‘13th January’in West Africa’s History!
Given the trend of our conversation, the question caught me off guard temporarily, though it did not totally surprise me!
It was Tuesday, 13th January, 2026, the 54th anniversary of Gen. Acheampong’s coup that overthrew Prime Minister Dr Busia in 1972.
The question was, “General, don’t you think apart from Osagyefo, the best head-of-state we have ever had is Gen. Acheampong?”
Noncommittally, I simply asked, “why?” as my mind raced back to my Philosophy professor at Legon, Prof. Kwame Gyekye, who humorously advised us in his Logic class to be careful about insisting on logic in discourses.
He explained that life is not logical most of the time.
Indeed, many arguments are based on emotions, religion, ethnicity, superstition, politics etc, with no middle-ground for compromise and sometimes commonsense/reasonableness.
For many, therefore, arguments are “take it or leave it,” a recipe for conflict.
He advised us to make our point strongly and logically, and then let go in the face of “obstinate illogicality,” especially with educated people who argue for reasons other than logic.
In an earlier discussion of this topic, I stated that:
“13th January”
On Saturday, 13th January 2024, another 13th January slipped by quietly.
For anyone born on that day in 1972, it was the 52nd anniversary of then Lt Col (later Gen) IK Acheampong’s overthrow of Ghana’s Second-Republic led by Prime Minister Dr KA Busia.
While some Ghanaians opine that the day does not deserve remembering, as it was a coup by the military against a constitutionally elected government, others say the day cannot also be wished away/erased from Ghana’s history.
This is because, given the fallible nature of the human-being, no nation can catalogue only good deeds as constituting its history.
Life’s reality is that every country’s history is a mixture of “the good, the bad and the ugly!” Past mistakes must be acknowledged and corrected for the future.
Prof. Baffour Agyeman-Duah has written a book on General IK Acheampong (2023) titled “General Acheampong: The Life and Times of Ghana’s Head of State.”
13th January Significant?
Like the Ides (15th) of March (44 BC) in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” the date “13th January” is significant. Why? On 13 January 1963, West Africa’s first coup d’état took place in Togo.
On that day, President Sylvanus Olympio was overthrown and killed by Sgt Eyadema leading a group of colonial Togolese soldiers demobilised by France after service in French Indo-China.
Eyadema subsequently made himself the Head-of-State.
In Ghana on 13th January 1972, the government of Prime Minister Dr Busia was overthrown by then Lt Col IK Acheampong. This was not Ghana’s first coup d’etat though.
It started on 24th February 1966, when then Colonel EK Kotoka (later Lt Gen), Commander 2-Infantry-Brigade-Group headquartered in Kumasi, and his Brigade-Major, Major AA Afrifa (later Lt Gen), supported by Police Commissioners Harlley and Deku, overthrew the government of President Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. The bloody coup saw the killing of the Army Commander Maj Gen CM Barwah. Lt Gen JA Ankrah (Rtd) became the Head of State.
President Nkrumah who was then on his way to Vietnam ostensibly to broker peace for the Vietnam War was left stranded. Eventually, President Sekou Toure of Guinea made Osagyefo co-President of Guinea until his death in Romania on 27th April 1972 aged 62.
On 17th April 1967, the 2 Recce (Reconnaissance) Squadron based in Ho, staged an unsuccessful countercoup named OPERATION-GUITAR-BOY against the military junta.
The three young officers who led the coup were Lt SB Arthur, Lt Moses Yeboah and 2/Lt Osei-Poku. Arthur and Yeboah were executed by firing squad while Osei-Poku was jailed for thirty years.
Incidentally, like Col Kotoka killed the Army Commander Gen. Barwah in the first coup, Lts Arthur/Yeboah killed Lt Gen. Kotoka.
1979-1992
Apart from the period between 24th September 1979 and 31 December 1981 when Dr Hilla Limann served as President in the Third Republic, the rest of the period from 1979 -1992 was dominated by Flt Lt Rawlings, the bloodiest in Ghana’s history.
Significant events include the execution of the Generals and the killing of the Judges, and the disappearance of an estimated 150 Ghanaians.
Executed Generals in June 1979 included three former Heads-of-State, Gen. IK Acheampong, Gen. FWK Akuffo and Gen. AA Afrifa.
