The Chancellor

Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor is an accomplished, distinguished and respected statesman in Ghana. He is a former Minister for Defence, and Interior; a Physician Consultant and was a lecturer at the Department of Medicine at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), School of Medicine. He founded and managed Kufuor Clinic, Adum-Kumasi.  
 

Education and Medical Career

Dr. Addo Kufuor was educated at Asem Boys School, Achimota School, Cambridge University and University College Medical School, London. He was a postgraduate student and a member of staff at the Middlesex Hospital, London. After qualifying from Cambridge in 1970 with MA (Cantab), Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees he worked in West Suffolk General and St. Charles Hospitals, London. He returned in 1971 to work as a medical officer in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital till 1973.  
 

In 1973, he returned to the Middlesex Medical School Hospital, London as a postgraduate student in medicine and a member of staff. He passed the MRCP (UK) Examination in 1975. In the same year, he was awarded Fellow of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine. He is a fellow of Royal College of Physicians, London and West African College of Physicians.  
Dr. Addo Kufuor worked as a Medical Registrar at the Old Church and St. Hillier’s Hospital, both in South-East England before returning to Ghana to work as a Physician at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi. Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor founded the Kufuor Clinic located along the Prempeh II Street in Kumasi in 1978. The Kufuor Clinic was outstandingly successful.  
 

Other Achievements

Medical contributions and Ghana Medical Association  

Dr. Addo Kufuor taught at the KNUST Medical School for years on part-time basis without taking any stipend. He was an Inspector of Examinations at the University of Ghana Medical School, Department of Medicine, and Member of the Court of Examiners responsible for assessing foreign trained Doctors wishing to practice in Ghana by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council.  
 

He is among the few physicians in Ghana who are fellows of the Royal College of Physicians (London, UK). He instituted a Prize for the overall best final year student in Medicine of KNUST. The Addo Kufuor Prize is still very coveted by students.  
 

Dr. Addo Kufuor was elected National President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) from 1992 to 1995 (three times unopposed).  
It was during the leadership of Dr. Addo Kufuor that the construction of the GMA headquarters at Korle-Bu was initiated, and he was honoured by his colleague doctors with a plaque at the commissioning of the building in appreciation of his contribution.  
 

Dr. Addo Kufuor as President of GMA represented doctors on the board of the University of Ghana Medical School, and the Ghana Prisons Service Council. He also represented the Association at meetings in South Africa, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom.  
In 1992, he was elected the representative for West Africa on the Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Medical Association and Societies (CAMAS) in Blantyre, Malawi.  
 

He was awarded Gold Medal for distinguished medical practice by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council in 2006.

Politician and Member of Parliament for Manhyia (1997 – 2008)

He is a founding member of the Popular Front Party (PFP), All People’s Party (A.P.P), the Danquah-Busia Memorial Club,  
and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Dr. Addo Kufuor was also a member of the National Policy and Advisory Committee of the NPP; Chairperson of the Health Committee of the party; member of the National Executive Council and the National Council of the Party.  
As the Chairperson of the NPP National Campaign on Health Policy for the 2000 general elections, Dr. Addo Kufuor wrote the Party’s Health Policy for the Manifesto.  
 

Dr. Addo Kufuor was elected unopposed as the NPP Parliamentary Candidate for Manhyia Constituency for four times and entered parliament in 1997. He won the 1996 parliamentary elections convincingly. As a Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia, he got support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Swiss Embassy, European Union, the British High Commission, GETFund, Japanese Embassy, and Latter-Day Saints to complete numerous projects for the constituents.  
 

Through the support, he provided water closet toilet facilities, school blocks, computers and accessories for schools, road rehabilitation, books, uniforms, and micro credit for women traders. The Buokrom Estate in Kumasi, for the first time, was  
provided with a huge overhead water reservoir that eased water shortage for the residents.  
The biggest project accomplished for the people of Manhyia during the tenure of Dr. Addo Kufuor was the Ash-Town6Community Centre. The centre has a library, computer laboratory, canteen, indoor games room, offices for the Manhyia Sub-Metro, a 300-seater capacity facility, and a football field.  
He was the Ranking Member for Health, a member of the House Committee, Committee on Selection, and Committee on Environment, Science and Technology in Parliament.  
 

