29 Facts About Akwasi Afrifa

Lieutenant General Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa was a Ghanaian soldier, farmer, traditional ruler and politician.

Akwasi Afrifa was the head of state of Ghana and leader of the military government in 1969 and then chairman of the Presidential Commission between 1969 and 1970.

Akwasi Afrifa was elected a member of Parliament in 1979, but he was executed before he could take his seat.

Akwasi Afrifa was executed together with two other former heads of state, General Kutu Acheampong and General Fred Akuffo, and five other generals, in June 1979.

Akwasi Afrifa then completed officer training at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England.

In 1960, Afrifa was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Ghana Armed Forces.

Akwasi Afrifa next attended the Defence College, at Teshie in Accra.

Akwasi Afrifa was one of the officers who served in the Ghana contingent of the United Nations Operation in the Congo.

Akwasi Afrifa was staff officer in charge of army training and operations by 1965.

Akwasi Afrifa was based at Kumasi, at the headquarters of the Second Infantry Brigade of the Ghana Army.

Akwasi Afrifa's brief was to take the Broadcasting House, the base from which the national radio station broadcast its news and programmes.

Akwasi Afrifa went through a series of rapid promotions rising from major to lieutenant general in the three years his government was in power.

Akwasi Afrifa was appointed the commissioner for Finance and Trade.

Akwasi Afrifa was replaced by Afrifa as head of state.

Akwasi Afrifa was a supporter of Busia, the leader of the Progress Party who was a candidate in the forthcoming National Assembly elections.

Akwasi Afrifa handed over to Busia who became the prime minister of Ghana on inauguration of the Second Republic.

Akwasi Afrifa continued as chairman of the newly created Presidential Commission until August 1970 when he was replaced by Nii Amaa Ollennu, the speaker of Parliament in the Second Republic.

Akwasi Afrifa stood for and won the Mampong North constituency seat on the ticket of the United National Convention, whose roots were from the Progress Party of Kofi Abrefa Busia.

On 26 June 1979, eight days after his election, Akwasi Afrifa was executed and thus never had the opportunity to take his seat in the Parliament of the Third Republic of Ghana and was succeeded in parliament by Ebenezer Augustus Kwasi Akuoko.

Akwasi Afrifa was the abakomahene of Krobo in the Asante-Mampong Sekyere Traditional Area in the Ashanti Region.

Akwasi Afrifa is credited with initiating the Krobo Rehabilitation Project, raising funds leading to the rebuilding of the entire village.

Akwasi Afrifa was the son of Opanin Kwaku Amankwa and Ama Serwaa Amaniampong, both from Krobo, near Mampong, in the Ashanti Region.

Akwasi Afrifa's last son Henry Afrifa was born after his death.

Akwasi Afrifa had written a letter to Acheampong expressing fears about the future execution of soldiers as a deterrent against the staging of military coups in Ghana, due to the prevailing corruption and indiscipline in the military.

Previously, Akwasi Afrifa had personally had his assets probed by the independent Sowah Assets Commission without any adverse findings.

Akwasi Afrifa is quoted as saying in response to an accusation of calling for Afrifa's execution that:.

On 26 June 1979, Akwasi Afrifa was executed by firing squad, together with General Fred Akuffo, a former head of state and Major General Robert Kotei, Colonel Roger Felli, Air Vice Marshal George Yaw Boakye and Rear Admiral Joy Amedume.

Reports suggest that Akwasi Afrifa did not die immediately and had to be shot again.

Akwasi Afrifa's remains were finally laid to rest at his hometown of Krobo on 28 January 2002.