African Of The Year

Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghana’s president, has repositioned the country in the global marketplace as one reliant on its own resources and strengths. He is redefining economic development and it’s resonating across Africa. In an exclusive interview with Forbes Africa, he dwells on the new focus of the West African nation that has in recent years consistently been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

- By Peace Hyde, Photography by Kelechi Amadi-Obi

IN 2019, WHEN GHANA’S PRESIDENT NANA Akufo-Addo shared his vision for the national transformation agenda through the Ghana Beyond Aid (GBA) charter, the mandate for his New Patriotic Party (NPP) government was simple – move away from the traditional view of a Ghana dependent on aid to grow the economy and focus on its core competitive advantages.

Much before that, at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017 in Ghana’s capital Accra where a local journalist asked whether France was going to extend its support to other countries in Africa that were non-French colonies, the Ghanaian president, serving his first term, had interjected with: “We can no longer continue to make policy for ourselves in our continent on the basis of whatever support that the western world can give us. It will not work, it has not worked and it will not work.” A visibly uncomfortable Macron could all but muster a somewhat embarrassed smile at the audience.

But the video of this speech went viral and the remark won Akufo-Addo praise on social media. The president followed by tasking his government to implement the GBA strategy document and charter for a more prosperous Ghana.

After years of negative growth and economic challenges, Akufo-Addo had a new vision for Ghana when he assumed office in 2017, and that was for the country to look within, to its own capabilities. Central to his thinking of growing Ghana’s economy was offering free senior high school education to children who would otherwise not receive it. Since its implementation, a total of 1.6 million students have reportedly benefited from the program.