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. Fo
