Kofi Abrefa Busia

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Kofi Abrefa Busia
Member of Parliament for Wenchi
In office
1 October 1969 – 13 January 1972
Preceded byCharles Ebenezer Donkoh
Personal details
Born(1913-07-11)11 July 1913
Wesley College, Kumasi; Achimota College
Alma materUniversity of London; University College, Oxford; Nuffield College, Oxford
ProfessionAcademic
Elected following military rule and overthrown by military regime.

Kofi Abrefa Busia (11 July 1913 – 28 August 1978)[1] was a Ghanaian political leader and academic who was Prime Minister of Ghana from 1969 to 1972. As a nationalist leader and prime minister, he helped to restore civilian government to the country following military rule.[2]

Early life and education

Busia was born a

Brong Ahafo Region, one of the four Gold Coast Territories, then under British rule and now called Ghana.[3]

He was educated at Methodist School, Wenchi,

Fulbright scholar in 1954.[6]

Career

Busia served as a district

Ashanti Confederacy to the Legislative Council. In 1952, he was Leader of Ghana Congress Party,[7] which later merged with the other opposition parties to form the United Party
(UP).

As leader of the opposition against

University of Leiden near the Hague, Netherlands. From 1962 until 1969, he was a Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford
.

He returned to Ghana in March 1966, after Nkrumah's government was overthrown by the military, to serve on the National Liberation Council (NLC) of General Joseph Ankrah, the military head of state;[2] and was appointed as the Chairman of the National Advisory Committee of the NLC. In 1967/68, Busia served as the Chairman of the Centre for Civic Education. He used this opportunity to promote himself as the next leader. He also was a Member of the Constitutional Review Committee. When the NLC lifted the ban on politics, Busia, together with Lawyer Sylvester Kofi Williams and friends in the defunct UP formed the Progress Party (PP).[7]

In 1969, the PP won the parliamentary elections with 105 of the 140 seats. This paved the way for him to become the next prime minister. In this role, Busia was effectively Ghana's chief executive. Due to memories of Nkrumah's authoritarian rule, the country opted for a parliamentary system with the president effectively reduced to a figurehead. Real power was vested in the Prime Minister.

Busia continued with NLC's anti-Nkrumaist stance and adopted a liberalised economic system. There was a mass deportation of half a million Nigerian citizens from Ghana, and a 44 percent devaluation of the

cedi
in 1971, which met with a lot of resistance from the public.

While he was in Britain for a medical check-up, the army under Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong overthrew his government on 13 January 1972. Busia remained in exile in England and returned to Oxford University, where he died from a heart attack in August 1978.[5]

Busia's name is associated with Ghana's political right, along with

S. D. Dombo. The New Patriotic Party
has claimed the Danquah-Busia-Dombo mantle in the Fourth Republic.

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ "August 28, 1978: Prime Minister of 2nd Republic Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia Dies in London". Edward A. Ulzen Memorial Foundation. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781137062055. Archived from the original
    on 11 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia, Ex-Prime Minister: 1969 – 1972". ghanaweb.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  4. University College Record
    . Vol. VII, no. 5. 1979. pp. 283–286.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1-134-26490-2
    .
  6. ^ "Fulbright Notable Alumni: Heads of State/Government".
  7. ^ a b "Ghana:Political Parties". Encyclopaedias of the Nations. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2007.
  8. ^ Busia, K.A. (1960). "The sociology and culture of Africa: its nature and scope (Inaugural lecture)". Netherlands: Leiden University. Retrieved 2 August 2022.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Kwame Nkrumah
as Prime Minister
 Prime Minister of Ghana
1969–1972 		Succeeded by
None
Position abolished
Parliament of Ghana
New title
Leader of the Opposition

1952 – ? 		Succeeded by
?
Parliament suspended by military Member of Parliament for Wenchi East
1969–19721 		Parliament suspended after military coup
Party political offices
New title Leader of the Ghana Congress Party
1952–1957 		Succeeded by
?
New title Leader of the United Party
1957 – ? 		Succeeded by
?
New title Leader of the Progress Party
1969–1972 		Parties banned after coup
Notes and references
1. Ghana@50
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