Cabinet Minister: Minister of Defence, and Acting Minister of lnterior, Minister of Defence  

Dr. Addo Kufuor was the Guest Speaker at the UN Conference on Peacekeeping in Maputo, Mozambique in 2002 on the theme “Security and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development”. It was during this conference that the late President Nelson Mandela invited him to his home at Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa.

In May 2003, Dr. Addo Kufuor delivered the keynote address at the Second Tswalu Dialogue at Tswalu, South Africa. This  
was a conference attended by heads of state, cabinet ministers, leading academics, and influential journalists. The topic for the occasion was “Meeting the challenges of Democracy and Economic Development in Africa.” In attendance at the conference were President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Mr. F. W. de Klerk, former President of South Africa, Baroness Lynda Chalker, British Minister of State for Overseas Development and Africa, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, many ambassadors, academics, and others.  
 

He led the Ghanaian Delegation to the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Rwandan Genocide in Kigali, Rwanda.  
It was during the tenure of Dr. Addo Kufuor as the Minister of Defence that the second phase of the 37 Military Hospital was constructed; and the hospital elevated to a PostGraduate Teaching Hospital. The project consists of Polyclinic, IT Centre, Physiotherapy Department, a Male Surgical Ward, Public Health Division, Out-patient Clinic for Surgical Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ear, Nose and Throat, Dermatology, and Medical Departments.

Other significant achievements of Dr. Addo Kufuor as a Minister of Defence are the construction of the New Burma Hall and Library, the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, the Computer and Commercial Centre at Burma Camp, the Beijing Barracks, and the rehabilitation of the Nicholson Stadium.  
 

It was during the tenure of Dr. Addo Kufuor that the Postgraduate degree programme was introduced at Armed Forces Staff and Command College. Dr. Addo Kufuor introduced the “Armed Forces Open Day.” It was intended to thaw the cold relations between the military and civilians. During the Armed Forces Open Day, civilians were encouraged to visit the barracks, interact with the service personnel, and have a look at some of the military hardware. Another significant achievement of Dr. Addo Kufuor is the construction of the new office building for the Ministry of Defence. Like other building projects completed including the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Centre, Computer Centre, Postgraduate Medical School and to some extent the imposing Burma Hall, the new Ministry Building was  
constructed with resources from outside the national budget. Dr. Addo Kufuor was adjudged both as Man of the Year and Minister of the Year by the Independent and the Spectator Newspapers respectively in 2002.  
 

He was awarded the Order of the Volta (Companion) by the Government of Ghana in recognition of his sterling contribution to health care in the country. 

Acting Minister of Interior

On April 18, 2002, the President directed him to act as the Minister of Interior in addition to his substantive Defence portfolio. Dr. Addo Kufuor was influential in bringing peace to Dagbon  at the early stages of the conflict as the Minister of Interior.  
The establishment of the joint military-police patrol in Greater Accra and other parts of the Country to combat the rampant armed robbery in 2002 happened during the tenure of Dr. Addo Kufuor.  
 

He also led the implementation of measures to combat Cocoa smuggling and initiated some major afforestation initiatives with both government agencies and the private sector. A large forest plantation was successfully established at Michel Camp and other garrisons across the Country through the afforestation initiative. Dr. Addo Kufuor ordered the introduction of water closet  
toilets in some of our prisons to replace the toilet buckets and persuaded the Prison Service Council to increase the financial allocation made for meals for prisoners. He also introduced educational facilities in some of the prisons for prisoners to prepare themselves for certificate examinations, including training in ICT.  
 

Recent Achievements

Dr. Addo Kufuor was the Board Chairman for Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) from 2017 to 2020. He was adjudged the Outstanding Board Chairman of year 2019 at the 10th Entrepreneur and Corporate Executive Awards for Ghana and was also honoured in 2020 by the National Pensioners Association of Ghana for his outstanding leadership and contribution towards the National Pensioners Association.  
 

Family  

Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor is married to Rosemary and they are blessed with three (3) adorable children, Kwame, Kojo and Nana Ama. Besides educating his children, he also educated other relations in his extended family.