Ghana: 10 things about Kwabena Duffuor, the man daring to scuttle Mahama’s fourth coming.

As early as 2017 the idea of Kwabena Duffuor contesting to become the opposition National Democratic Congress’ flagbearer began floating in the media. Six years later, on 13 May, he will face former president John Mahama and former Kumasi mayor, Kojo Bonsu, for a chance to lead the party into the 2024 presidential elections. Here are 10 things to know about the candidate…

At 80 years old, Kwabena Duffuor, a former finance minister is taking his chances against John Mahama, a more experienced aspirant who has contested and won the NDC’s flagbearer elections in 2012, 2016, and 2020.

Undeterred by Mahama’s popularity, Duffuor describes himself as the ‘hope for Ghanaians’ and is gaining traction with his nationwide grassroots campaigns.

Here are 10 things to know about the technocrat.

1. Early life and family

Born on 21 January 1943 in Kumawu in the Ashanti region, Duffuor had his basic education at  Kumawu Presbyterian Primary and Middle schools between 1950 and 1957 before entering Prempeh College in 1958 for his secondary education.

He acquired his first degree in economics with a concentration in econometrics, statistics, and operations research from the University of Ghana in 1968.

He is married with five children, most of whom are managers of the many businesses under his HODA holdings.

2. Lost bank

In 1997 Duffuor incorporated uniBank which acquired a licence to operate as a wholly-owned commercial bank in Ghana in 2001. He was the bank’s largest shareholder until 2018 when the licence was revoked during Ghana’s infamous banking sector crisis – August 2017 to January 2020.

The central bank said Unibank was significantly undercapitalised beyond rehabilitation.

In a 2021 interview with Accra-based Citi TV, he described the loss of the bank as “a big blow but I was lucky and the family was behind me. [It was a] very painful experience.â€

3. Court case

Kwabena Duffuor has an active legal battle around his neck. Since 2018, he, along with eight other persons, has been on trial on charges including fraudulent breach of trust, money laundering, dishonest appropriation and willfully causing financial loss to the Ghanaian relation to the collapse of Unibank in 2018.

Court documents say he received over GH₵663m ($60,000) from the bank “knowing that it had been obtained by means of a criminal offence.â€

In February 2020 he was granted bail. The trial is ongoing at Ghana’s High Court.

4. CPP beginnings

It remains unclear when Duffuor officially joined the NDC but in the early 2000s, he was a known member of the Convention People Party (CPP) – a party founded by Ghana’s independence hero and first president Kwame Nkrumah. While in the CPP he sponsored the campaigns of some parliamentary candidates and served on the party’s finance committee.

In fact, ahead of the 2008 presidential elections, he was thought to be a frontrunner in the race to be a running mate to Papa Kwesi Nduom who had been elected by the CPP as its flagbearer for the elections.

5. Prone to less controversy

Between 2009 and 2013, Duffuor served as Ghana’s minister for finance under the NDC’s John Evans Atta-Mills and later John Mahama. Prior to that, he was the governor of the Bank of Ghana – 1997 to 2001.

In both high offices, there were barely any major controversies or scandals involving him. This comes as a plus to his flagbearer bid but it also appears to limit his popularity among the masses.

6. Politically inexperienced?

Unlike his main contender John Mahama, the most notable front-role political position Duffuor is known to have held in the NDC is finance minister. For political watchers, this does not give him a good base to amass enough votes to threaten Mahama’s popularity.

Mahama, on the other hand, has been a member of parliament, deputy minister, minister, vice president, and president.

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Even with his ministerial appointment, there was strong opposition within the NDC on the basis that there were equally competent technocrats who had long-standing loyalty to the party like Moses Asaga, then the NDC MP for Nabdam and a ranking member of parliament’s finance committee, and a former deputy minister for finance.

7. In the Rawlings legacy

Duffuor enjoys a lot of support from loyalists of former presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Evans Atta Mills. He is seen as one of the old guards who can restore the NDC to the path of its founding principles of probity, accountability, and transparency.

As one unblemished by any major scandal, he believes he exudes the qualities of a flagbearer that the NDC’s late founder, Jerry John Rawlings, would appreciate.

“It is true the late president [Rawlings] was my friend, he liked me so much. I was in London when he brought me home to join him… He kept warning me when I declined to lead the party but everything he told me is happening today. Today, our economy is in a mess. I always remember what my friend told me and now we have to rescue the country,†Duffuor said during his campaign in the Central Tongu constituency of the Volta region last month.

8. Fighting the establishment

Duffuor provoked the anger of the central NDC leadership last year when he launched a private project to provide regular funding for grassroots party activities across all 275 constituencies of the country.

Quick to recognize Duffuor’s action as a subtle campaign move with the potential of courting disaffection for the central leadership, John Asiedu Nketiah, the NDC’s general secretary (now chairman), said the party felt betrayed by the former minister’s action because his action did not go through the central leadership’s standard procedures.

“No amount of insults and attacks will stop me from doing what I want to do. Nothing at all. I am not the talking type. That’s not my nature. I just want to help to strengthen the party,†Duffuor said in reaction to the criticisms.

Under the Ahotor project – Ahotor (which means ‘relief’ in the local Twi language), Duffuor identified feasible and sustainable business ideas capable of financing NDC party activities at the local level and provided the resources for the start of the business.

9. Business mogul

In spite of the challenges associated with the collapse of his UniBank, Duffuor commands great respect as an accomplished private entrepreneur.

He is the founder of HODA (House of Duffuor Assets) Holdings, an entity with more than 15 businesses in insurance, banking, real estate, agriculture, and media.

In insurance, he operates Star Assurance Group (Star Assurance, StarLife Assurance, Star and Microinsurance Services). In media, he owns Daily Heritage newspaper, Live FM, Starr FM, Agoo FM, Empire FM and GhOne TV. The majority are under the Excellence In Broadcasting (EIB) Group.

10. Gentle technocrat

If there is one thing his supporters and critics agree on, it is Duffuor’s technical experience in finance and economic management.

His career started at the Volta River Authority before he moved to Ghana Commercial Bank, now GCB Bank, as a research officer and rose to become General Manager in 1990.

A year later he moved to head the bank’s London branch. He also served as deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana before becoming the substantive governor in 1997.

Among his achievements at the central bank was the conversion of the Ghana Commercial Bank London Branch into a UK-incorporated bank: the Ghana International Bank Plc, in March 1998.

He transferred government accounts from the Commercial banks to the Central Bank to ensure more efficient management of government funds and the adoption of an automated book-entry system for money markets.

Under his tenure as finance minister, Ghana went under an IMF programme for the 15th time.

He also worked as an economic theory and public finance lecturer at the Economics Department and the School of Administration of the University of Ghana between 1980-1991.

He has served in a number of directorship positions including those at Accra Brewery Limited, Shell Ghana Limited, Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire, State Gold Mining Corporation, Ghana Cocoa Board, Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited, and Ghana International Bank Plc. London.

Duffuor is currently the Chairman of Ghana Heart Foundation and Kumawuman Rural Bank.

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