November 19, every year marks International Men’s Day.
This is a day set to celebrate men globally and has a history dating back to 1992.
The Theme for this year is “Making A Difference For Men And Boys”.
The aim of International Men’s Day is to celebrate positive male role models and to raise awareness of men’s issues which are often overlooked.
These include areas like mental health, toxic masculinity and the prevalence of male suicide.
International Men’s Day looks at; when men grow their facial hair in an effort to promote conversations about men’s mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
On its official website, the event states that the day is a “focus on men’s and boy’s health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models”.
It adds: “International Men’s Day is an opportunity for people everywhere of goodwill to appreciate and celebrate the men in their lives and the contribution they make to society for the greater good of all.”
The day is also “a platform to raise awareness to the challenges that men face in life – especially in relation to the international male suicide rate”
To celebrate the International Men’s Day, GBCGHANAONLINE celebrates the President of Ghana, Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
President Akufo-Addo, possesses an impressive record of national political activism and achievements that spans a period of four decades.
Starting actively from 1977, he was the General Secretary of the broad-based People’s Movement for Freedom and Justice (PMFJ), established to oppose the perpetuation of military rule in Ghana.
In 1979, he established the law firm, Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co while a decade after, in 1989, he established the Ghana Committee on Human and Peoples Rights.
With the advent of the fourth republic democratic dispensation, he became a founder member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which he currently leads.
One notable activity that he is credited for was that he was an active leader of the broad-based Alliance for Change, which organised the famous “Kume Preko” demonstrations in 1995 against the hardships and suffering endured by Ghanaians under President Jerry John Rawlings.
Akufo-Addo was elected three times between 1996 and 2004 as Member of Parliament for the Abuakwa South constituency in the Eastern region of Ghana.
From 2001 to 2007, as Cabinet Minister, first as Attorney General for two years and later as Foreign Minister for five years, Nana served President Kufuor with brilliance and distinction.
As Attorney General, Akufo-Addo had the satisfaction of being responsible for the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law, a law that had hitherto been used to intimidate the media and criminalise free speech. The repeal has enabled the Ghanaian media to become one of the most vibrant and freest in Africa.
As Foreign Minister, he was fully involved in the successful ECOWAS peace efforts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea Bissau, and was chairman of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council in 2003.
He contested the presidential primaries of the NPP in 2008 and got elected to contest the December 2008 presidential elections.
However, he lost the 2008 presidential election in the second round by 40,000 votes, having led in the first round by over 100,000 votes.
In 2009, Nana Akufo-Addo championed the expansion of the NPP’s Electoral College, responsible for the selection of a presidential candidate, from 2,300 in 2008 to 115,000 in 2010.
Born on March 29, 1944, to a prominent Ghanaian royal and political family, Edward Akufo-Addo and Adeline Akufo-Addo in Swalaba, Accra, Ghana’s capital.
Akufo-Addo had his primary education at the Government Boys School and later Rowe Road School both in Accra Central.
Nana went on to England to study for his O’Level and A’ Level examinations. He returned to Ghana in 1962 to teach at the Accra Academy before going to the University of Ghana in 1964 to read Economics.
After graduating as an economist, he went on to read law in the UK and was called to the English Bar (Middle Temple) in July 1971 and the Ghana Bar in 1975.
He is married to Rebecca, daughter of the Speaker of the Parliament of the Third Republic of Ghana, the late Justice J.H Griffiths-Randolph.
Legal and Business Career
After his call to the English Bar, he went to work in Paris, France, as a lawyer with a then renowned international US law firm, Coudert Freres, for a period of five years.
Apart from the welcome exposure to the dynamics of international corporate transactions, his stay in France also made him fluent in French, attributes which have stood him in good stead.
In 1975, he returned home to Accra to continue with his legal career. He joined the chambers of U.V Campbell from 1975-1979 and in 1979, co-founded the law firm, Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co, which has become one of the most prominent law firms in Ghana.
He is acknowledged as one of the most brilliant advocates of his day, if not in the history of the Ghanaian Bar.
Nana Akufo-Addo was the first Chairperson of DHL, Ghana Limited; Chairperson, Kinesec Communications Company Limited, publishers of the Statesman newspaper, and the first Chairperson of the Ghana Committee on Human and Peoples Rights.
His policies such as the One-District-One-Factory, (1D1F), Nation Builders Corps, (NaCOB), Planting for Jobs, Paperless Port transactions, Digital Property Addressing System, Zongo Development Fund, National ID Cards among others have been hailed by both national and international.
Nana Addo as he is called, has represented the nation on global conferences and seminars.
