Profiles of Ghanaian presidential aspirants

CV of Kufuor, New Patriotic Party presidential candidate

Mr John Agyekum Kufour, presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), was born on December 8, 1938, at Damang in the Ashanti Region. He entered the Lincoln Inn, London, where he obtained a degree in Law in 1959 and Oxford University in the United Kingdom from 1961 to 1964.

Mr Kufour started his working carreer 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 MP for Atwima Nwabiagya constituency. He was appointed deputy minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of the late Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia who governed from 1969-72.

Mr Kufour also served on a number of Boards, including the 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 and entered parliament for the Atwima Nwabiagya constituency on the ticket of the Popular Front Party (PFP), a successor to the Progress Party.

He was the deputy leader and spokesman for the PFP on Foreign Affairs. In 1982 he was appointed the PNDC secretary for Local Government. Mr Kufour was the chairman of Asante Kotoko Football Club from 1988 to 1991.

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, which he won and led the Great Alliance, which comprised the People's Convention Party (PCP) and NPP. He lost to President Rawlings. Mr Kufour has again been chosen by the NPP as the presidential candidate to contest the December election. He is married to Theresa, a nurse/midwife, who was born on October 25, 1935.

CV of Dr Mahama, presidential candidate of the PNC

Dr Edward Mahama, presidential candidate of the People's National Convention (PNC), was born on April 15, 1945. A medical doctor by profession, he is an Elected Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons. He was appointed a lecturer and consultant at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in 1990. Between 1985 and 1990 he was the director of Superior Medical Associates.

From 1978 to 1990 he was a Staff Physician, Obstetrics and Gynaecology Board of Health City of Chicago. He was also a clinical Instructor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Northwestern University. Dr Mahama was the resident Obstetrics and Gynaecologist 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 Care Physician at the Baptist Medical Centre, Nalerigu in the Northern Region, where he had earlier served as a surgical Trainee attached to the centre from 1973 to 1974. Dr Mahama's attended the Nalerigu Primary and Middle Schools 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 at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. He is married to Comfort, an American pharmacist born on November 24, 1954.

CV of Dr Wereko-Brobby, presidential candidate of UGM

Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, 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. He was 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, was President of Leeds University Union from 1978 to 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 Radio Eye in 1994 and played an inspiring role in the Alliance For Change (AFC), a political pressure group that organised demonstrations in 1995 against the introduction of the Valued Added Tax. Dr Wereko-Brobby formed the UGM in 1996 after resigning from the NPP. He is married to Joyce Rosalind, a former PNDC Secretary for Information and now an Evangelist. She was born March 27, 1946.

CV of Goosie, presidential candidate of the National Reform Party

Goosie Obuadum Tanoh, 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 experience includes being a Board Member of Worldspace Ghana, 1996, Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Transport and Commodity General Limited and Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Tema, from 1989 to 1992. Other positions he has held are Director and Board Member, Ecobank Ghana Limited, from 1989 to 1992, Lecturer in Law, University of Ghana, Legon, in 1982.

The NRP's presidential candidate also served as a member of the Consultative Assembly that drafted the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution from 1991 to 1992. He was a diplomat and member of Ghana's delegation to the UN Security Council, General Assembly and the Preparatory Commission on the Law of the Sea from 1986 to 1989. He is married to Karen, an Accountant/Banker at Ecobank International. She was born on March 13, 1957.

CV of Dan Lartey, presidential candidate of GCPP

Mr Daniel Augustus Lartey, presidential candidate of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), was born on August 1, 1926 at Winneba in the Central Region. Mr Lartey, who throughout the campaign stressed the importance of "domestication" as a way of increasing local produce, obtained a diploma at the London Chamber of Commerce in 1940.

In 1942, he obtained the Sloan's Shorthand Certificate of Proficiency and Diploma in Commerce and Industry from London School of Economics in 1956. From 1944 to 1958, Mr Lartey worked with the United Africa Company (UAC) where he rose to become a member of the Senior Management. He was posted to the Headquarters in Unilever House, London.

Mr Lartey established a number of businesses, which include 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 was appointed a special adviser to 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 and formed the GCPP to contest this year's election. He is married to Beatrice Nywepe born on May 1, 1962.

CV of Vice President Mills, NDC presidential candidate

Vice President John Evans Atta Mills, Presidential candidate for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) was born on 21st July, 1944 Marital status: Married Educational background:

1957-63 - Achimota School ("O" and "A" Level Certificates) 1963-66 - University of Ghana, Legon. Bachelor of Law) 1966-67 - University of Ghana, Legon. (Professional Certificate in Law) 1967-68 - London School of Economics and Political Science (LL M) 1968-71 - School of Oriental African Studies, University of London (Ph.D) 1970-71 - Stanford Law School, California (Fulbright Scholar) Employment Experience:1971-80 - Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon; 1980-91 - Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon 1992 - Promoted Associate Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana; 1978-79 - Visiting Professor, Temple Law School, Philadelphia 1986-87 - -do- 1985-86 - Visiting Lecturer, Leiden University, Holland 1986-1993 - Acting Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service of Ghana 1993-1996 - Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service of Ghana Contribution to University Administration

He was Hall Tutor, Legon Hall, University of Ghana, Hall Librarian, Member of Legon Hall Council, Member of Board of Social Studies and School of Administration, Member of Admissions Board, Staff Housing Loans Scheme and Chairman University Superannuation Scheme.

Professor Mills has more than one dozen publications. They include:
(1) Taxation of Periodical or Deferred Payments arising from the Sale of Fixed Capital (1974) University oof Ghana Law Journal pp 170-178
(2) Exemption of Dividends from Income taxation: A critical Appraisal (1977) Review of Ghana Law Volume IX No. 1 pp 38-47
(3) Report of the Tax Review Commission, Ghana, parts 1,2&3, Accra, October 1977; (4) Casebook on Ghana Income Tax (5) Ghana's Income Tax Laws and the Investor. An inter-faculty lecture published by the University of Ghana. (6) Criminal Law Treatment of Sexual Activity Generally (7) The role of the state in the evolution of the family in Anglophone countries of Africa: An overview. (8) A survey of taxes on the individual in Ghana (9) Ghana's wealth tax: Some issues and problems (10) Ghana's new Investment Code An appraisal (An inter-faculty lecture delivered in 1986.)

CV of Prof. Hagan, CPP presidential candidate

Professor George Panyin Hagan, 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 Ordinary Level Certificate and continued to St Augustine's College at Cape Coast for the GCE Advanced Level course.

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 Oxford University, United Kingdom.

He has worked in various capacities since 1962. He was the Welfare Officer of the Scholarship Secretariat from 1962 to 1964, Lecturer and Research Fellow, 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 served on a number of state boards, including State Construction Corporation, Chairman Academic Committee of National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI), member Board of Governors of Aquinas and Augustine Secondary Schools.

He is also a member of the Justice and Peace Committee of the Catholic Church of Ghana. He was a representative of Ghana at UNESCO conference on Human Rights, member of the Ghana National anti-Apartheid Committee, member of the Board of Directors of the National Theatre and Adviser to the National Catholic Secretariat and the Christian Council on Education Reforms. Prof. Hagan was also a presidential aspirant of the National Independence Party in 1992.

He is married to Maria, an eye specialist and Director of the National Eye Care Unit who was born on June 21, 1940.