John Kufour Entery into Politics in Ghana

Tuesday, 13 September 2011 23:35

Written by ghanapolitics.net

While he was studying at Oxford, Kufuor met and fell in love with a woman named Theresa Mensah, who was also from Ghana and had gone to England to study nursing. The two married in 1962, and had five children together. In 1965 Kufuor's mother convinced him to bring his family—at the time his wife and two young children—back to Ghana. He agreed and took up law there until 1969 as a way to make a living. He became the chief legal officer and the city manager of Kumasi in 1967, posts he held until 1969. Both of these posts allowed Kufuor a view of politics from the inside that he had never had before, and they inspired him on his future path.

He left the law in 1969 to take up his first ministerial appointment in the Progress Party government, as a deputy foreign minister under Victor Owusu, one of the men who used to visit his home when he was a boy. In 1972 the government was overthrown by the military, and many officials were thrown into jail, including Kufuor. After his release he took up a career in business. He became chairman of the board of the Ashanti Brick and Construction Company.