Details

The main purpose of this visit was to know what has been the motivation of the ex- President from time memorial to date and the motivation of Madam Majewski to engage in politics. This was in order to help the young scholars to learn from the experiences of the ex- President and the young politician from Germany. It also enabled the scholars to get some ideas for their future projects, either politics, either the economy or elsewhere.

President Kufuor said because he started early politics that was before he was 30 years. He decided that this was the way to go in order to help lift up the community and country. At a young age he was fortunate to have exposure early and he met some giants of those times during 1969 to 1970 like Indira Gandhi of India, Marshal Tito, Emperor heads, Nyerere of Tanzania, amongst others. He went on to say that “My party, Progress Party, was in power for two years and we were booted out by the military at that time. I was arrested with other 35 people in prison without a charge and I spent about 15 months in jail. In the prison, I was in the same room with some distinguished politicians of my time like the founder of my party who was in his 60s." By this experience, he learnt a lot and felt even more encouraged to engage himself in politics. In 1972, he came out of prison and resolved that he would state the course till he would get the opportunity to do so. "Truly there was a work to do and that was to get leadership correct, get governance correct and involve everyone for good governance and democracy", the former president shared with his guests. He took the course from 1972 till his dream came through in 2000 when he was elected President of the Republic of Ghana.

Madam Majewski who is in charge of developing strategies with young parliamentarians in the German Bundestag is also in the best interest of the young and future generations - in Germany as in Ghana. She spoke about the idea of an African German youth network which is very important for institution which will go a long way to fast tract development but is yet to work on. She also added that what is really helping the youth of Germany is that they combine apprenticeship with schooling so by the time one is graduating from school the person is already equipped for the job market and this is a win-win situation for both parties: employer and employee. Miss Majewski shared her view that what also is helping the Germans is that everyone can express their views. This helps to know others opinion before a conclusion is made.

The discussion between the former President, Madam Majewski from Germany and the scholars lasted finally more than 90 minutes, and even at the end, a lot of questions had not been asked yet. But all scholars were very happy to have been participating in this sharing of experiences.