I entered politics in my 20s but became president at 62 – Kufuor

Ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor has said the four decades between his entry into politics and his election as president shaped his determination to change Ghana’s direction when he took office.

Kufuor entered politics in his 20s but became president at 62, after years of professional work, public service and political setbacks.

Speaking to Joy News’ Evans Mensah, he said the long journey gave him the experience needed to lead the country differently after winning the 2000 election.

“I went into politics in my 20s. I became president age 62,” he said.

He recalled that after the overthrow of the government in January 1972, members of parliament and ministers from the administration were arrested and imprisoned.

Kufuor said he spent one year and three months at Ashford Prison, an experience he believes added to the lessons that shaped his later leadership.

He also described a period of political instability and economic stagnation in Ghana, during which successive military coups disrupted the country’s development.

“Things really were not working,” he said, describing the economic and social conditions of the period.

According to Kufuor, people were afraid to speak openly during the years of military rule, a situation associated with what became known as the “culture of silence.”

He said Ghana’s return to multiparty democracy under the 1992 Constitution did not immediately resolve the economic problems the country faced.

By the time he took office in 2001, Kufuor said he was determined to give Ghanaians a different experience of governance after decades of difficulties.

“I was determined to lead a government that would make our nation get the practical experience of what could be other than what the nation had become used to for a whole period of about 40 years,” he said.