by Chuka Ikokwu, MBA '09

John Kufuor, the current President of Ghana, has got to be one of the coolest dudes on earth. I never thought I'd meet him in a million years, but thanks to our colleague's connections with the Chief Justice of Ghana, one thing led to another, and before you knew it, Eric Chang, Emi Fong, and myself were lucky enough to be shaking hands with his Excellency.

This guy has done it all. According to wikipedia.com, the father of five was the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and has represented Ghana on a number of occasions. From 1969 to December 1971, he led Ghana's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Ministerial Meetings in Addis Ababa, and the Summit Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Lusaka. In 1970, he led the Ghanaian delegation to Moscow in the former Soviet Union, Prague (Former Czechoslovakia), and Belgrade (Yugoslavia) to discuss Ghana's indebtedness to these countries. Also, Kufuor's presidential victory in 2000 marked the first peaceful transition of power in Ghana since the country's independence was declared. Kufuor was also the Chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008.

In spite of all these accomplishments, there are only a few things about his character that lead me to believe his is one of the coolest dudes in the world. During our meeting, he offered us some Ghanaian fried chicken, which he claims to be "the best in the world" and some Coke. I usually don't drink soda, but for him, I made an exception. At the end of our educated conversation about remarkable changes taking place in West-Africa (and Ghana), he gave me a high-five. I need not mention that according to wikipedia, this bloke's hobbies include table tennis, reading, football (soccer, not American football), and movies. Now, that's my kinda President!