Akwasi Afrifa

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Okatakyie Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa (born April 24, 1936 in Mampong near Kumasi ; † June 16, 1979 there ) was head of state of Ghana from 1969 to 1970 .

soldier

Afrifa came from an Ashanti chief family and was baptized a Methodist . He received his confirmation from the Presbyterians and eventually became an Anglican .

He joined the Ghana's army in 1957 and attended the Sandhurst Military Academy for two years . In 1960 he was a lieutenant in Ghana's contingent during the United Nations operation in Congo . He was later promoted to major and appointed Chief of Staff of the Army . On February 24, 1966, he was one of the leading military officers who carried out a successful military coup against the authoritarian ruling President Kwame Nkrumah . Afrifa became a member of the eight-member Junta National Liberation Council (NLC) and in 1968 Finance Minister.

head of state

After Joseph Arthur Ankrah was deposed , Afrifa succeeded him on April 2, 1969 as chairman of the NLC and thus head of state of Ghana. During his tenure, a new constitution was passed and the ban on political parties was lifted.

Since September 3, 1969, he was chairman of the three-member Presidential Commission that replaced the NLC. His term ended on August 7, 1970 when the country returned to civilian rule.

Further career

After Ignatius Kutu Acheampong overthrew the civilian government , Afrifa was arrested on January 15, 1972 and detained until December 1972. In 1978 he was one of the leading oppositionists against the military government.

After the successful coup of Rawlings on June 4, 1979, Afrifa, the two other ex-heads of state Akuffo and Acheampong and five other high-ranking officers were shot dead . Rawlings was actually considered a supporter of Afrifa, but Afrifa were accused of a series of human rights violations and political murders between 1966 and 1970, which sealed his fate.

In April 2001, President John Agyekum Kufuor ordered the bodies of those shot to be exhumed so that the families could have an orderly burial.

swell

Wolf-Rüdiger Baumann, Gustav Fochler-Hauke: Biographies on Contemporary History since 1945. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1985, ISBN 3-596-24553-2 (anniversary volume for the 25th edition of the "Fischer World Almanac")

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personal data
SURNAME Afrifa, Akwasi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Afrifa, Okatakyie Akwasi Amankwaa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ghanaian head of state
DATE OF BIRTH April 24, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Mampong
DATE OF DEATH June 16, 1979
Place of death Mampong