The 1966 Traitorous Coup D’état in Ghana

The 1966 Traitorous Coup D’état in Ghana

On 24 February 1966, a coup d’état occurred in Ghana, codenamed “Operation Cold Chop”, overthrowing President Kwame Nkrumah while he was visiting China and Vietnam. The coup was led by Colonel Emmanuel Kotoka, Major Akwasi Afrifa, and Police Inspector-General J.W.K. Harlley, during which the military and police authorities justified the move by citing economic decline, corruption, and authoritarian rule. It was later established that the coup was supported by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the British Intelligence Services, which installed the National Liberation Council (NLC) – an eight-member body that ruled Ghana until 1969.

The coup took place while President Nkrumah was en route to Hanoi and Beijing on a peace mission. The military, under the National Liberation Council (NLC), seized control of key locations in Accra, with the plotters claiming that the coup was driven by dissatisfaction with Nkrumah’s socialist policies, economic mismanagement (including a drop in cocoa prices), and his suppression of political dissent. Major General J.A. Ankrah was then appointed as head of the NLC and Head of State. He was later promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General.

Declassified documents and reports indicated that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and British intelligence were involved in financing and supporting the coup, driven by concerns over Nkrumah’s leftist leanings. Following the coup, the NLC suspended the constitution, dissolved Parliament, and disbanded Nkrumah’s Convention People’s Party (CPP). Nkrumah never returned to Ghana, deciding to live in exile in Guinea, where he was named honorary co-president. The 1966 coup marked a major shift in Ghana’s political trajectory, moving the country away from socialist policies toward a more Western-aligned path, but it also initiated a period of military rule. 

The coup leaders and historical analyses pointed to several domestic and geopolitical factors, which included economic crisis that Ghana’s economy was struggling due to a sharp drop in international cocoa prices, heavy spending on “prestige projects” and rising inflation. Authoritarianism was also cited by Nkrumah’s opponents, where they claimed a high-level of suppression of dissent, arising from the 1964 constitutional amendment making Ghana a one-party state, and Nkrumah’s declaration as “President for Life”. Military grievances were also mentioned, where there was persistent dissatisfaction within the Ghana Armed Forces regarding political interference and budget cuts.

In terms of Cold War geopolitics, declassified documents and historical accounts suggested that the CIA and British intelligence provided support, financing and logistical aid to the plotters to remove Nkrumah due to his socialist leanings and ties to the Soviet Union and China. Upon hearing the news in Beijing, Nkrumah eventually moved to Equatorial Guinea, where he lived as a guest of President Ahmed Sékou Touré until his death in 1972.The coup marked the end of the First Republic and began a period of alternating military and civilian rule and the NLC eventually handed power to the civilian government of Kofi Abrefa Busia in 1969.

Although the NLC regime cunningly exploited the difficulties that were confronting Ghana at that time, it could not solve them, since they were the legacy of Ghana’s colonial past and the consequences of imperialist policy. The traitor’s coup delighted the enemies of African freedom everywhere. As President Julius Nyercre pointed out at that time: “There is jubilation in Salisbury and Johannesburg”. Actually, there was also jubilation in London, Washington and Bonn, where the ousting of Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention People’s Party was not only hoped for but was no doubt actively plotted and assisted.

Dennis Ogden reported that “London and Washington did not conceal their jubilation. Smith and Verwoerd breathed more easily; neo-colonialist puppets like Houphouet-Boigny of the Ivory Coast were quick to hail the coup, while to those opposing the advance of neo-colonialism in Kenya and elsewhere the news came as a blow.”

Furthermore, Ogden recounted that “Sensitive to African opinion, the, new regime was quick to claim that it will continue the policy of support for the total liberation of Africa and for the Organization of African Unity – but one of its first moves was to shut down camps where freedom fighters from Rhodesia, South Africa and the Portuguese and Spanish colonies had been trained – trained be it noted, in implementation of OAUdecisions.”

Following the coup, the South African Communist Party responded by saying, “The way is paved for a new upsurge of the African people; a second African Revolution far deeper-going and thorough than the first; one which will not merely remove the outward symbols of imperialism but extirpate it root and branch throughout our continent with all its agents and hangers on; awakening and uniting all Africa for genuine freedom and independence, unity and socialism” (“Treason in Ghana”, The African Communist).

Sources:
Wikipedia.
Editorial Notes, “Treason in Ghana”, The African Communist, No 25, Second Quarter 1966.
Dennis Ogden, “Report on Ghana: Ghana Socialists Fight Back”, The African Communist, No 25, Second Quarter 1966.
Kwame Nkrumah, “Dark Days in Ghana”, Lawrence and Wishart, 1968.

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