Emmanuel Kotoka

Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka (born October 26, 1926 in Alakple, Fiahor, Vo; † April 17, 1967 in Accra) was a Ghanaian military from the Ewe people . Kotoka was involved in the military coup that ousted then President Kwame Nkrumah on February 24, 1966 and became a member of the National Liberation Council , chaired by Joseph Arthur Ankrah .

Career

Kotoka attended the Alakple Roman Catholic School and later the Angloga Senior School in the Volta Region . Kotoka began training as a goldsmith as early as 1942, which he finished in 1947. For financial reasons he gave up this profession and went in July 1947 as a private in the Ghanaian infantry school of the Gold Coast Regiment in Teshie near Accra .

In 1948 Kotoka was promoted to sergeant and in 1951 to sergeant major of the company. In 1952, Kotoka was selected to take a course at Eaton Hall, England. After this training session, Kotoka was made a lieutenant and assigned to the British Army of the Rhine .

It was not until 1955 that Kotoka returned to the Gold Coast and became the commandant of a unit of the Second Gold Coast Infantry Regiment. In 1959 he was appointed captain ( Captain transported). In 1960 he attended a course at the Infantry School in Westminster, England, and in the same year was assigned to the Congo with the second battalion of the Ghanaian Army . There he commanded a company that was supposed to protect the radio station in the capital Kinshasa . In 1963, Kotoka received an award for special bravery for his outstanding performance in the Congo.

On his return he was promoted to major in 1961 and later to lieutenant colonel ( Lt.-Colonel ). In 1965 Kotoka was transferred to Kumasi , where he befriended Major Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa . Afrifa, at that time commander of the first infantry brigade, also took part in the later coup and became chairman of the National Liberation Council .

Coup against Nkrumah

President Nkrumah had left the country to make state visits to Asia. He had previously given the order that the armed forces should prepare for combat operations in what is now Zimbabwe , what was then southern Rhodesia. Kotoka used this operational order to initiate larger troop movements from Kumasi towards Accra . He gave a larger exercise in the mountains around Accra ( Accra Plains ) as the reason for the troop transfer . Reports of major troop movements did not reach the public, as the leading police officers John Willie Kofi Harlley and Anthony Deku were also involved in the coup.

On February 24, 1966, Joseph Arthur Ankrah , Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa and Kotoka were three of the country's leading military leaders. The coup unleashed fierce fighting, but Afrifa managed to secure the media outlet and keep it under control. Kotoka was able to announce the success of the coup at 6:30 a.m. local time.

Kotoka was raised to the rank of major general after the coup and was a member of the National Liberation Council (NLC) alongside Ankrah and Afrifa. He became health officer and commanding general of the Ghana Armed Force.

death

Kotoka fell victim to a counter-coup on April 17, 1967, at the age of just 40. Lieutenant Moses Yeboah is said to be responsible for his death after heavy fighting. One of the causes of these fights was a resistance that was forming in the country against the supremacy of the Ewe-dominated NLC, as some sources claim.

souvenir

Ghana's largest airport, Kotoka International Airport , was named after Emmanuel Kotoka in his memory.

A postage stamp with his picture was issued in 1968.

Web links

• Ghanaweb
• comcast.com
• Ghana.gov.gh