Ignatius Kutu Acheampong

Ignatius Kutu Acheampong was an army officer who ruled Ghana from 1972 to 1978, first as chairman of the National Redemption Council and then of the Supreme Military Council. He was born on 23 September 1931 to Catholic parents of Ashanti origin and was executed on 16 June 1979.

He worked as a stenographer and taught at commercial colleges before training at Aldershot and joining the Ghana Army in 1959, and he served with the UN in the Congo. Under the National Liberation Council he was Western Regional Commissioner. On 13 January 1972, as a colonel commanding the First Infantry Brigade, he led a bloodless coup against the elected Busia government.

His government brought Nkrumah's body home for burial in 1972, switched Ghana to driving on the right and to the metric system, and ran Operation Feed Yourself. It was also dogged by accusations of corruption, inflation and shortages. His plan for a no-party "Union Government" provoked student protests and a disputed referendum in 1978, and in July that year his colleagues removed him in a palace coup led by Fred Akuffo. After the uprising of 4 June 1979 he was court-martialled and executed by firing squad.