The rest were a former Army Commander Gen. REA Kotei, the Navy Commander Rear-Admiral Joy Amedume, the Air-Force Commander Air-Vice-Marshal GY Boakye and the Border-Guards Commander Gen. EK Utuka. Colonel Roger Felli who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs was executed with the Generals.
Gen. NA Odartey-Wellington, the Army Commander was killed in action while opposing the 4th June 1979 insurrection.
That same morning, Colonel Joseph Enninful who was the president of the Court-Martial trying Flt Lt Rawlings for his May 15th 1979 coup-attempt, was executed with his wife in their home at Burma Camp by the revolutionaries.
On 30th June 1982, three judges and a retired Major were abducted from their homes.
Their charred bodies were found at a Military range outside Accra. They were Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, Justice KA Agyapong, Justice FP Sarkodie and Major Sam Acquah (Rtd).
Discussion
The question of the military’s engagement in Politics has been extensively discussed in academia. Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington and University of Michigan Professor Morris Janowitz have written profusely on the subject. Like it is the case with most subjects in academics, opinion is divided.
Some argue that the Military as an institution of discipline does not stage coups. It is individuals within the Military who stage coups. However, Pakistan and Myanmar (Burma) are cited as examples of countries where the Military top hierarchy have led coups and governed.
Others opine that for developing third world countries, a strong visionary military hand of discipline is needed for direction.
In 1970, a new theory called the SCHNEIDER DOCTRINE came into being.
The Schneider Doctrine
Gen. Rene Schneider was the Army Commander of Chile in 1970 when Marxist Professor Salvador Allende won the presidential elections at the fourth attempt.
Reacting to US objection to Chile having a Marxist President, Gen. Schneider stated as follows:
“The Armed Forces are not a road to political power, nor an alternative to that power.
They exist to guarantee the regular work of the political system, and the use of force for any other purpose than its defence, constitutes high treason…
The only limitation to this is in the case that, the State stopped acting within its legality.
In that case, the Armed Forces have a higher loyalty to the people, and are free to decide an abnormal situation beyond the framework of the Law.”
On 24th October, 1970 Gen. Schneider was assassinated.
Teodoro Nguema has been President of Equatorial Guinea for 45 years. Paul Biya of Cameroons has been President for over 40 years.
Eyadema was President of Togo for 38 years from 1967-2005. His son Fuare Gnassingbe has since been President of Togo from 2005.
Examples like this give credence to and support the Schneider Doctrine. In 2016, ECOWAS forced out President Yahyah Jammeh after he refused to hand over after being defeated.
While academics have been divided on the propriety of coups, with hindsight, did 1979/1981 coups stop corruption in Ghana after all the bloodshed?
Sadly, when military rule is lambasted, Ghanaians conveniently forget, and in most cases for those born after 1979/1981, do not know about prominent civilians/academics who contributed immensely to the bloodshed in 1979/1981! It is also not mentioned that, Ghana’s Army Commander in 1966, Maj Gen CM Barwah was murdered together with 10 soldiers guarding him, in then Colonel Kotoka’s 1966 24th February coup which overthrew Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah.
For Ghana, we have seen it all, and we should know better. At age sixty-seven on 6th March 2024, all we want is peace, not multidimensional corruption. That way, Ghana can develop the way Malaysia which gained independence in 1957 like Ghana, has done.
UNQUOTE Summary
In recent times, military governments in Mali, Guinea and particularly neighbouring Burkina Faso have been hailed as more development-oriented and humane than civilian rule.
While coming in through a coup may not make Gen. Acheampong a darling-boy of democracy, one cannot deny his contributions to national development.
Some are the Kpong Dam, Dansoman Estates, El Wak Stadium, accommodation for the Armed Forces, Dawhenya Irrigation Scheme and above all “Operation Feed Yourself” which immensely enhanced Ghana’s food security.
Sadly, his Achilles’ heel was factoring himself into his Union Government proposal.
Fifty-four years after his execution, many Ghanaians believe, despite his imperfections, Gen. Acheampong and his colleagues did not deserve their violent deaths in the June 4, 1979 coup/mutiny.
While his bloodless coup on 13th January 1972 did not meet democracy’s prescriptive fit, it cannot be erased from Ghana’s history, just like Eyadema’s 13 January 1963 coup in Togo.
Leadership, lead by Example/Integrity! Fellow Ghanaians, WAKE UP!
The writer is a former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association, Nairobi, Kenya and Council Chairman, Family Health University, Accra
