Editorial: Kufour’s shining example in Post Presidential Statesmanship

Over the world, many leaders who have served their countries retire but do not disappear from the limelight. They use the experiences, the networks, the contacts and sometimes the wealth they acquired during the terms of their leaderships to embark on projects and programs, to benefit their communities and nations. Some of them have extended these services beyond the borders of the countries and nations they have led. Good examples that come to mind are former American Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Jimmy Carter’s charitable work around the world is well known. They include projects on affordable housing, fights against malaria and guinea worm infections, to monitoring elections around the world aimed at free and fair elections and good governance.

Africa can boast of very few former leaders whose post-leadership work can be held up as models whose impact can be felt by many of their citizens or on others outside their borders. The reason has been mainly due to the fact African leaders never want to give up power anyway. They stay on until they get overthrown, chased out of their former countries or even get killed.

A new breadth of fresh air is now blowing on the terrain of former African leaders. Leaders are now coming to grips with the simple fact that they do not own their countries and that when their time is up, they need to give way to new leadership. They are also coming to grips with the fact that when they leave office, they should engage in positive actions using the knowledge and networks they built whilst in office to better the lives of their citizens.

Three shining examples of a new crop of former African leaders who have embraced these noble causes are former South African Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki and former Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufour. Nelson Mandela has been involved, despite his advanced age, in very laudable humanitarian projects including a Presidential Library and Learning Center. In November 2010, Thabo Mbeki launched a Presidential Library which houses some of the best literary works including some covering the periods of his presidency.

Back home in our motherland, our immediate past President John Agyekum Kufour has embarked on similar sterling initiatives. On Tuesday September 20 and Wednesday September 21, he launched the J. A Kufour Foundation at the University of Ghana, Legon, and at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi. The Legon project is devoted to setting up a Centre for Leadership, Good Governance and Development whilst the KNUST one will host a J.A. Kufour Presidential Library.

We congratulate former President J. A. Kufour for these visionary initiatives whose long-lasting impact on our educational, social, economic and political life will be immense. Above all, it will serve as a good model for other African leaders to take strong and positive cues on what to do with their time when they leave office. It was heart-warming to observe the presence at the launching of these initiatives in Ghana of the former Ghana President Jerry John Rawlings who was specifically invited by Kufour to be part of the ceremony. We hope Rawlings and all other former and present crop of African leaders are learning good lessons from these sterling examples of post-presidential behaviour and statesmanship.