Kofi Abrefa Busia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 2nd Prime Minister of Ghana | |
| In office 1 October 1969 – 13 January 1972 | |
| President | |
| Preceded by | Office re-established;Kwame Nkrumah (1957) |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Political leader andDe factochief executive | |
| In office 7 August 1970 – 13 January 1972 | |
| President | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Akwasi Afrifa(asChairman of the Presidential Commission) |
| Succeeded by | Ignatius Kutu Acheampong(asChairmanNational Redemption Council) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1913-07-11)11 July 1913 |
| Died | 28 August 1978(1978-08-28) (aged 65) Oxford, England |
| Political party | Progress Party |
| Spouse | Naa Morkor Busia (1924-2010) |
| Children | 8,Abena andAkosua Busia |
| Education | Methodist School, Wenchi;Mfantsipim School,Cape Coast;Wesley College, Kumasi;Achimota College |
| Alma mater | University of London;University College, Oxford;Nuffield College, Oxford |
| Profession | Academic |
Elected following military rule and overthrown by military regime. | |
Kofi Abrefa Busia (11 July 1913 – 28 August 1978)[1] was aGhanaian political leader and academic who wasPrime Minister of Ghana from 1969 to 1972. As a leader and prime minister, he helped to restore civilian government to the country following military rule.[2] He was overthrown in amilitary coup in 1972.[3]
Busia was born inWenchi, a town in the Brong Ahafo Region (now called Bono Region).[4] Wenchi is now in the Bono region[5]
He was educated at Methodist School, Wenchi,Mfantsipim School,Cape Coast, then atWesley College, Kumasi, from 1931 to 1932. He taught at Wesley College and left to study atAchimota College in 1935 and taught there. He gained his first degree with Honours in Medieval and Modern History from theUniversity of London, through correspondence during this period. He then went on to study atUniversity College, Oxford,[6] where he was the college's first African student. He returned to the Gold Coast in 1942.[7] He took aBA (Hons) inPhilosophy, Politics, and Economics (1941,MA 1946) and aDPhil in Social Anthropology in 1947 atNuffield College, Oxford, with a thesis entitled "The position of the chief in the modern political system of Ashanti: a study of the influence of contemporary social changes on Ashanti political institutions". He was aFulbright scholar in 1954.[8]
Busia served as a districtcommissioner from 1942 to 1949, and was appointed first lecturer inAfrican Studies. He became the first African to occupy a chair at the University College of the Gold Coast (now theUniversity of Ghana). In 1951 he was elected by theAshanti Confederacy to the Legislative Council. In 1952, he was Leader ofGhana Congress Party, which later merged with the other opposition parties to form theUnited Party (UP).
As leader of the opposition againstKwame Nkrumah, he fled the country on the grounds that his life was under threat. In 1959, Busia became a Professor of Sociology and Culture of Africa at theUniversity of Leiden nearthe Hague, Netherlands. From 1962 until 1969, he was a Fellow ofSt Antony's College, Oxford.
He returned to Ghana in March 1966, after Nkrumah's government was overthrown by the military, to serve on theNational Liberation Council (NLC) of GeneralJoseph 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 theProgress Party (PP).[9]
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. Due to memories of Nkrumah's authoritarian rule, the country opted for a parliamentary system with the president effectively reduced to a figurehead with the real power vested in the Prime Minister. Thus, as prime minister, Busia was Ghana's political leader andde facto chief executive, withEdward Akufo-Addo as figurehead president.
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 thecedi in 1971, which met with a lot of resistance from the public.[citation needed]
While he was in Britain for a medical check-up, the army under ColonelIgnatius Kutu Acheampong overthrew his government on 13 January 1972. Busia remained in exile in England and returned toOxford University, where he died from a heart attack in August 1978.[7]
Busia's name is associated with Ghana's political right, along withJ. B. Danquah andS. D. Dombo. TheNew Patriotic Party has claimed the Danquah-Busia-Dombo mantle in the Fourth Republic.
| 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 theGhana Congress Party 1952–1957 | Succeeded by ? |
| New title | Leader of theUnited Party 1957 – ? | Succeeded by ? |
| New title | Leader of theProgress Party 1969–1972 | Parties banned after coup |
| Notes and references | ||
| 1.Ghana@50 | ||
| Queen (1957–1960) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| President of the First Republic (1960–1966) | ||
| Military regime (1966–1969) | ||
| President of the Second Republic (1969–1972) | ||
| Military regime (1972–1979) | ||
| President of the Third Republic (1979–1981) | ||
| Military regime (1981–1993) | ||
| President of the Fourth Republic (from 1993) | ||
*Acting President | ||
