023 African Games.
• 2019 (June 12) — Honoured by Cote D’Ivoire with the “Grand Cross of the National Order of the Ivory Coast” (the highest state order of knighthood of the Cote D’Ivoire)
• 2019 — Honoured by Guyana with “Member of the Order of Excellence” (the highest national award of Guyana)
• 2018 (June) — given an award for Exemplary Leadership by the Whitaker Group.
• 2018 (August) — received the African Port Award by The African Port Award (APA) Foundation for his projects on modernising Ghana’s ports.
• 2018 (September) — presented with the 2018 Outstanding Leader’s Award in recognition of regional, diplomatic, and economic leadership in Africa by the U.S. Africa Business Centre of the United States Chamber of Commerce.
• 2018 (October) — received the 2018 Governance Leadership Award in recognition of his commitment towards enhancing the living standards of the Ghanaians and governing the country in accordance with the rule of law.
• 2017 — Honoured by Senegal with “Grand Cross of the National Order of the Lion”
• 2017 (May) — Honoured by Liberia with “Grand Cordon of the Order of the Pioneers of Liberia” — (formally Grand Order of the Most Venerable Order of the Knighthood of the Pioneers of the Republic of Liberia)
• 2017 — received the National Achievement Award by the Africa-America Institute’s on behalf of the people of Ghana. The award was given to recognise Ghana as a country which represents freedom, democracy and stability in Africa.
• 2016 — presented with the “Mother Theresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice” by Harmony Foundation — for sacrificing political ambitions for the sake of national peace and reconciliation.

Nana Akufo-Addo Contact Phone Number

International: +233302228059, Local: 0302228059

Nana Akufo-Addo Official Website

https://presidency.gov.gh/ or https://nanaakufoaddo.org

Nana Addo Twitter

@NAkufoAddo or https://twitter.com/NAkufoAddo

Nana Addo Facebook

@nakufoaddo or https://web.facebook.com/nakufoaddo/

Nana Addo Instagram

@nakufoaddo or https://www.instagram.com/nakufoaddo/

Source: George Awiadem Maclean | BieGyaNation.Com