Asantehene commends Kufuor Scholars

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has commended former President John Agyekum Kufuor for instituting the Kufuor Scholars Programme to groom the youth to become good leaders.

He said such mentoring programmes were necessary to produce leaders such as Kufour who would be capable of leading as he did during his tenure as President.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II said this when the Chief Executive of the John A. Kufuor Foundation, Prof. Baffour Agyeman-Duah, led beneficiaries of the programme to pay a courtesy call on the Asantehene at the Manhyia Palace last Sunday.

The visit was part of the mentoring activities of beneficiaries in learning about the traditions and cultures of all the regions of the country.

The scholars were in camp at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), where they were taken through leadership and public speaking skills.

Objective

Addressing the Asantehene, Prof. Agyeman-Duah said the objective of the programme was to train and groom the youth to become transformational leaders by imbibing in them the values of integrity, honesty, patriotism and commitment to ethical behaviour.

Prof. Baffour Agyeman-Duah (2nd from left), CEO of JAK Foundation, speaking at the function

According to him, the programme was open to all Ghanaians irrespective of where they lived, their ethnicity or gender.

However, he said, the selection process was rigorous and was designed to ensure the selection of the best candidates.

Coordinator

The Coordinator of the programme, Dr Pascal Brenyah, told the Daily Graphic that so far, the programme was achieving its objective as most of the beneficiaries had shown the leadership traits expected of them.

He said even those who had the chance to travel outside the country had all returned home to contribute to the development of the country.

He said the objective of the programme was to nurture a crop of graduates who were self-reliant and could contribute effectively to the country.

The beneficiaries are also given entrepreneurial skills.

Experience

Sharing their experiences, some of the students told the Daily Graphic that joining the programme had been an eye-opener for them, as it had given them exposure to the nuances of leadership not learnt in classrooms.

A student of the University of Ghana, Ms Salomey Odei, said through the programme, she had been able to improve on her self-confidence and could speak on any platform, “something I was not able to do in the past,” she added.