John Agyekum Kufuor

John Agyekum Kufuor was sworn into office as president of Ghana on 7^th January 2001. He served two four year terms after winning re-election in 2004 until he stepped down on 7^th January 2009. A lawyer by profession, Kufuor trained at the Oxford University in the UK and spent many years as a private businessman before eventually entering politics full time. During his time as president, he served as chairman of the African Union between 2007 and 2008. He had previously worked as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1969 and 1971, and additionally served as Secretary of Local Government in 1982. Under his watch, poverty levels in Ghana dropped from a 1999 figure of 40 percent to 26 percent by the time he left office in 2008, thus helping the country achieve the Millennium Development Goals to halve poverty long before the 2015 deadline. In 2011, former President Kufuor was awarded the World Food Prize along with former Brazilian President Lula da Silva for helping the world alleviate poverty and hunger. That same year, he established the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation to train young people in leadership.