Joseph Arthur Ankrah

Infobox Officeholder|name=Joseph Arthur Ankrah


imagesize =111 × 100
small

caption =Lt. General Joseph Ankrah
order =2nd Head of state of Ghana
(First Military Head of state)
term_start =February 24, 1966
term_end =April 2, 1969
deputy =
predecessor =Kwame Nkrumah
successor =Lt. Gen. Akwasi Afrifa
birth_date =August 18, 1915
birth_place =Accra, Ghana
death_date =death date and age |1992|11|25|1915|08|18
death_place =Accra, Ghana
nationality =flagicon|GHA Ghanaian
party ="military"
spouse =Mildred Christina Akosiwor Fugar
profession =Soldier
religion =


footnotes =Appointed after coup d'état of February 24, 1966
Lieutenant General Joseph Arthur Ankrah (August 18, 1915 - November 25, 1992) served as the first commander of the Army of Ghana and from 1966 and 1969 as the second head of state.

Early life

Ankrah was born on August 18, 1915 in Accra to the Ga family of Samuel Paul Cofie Ankrah, an overseer for the Christian Missionary Society and Beatrice Abashie Quaynor, a trader.cite web|url=http://www.ghanacastle.gov.gh/castle_news_details.cfm?EmpID=689 |title=Former Leaders - Profiles:Lt-Gen Joeseph Arthur Ankrah|accessdate=2007-03-21|work=Official Website of The Osu Castle, seat of Ghana government|publisher=Ghana government] Ankrah began his schooling in 1921 at the Wesleyan Methodist School in Accra, where his nickname was 'Ankrah Patapaa' for his "forcefulness in arguments and always playing leadership role among his mates". In 1932, he entered Accra Academy, one of the leading secondary schools in Ghana, where he established himself as a good football player. He obtained the Senior Cambridge School Certificate in 1937.cite web|url=http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/people/pop-up.php?ID=119|title=Lt. General Joseph A. Ankrah|accessdate=2007-03-21|work=Ghanaweb.com - Famous Ghanaians:Heads of state|publisher=Ghana Home Page] He then joined the Ghana Civil Service.

Military career

On the outbreak of World War II, Ankrah was mobilized into the Royal West African Frontier Force . While his Brigade was in East Africa in 1940, he was transferred to the Record Office in Accra with the rank of Warrant Officer Class II and made second-in-command. In October 1946, he went to the Marshfield Officer Cadets Training Unit in the United Kingdom and graduated in February 1947 as the first African officer in the Gold Coast Army. He was commissioned a lieutenant in 1947 and became the first African camp commandant at the Army Headquarters. He was later made the first Ghanaian Chief Instructor of the Education Unit. He was promoted Major in 1956 and became the first African to command an all-African company, the Charlie Company of the first Battalion at Tamale, Ghana. He later became Lieutenant Colonel and took over the whole battalion. He rose to rank of colonel by 1960, at a time when there were few Ghanaian officers at that level. During the United Nations Operation in the Congo, he was the Brigade Commander of the force based at Luluaburg, Kasai in present day Democratic Republic of Congo. He was the only Ghanaian awarded the Military Cross in Leopoldville for acts of unsurpassed gallantry in Congo in 1961. The citation read:

With great common sense, maturity and tact, this officer handled a delicate situation which otherwise would have created grave consequences in Leopoldville and many parts of the Congo. Colonel Ankrah, with complete disregard for his own life, disarmed an Armee Nationale Congolese (ANC) soldier who, with a loaded sten machine carbine, attempted to shoot Mr. Lumumba. He carried the Prime Minister to safety in a vehicle which was fired on by ANC ambushers. Had it not been for the quick and bold action of Colonel Ankrah at the risk of his life, Mr. Lumumba'’s(sic) life would have been taken with untold consequences at that time.

After his experience in the Congo, he was rapidly promoted Brigadier then Major General becoming the first Ghanaian commander of the Ghana army in 1961 and then Deputy Chief of Defence Staff. He was dismissed from the Ghana army in July1965cite web|url=http://home.comcast.net/~amaah/writings/ghana-without-nkrumah-men-in-charge.html|title=Ghana Without Nkrumah - The Men In Charge|accessdate=2007-03-21|work=Africa Report|month=April | year=1966|author=Jon Kraus|publisher=Koranteng Ofosu-Amaah] on suspicion of involvement in a coup plot.

Politics

Ankrah became the head of the National Investment Bank after leaving the army. He however became the Head of state and Chairman of the National Liberation Council after the February 24 1966 coup. In January 1967, he mediated between the warring factions of the Nigerian civil war in Biafra.cite web|url=http://biafra.info/biafra/nigeria-biafra-civil-war-aburi-accord-ghana-transcript-meeting.html |title=Nigeria-Biafra Civil War - Aburi Accord, Ghana -Transcript from the tape recordings of the Aburi Meeting, January 5-7, 1967|accessdate=2007-03-21|work=Nigeria-Biafra Civil War|author=Donita Brown|publisher=Philip Emeagwali] cite book|last=Kirk-Greene|first=A. H. M.|title=Crisis and Conflict in Nigeria January 1966-July 1967 (Vol. 1)|url=|format=|accessdate=2007-03-21|edition=|series=A documentary sourcebook 1966-1970|year=1971|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|isbn=|oclc=|doi=|id=|quote=] cite web|url=http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/oarticles/on_aburi_we_stand.htm|title=ON ABURI WE STAND: NO NEED FOR A SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE|accessdate=2007-03-21|author=Max Siollun|publisher=Niger Delta Congress] He was forced to resign as Chairman of the NLC and Head of State over a bribery scandal involving a Nigerian businessman.cite web|url=http://www.ghana50.gov.gh/presidency/index.php?op=getAnkrah |title=Our Leaders-LT. GENERAL JOSEPH A. ANKRAH|accessdate=2007-03-21 |work=Official Website for the 50th Independence Anniversary Celebrations of Ghana|publisher=Ghana Government-(Ghana@50)]

Family

In 1965 he married his third wife, Mildred Christina Akosiwor Fugar (June 12, 1938 - June 9, 2005), in Accra. [cite web|url=http://www.graphicghana.com/article.asp?artid=15723|title=Wives of Military Rulers|accessdate=2007-03-21|date=February 28, 2007|work=GHANA, 50YRS OF NATIONHOOD|publisher=Graphic Communications Group Limited] His son also went to Accra Academy

References

ee also

*List of Ghana Heads of state by age