Children Nana Akufo-Addo Preceded by J. Sarkodee-Addo | Name Edward Akufo-Addo Nationality Ghanaian Ex-spouse Adeline Addo | |
 | ||
Grandchildren Edwina Nana Dokua Akufo-Addo, Adriana Dukua Akufo Addo, Gyankroma Akufo-Addo, Yeboakua Akufo-Addo | ||
Prime Minister Kofi Busia (1969–1972) Succeeded by Gen. I.K. Acheampong | ||
Edward Akufo-Addo (26 June 1906 – 17 July 1979) was a Ghanaian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the "Big Six" leaders of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), And one of the founding fathers of Ghana who engaged in the fight for Ghana's independence. He became the Chief Justice and later President of the Republic of Ghana.
Contents
- Early life and education
- Pre political career
- Early political career
- Post independence career
- References
Early life and education
Akufo-Addo was born on 26 June 1906 at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region to William Martin Addo-Danquah and Theodora Amuafi. Both of his parents were from the southern Ghanaian town of Akropong. He had his basic education at Presbyterian Primary and Middle Schools at Akropong. In 1929, he entered Achimota College, where he won a scholarship to St Peter's College, Oxford, where he studied Mathematics, Politics and Philosophy. He went on to graduate with honors in philosophy and politics in 1933.
Pre-political career
Akufo-Addo was called to the Middle Temple Bar, London, UK, in 1940 and returned to what was then the Gold Coast to start a private legal practice a year later in Accra.
Early political career
In 1947, he became a founding member of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) and was one of the "Big Six" (the others being Ebenezer Ako-Adjei, Joseph Boakye Danquah, Kwame Nkrumah, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey and William Ofori Atta) detained after disturbances in Accra in 1948. From 1949 to 1950, he was a member of the Gold Coast Legislative Council and the Coussey Constitutional Commission.
Post-independence career
After independence (1962–64), Akufo-Addo was a Supreme Court Judge (One of three Judges who sat on Treason trial involving Tawia Adamafio, Ako Adjei and three others after the Kulungugu bomb attack on President Kwame Nkrumah and for doing so was dismissed with fellow judges for finding some of the accused not guilty.
From 1966 to 1970, he was appointed Chief Justice by the National Liberation Council (NLC) regime, as well as Chairman of the Constitutional Commission (which drafted the 1969 Second Republican Constitution). He was also head of the NLC Political Commission during this same time period.
From 31 August 1970 until his deposition by coup d'état on 13 January 1972, Akufo-Addo was President of Ghana in the Second Republic. Real power rested with the prime minister, Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia. On 17 July 1979, Akufo-Addo died of natural causes.