The road to Kufuor's presidency was tortuous and refelcts Ghana's political history, which since Kwame Nkrumah led to independence in 1957, had been dominated by military interventions and dictatorships. Groomed for the job by some of Ghana's first generation politicians, Kufuor became Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Ghana, from which point his live became enmeshed with the political life of Ghana, especially during the 1990s when he was a key player. His election to high office was a critical moment in the development of democracy in Ghana's history.