Part of the money will also be used to complete a presidential museum and library at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology campus.
Mr Kufuor and former Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were last Tuesday named winners of the 2011 World Food Prize. They will each receive $250,000.
In an interview with Joy FM, Mr Kufuor said Africans tended to be gullible and simplistic when it came to issues of leadership, a phenomenon he said should change if the continent must develop.
In view of this, the former president said the centre would kick off as a think tank where people who had excelled in their fields of endeavour would be invited to interact with other participants.
He said in September when the project kicks started, a former German president would be invited to cut the sod for the project.
Meanwhile, the Communications Directorate of the New Patriotic Party has welcomed President Kufuor back to Ghana following the 2011 World Food Prize Award jointly bestowed on him and the former Brazilian Head of State.
We congratulate you on this excellent and meritorious recognition by the World Food Prize Foundation on behalf of the international community.
In a statement, the NPP described the award as a recognition of the great work he did as President, towards the achievement of the ‘UN Millennium Goal 1’.
The citation further added, ‘Continuing Ghana’s tradition of stability, President Kufuor prioritised national agricultural policies. Ghana saw a reduction in its poverty rate from 51.7 per cent in 1991 to 26.5 per cent in 2008 and hunger was reduced from 34 per cent in 1990 down to nine per cent in 2004.’
The citation could not have put it better. You achieved this in 8 years through noteworthy social intervention policies such as mechanising agriculture to boost food production, the innovative school feeding programme , the free bus rides for school children, the free pregnancy care, the LEAP, the NYEP, the monumental NHIS and, of course, the over $500 million MCA money your governance profile brought into our country, the statement indicated.
In those years, you also grew the Ghanaian economy more than 300 per cent to a whopping $16 billion compared to the $5 billion economy you and your government inherited in 2001.
The economic achievement is unprecedented in any eight year period in Ghana’s history. After all, the best way of reducing poverty is by increasing wealth, and you did just that! The whole country truly shares in your joy.
There is, of course, more work left in the fight against hunger and poverty in this country, and it is our fervent hope that your successor will emulate the benchmark you have established in this sector for Ghana.
We are gratified that you are still around and eager to make further contribution to the development of our country, the statement concluded.
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