Ghana’s former President, John Agyekum Kufuor, has said he would want future generations to remember him as that individual who lived his life for others.
The Chairman of the John A. Kufuor Foundation who served as President of Ghana from 2001 to 2009 in response to a question also said he wants posterity to remember him for his fairness and equal treatment of all manner of persons.
“I want to be remembered as the person who tried to encourage people to live not only for themselves but for others…as the one who did well for himself and did well for everybody, and not cheating or bullying or taking undue advantage. But rather sacrificing and giving to help in whatever way possible for human development,†the 82-year-old former President said.
The former President was speaking when some Kufuor Scholars and interns from the James Madison University - USA paid a courtesy call on him.
Members of the Kufuor Scholars Program class of 2023 and the interns visited the former president as part of their mini-camp.
The Kufuor Scholars Program is an initiative of the John A. Kufuor Foundation which offers mentoring and coaching opportunities for tertiary students recruited through vigorous competitive processes over a three-year period.
The program has the overarching objective of mentoring a critical mass of future change agents; leaders imbued with a strong sense of patriotism; leaders who are innovative, problem solvers, creative thinkers and knowledgeable professionals in their respective fields of endeavour.
Margaret Nsiah, a novel health science pre-med graduate and Suwaibatu Mohammed, a third-year health science student are the two Ghanaian diaspora students from the USA who had opted to spend their summer vacation in Ghana as interns at the John A. Kufuor Foundation.
The introductory meeting with the former president was the first engagement for the interns at the beginning of their internship. The interns and the scholars had the opportunity to exchange ideas and to learn from one another, as well as gain mentorship and guidance from the former president.
Participants in the minicamp had discussions on topics such as “Fear, Corruption and Public Service Ethics†with astute personalities like Dr. Koranteng-Pipim, Prof. Ransford Gyampo, and Prof. Justice N. Bawole speaking to them. Prof. Baffour Agyeman-Duah, the C.E.O. of the John A. Kufuor Foundation rounded up the event with a call on the scholars and interns to go out and be transformational change agents in their societies.
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Story by Joseph Opoku Gakpo