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Kofi Abrefa Busia
Kofi Abrefa Busia
Prime Minister 2nd Republic of Ghana
In office 1 October 1969 â€“ 13 January 1972
President	Brigadier Akwasi Afrifa 3 April 1969 – 7 August 1970 Nii Amaa Ollennu 7 August 1970 – 31 August 1970 Edward Akufo-Addo 31 August 1970 – 13 January 1972
Preceded by	Brigadier Akwasi Afrifa (Presidential Commission)
Succeeded by	Colonel Acheampong (Military coup d'état)
Born	July 11, 1913(1913-07-11) Wenchi, Ghana
Died	August 28, 1978 (aged 65) Oxford, UK
Political party	Progress Party
Spouse(s)	Mrs. Naa Morkor Busia
Profession	Academic
Religion	Christian
Elected following military rule and overthrown by military regime

Kofi Abrefa Busia (11 July 1913 – 28 August 1978) was Prime Minister of Ghana from 1969–72. He was born in Wenchi, in the then British colony of Gold Coast (now called Ghana). He was educated at Methodist School, Wenchi, Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast, then at Wesley College, Kumasi from 1931–32. He later became a teacher at Achimota Secondary School. He gained his first degree with Honours in Medieval and Modern History from the University of London, through correspondence during this period. He then went on to study at University College, Oxford, where he was the college's first African student. He took a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (1941, MA) 1946) and a DPhil in Social Anthropology in 1947, 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 served as a district commissioner from 1942 to 1949, and was appointed first lecturer in African Studies. He became the first African to occupy a Chair at the University of Gold Coast. In 1951 he was elected by the Ashanti Confederacy to the Legislative Council. In 1952 he was Leader of Ghana Congress Party^[1] which later merged with the other opposition parties to form the United Party (UP).

As leader of the opposition against Kwame 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 the University of Leiden near the Hague, Netherlands. From 1962 until 1969 he was a Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford.

During this period he was financially supported in secret by Sir Roy Welensky and the government of the Central African Federation, which paid him substantial sums through a London public relations consultancy named Voice & Vision.

He returned to Ghana in March 1966 after Nkrumah's government was overthrown by the military, and was appointed as the Chairman of the National Advisory Committee of the NLC. In 1967/1968 he served as the Chairman of the Centre for Civic Education. He used this opportunity and sold 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 friends in the defunct UP formed the Progress Party (PP)^[1].

In 1969, PP won the parliamentary elections with 104 of the 105 seats contested. This paved the way for him to become the next Prime Minister. Busia continued with NLC's anti-Nkrumaist stance and adopted a liberalised economic system. There was a mass deportation of half a million of Nigerian citizens from Ghana, and a 44 percent devaluation of the cedi in 1971 which met with a lot of resistance from the public.

While he was in Britain for a medical check-up, the army under Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong overthrew his government on 13 January 1972. He died from a heart attack in 1978.

Along with J.B. Danquah, Busia's name is associated with Ghana's political right. The New Patriotic Party has claimed the Danquah-Busiaist mantle in the Fourth Republic.

Bibliography

• The Position of the Chief in the Modern Political System of Ashanti. London, 1951 (Orig. Dissertation Oxford)
• The Sociology and Culture of Africa. Leiden, 1960
• The Challenge of Africa. New York, 1962
• Purposeful Education for Africa. The Hague, 1964
• Urban Churches in Britain. London, 1966
• Africa in Search of Democracy. London, 1967

Notes

External links

• Ghana-pedia webpage - Dr Kofi A. Busia
• Ghanaweb about Dr. Busia
• Busia Foundation

Heads of state and Prime Ministers of the Republic of Ghana      Presidents (1960-) Nkrumah • Ankrah † • Afrifa † • Ollennu* • Akufo-Addo • Acheampong † • Akuffo † • Rawlings † • Limann • Rawlings • Kufuor • Mills Prime Ministers Kwame Nkrumah (1957-60) • Kofi Abrefa Busia (1969-72) † military      * interim