THE Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia , Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, who has been confirmed as the Minister of Defence, was born on July 14, 1940, in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

He had his secondary education at Achimota School and proceeded to study medicine at the University College Hospital Medical School in London. .

In 1970, he was awarded a degree in medicine by the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

The MP for Manhyia completed his post graduate studies at the Middlesex Medical School Hospital, London, UK, in 1975, and worked at several hospitals in that country.

These include West Suffolk General Hospital, Edmonds; St Charles Hospital, London; Old Church Hospital, Essex; St. Helhers Hospital London .

He has held a number of positions, especially in the medical and political fields.

Dr Addo-Kufuor was the past Honorary Secretary of the Medical Students Association of Jesus College, Cambridge; past Chairman, Jesus College United Nations Students Association; past National President, Ghana Medical Association, and past Representative for West Africa on the Confederation of African Medical Associations.

Others are past Chairman of Operations, Prisons Council of Ghana; Member of National Council of the New Patriotic Party (NPP); Chairman of Health Committee of NPP; Member of Policy Advisory Committee of NPP; Inspector of Examinations for Final Bachelor of Medicine Examinations, University of Ghana Medical School, and Member of Board of Examiners for foreign trained doctors applying to work in Ghana.

The rest are Member of the House Committee, the Health Committee and the Committee on Selection in Parliament; Medical Director, Kufuor Clinic, Kumasi, and part time lecturer, Department of Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, K.N.U.S.T, and the Member of Parliament for Manhyia .

He has a few publications to his credit. These include Safe Motherhood in the Upper West Region of Ghana, GMA Publication, Editor, Propranolol, Diazepam and Their Combination in the Management of Chronic Anxiety in the Ghanaian Patien,t Health For All by the Year 2000-Ghana Medical Journal 1993-94 Volume 27-28.

The first report of the Appointments Committee on ministerial nominations had earlier tried to ascertain from him if he did not consider himself to be more suitable for the Minister of Health portfolio in view of the yeomans role he played as a Shadow Minister of Health in the Second Parliament of the Fourth Republic.

However, after attending upon the committee, it was realised that he has the composure, level-headedness and the capability to handle the Ministry of Defence.