Erasmus Ransford Tawiah Madjitey

Erasmus Ransford Tawiah Madjitey

Erasmus Ransford Tawiah Madjitey (born November 11, 1920 in Aframase , † February 23, 1996 ) was a police officer , diplomat and politician . On October 9, 1958, ERT Madjitey became the first Ghanaian police chief of the Ghana Police Service in what was then the Gold Coast . At the same time, he was the first sub-Saharan African in a comparable position.

Education and origin

Madjitey was born in Aframase in the Manya Krobo District in the Eastern Region of Ghana as the fifth of seven children of the local chief, Asafoatse Madjitey I, and one of his three wives, Ogbeko Madjitey. He grew up between 1928 and 1930 with his uncle JA Okumador and attended the Presbyterian Junior Secondary School in Odumase-Krobo and later the Presbyterian Senior Boys Secondary School in Bana Hill. At Adisadel College and later at Mfantsipim School , he finished his secondary education in 1936 and moved to Achimota College , the predecessor school of the University of Ghana. Here he finished his studies with the Inter BA with Honors in 1940. In 1949 he married Vera Scales.

Police career

After brief teaching at the Accra Academy in math and Latin, Madjitey joined the Gold Coast Police in 1948. He became one of the first Africans in the service of the police under colonial administration. During his service, he was employed as a constable in the property protection department for the government seat in Christiansborg . By then Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah , before the independence of the state of Ghana, Magjitey was appointed Commissioner of Police on October 9, 1958. He became the official successor of the British Arthur Lewin Alexander . His successor in office was John Willie Kofi Harlley .

Due to an assassination attempt by a police guard Seth Ametewe, Nkrumah had Madjitey and six other senior police officers released from office in January 1964 and later imprisoned under the Detention Act. He was only released from prison after the successful military coup on February 24, 1966 by members of the National Liberation Council .

Diplomat and politician

After his release from prison by the military government of the National Liberation Council, Madjitey was appointed Ghana's ambassador to Pakistan at the end of 1966 and remained in the diplomatic service until 1969. After his return to Ghana, he joined Komla Agbeli Gbedemah and his National Alliance of Liberals in the elections 1969 on. In the parliamentary elections in 1969 he became a member of the Ghanaian parliament for the constituency of Manya Krobo, until it was dissolved in 1972 by another military coup. Between 1970 and 1972, Madjitey was a member of the Council of State in addition to his party office and seat in parliament . Between 1970 and 1972 Madjitey was the leader of the entire opposition that had united in the newly formed Justice Party .

The military dictatorship under Ignatius Kutu Acheampong introduced the idea of ​​a unified government between the military and the police in 1977 in order to further prevent the democratization process and to secure military rule. Madjitey and other opposition leaders such as Albert Adu Boahen , Victor Owusu , Akwasi Afrifa and Obed Asamoah formed an alliance against the plans of the unity government called the People's Movement for Freedom and Justice (PMFJ). Madjitey was arrested along with other members of the PMFJ. Only after Fred Akuffo's palace coup against Acheampong in July 1978 did the country return to the democratization process and Akuffo released Madjitey from custody.

In 1978 he belonged to the constituent commission that was entrusted with drafting a new constitution for the third Ghanaian republic. As a member of the Constituent Assembly, he put the draft constitution he helped draft into force in 1979 and became a founding member of the Popular Front Party in the parliamentary elections , which became the strongest opposition party in the 1979 parliamentary elections . After the renewed military coup in 1981 under Jerry Rawlings , Madjitey was less politically active, but immediately appeared as a founding member of the New Patriotic Party after the return to democratic conditions . Only after Madjitey's death was she able to become a ruling party in the 2000 elections, so that Madjitey remained one of the most important opposition politicians in Ghana throughout his life.

Honors

• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), 1960
• Adeyekote (warrior of the royal house), was bestowed upon him by the chief of Manya Krobo, Oklemekuku Azu Mate-Kole

See also

• List of Ghanaian politicians
• History of Ghana

Web links

• Ghanabii, CV , English
• Photo gallery , English