Kofi Abrefa Busia

Kofi Busia Abrefa ( born July 11, 1913 in Wenchi, † August 28, 1978 ) was Prime Minister in the Second Republic of Ghana from 1969 to 1972 and a high school teacher in Ghana, the Netherlands and England. Busia belonged to the royal family in Wenchi.

Training

Originally Busia comes from the Brong- Ahafo region of the city of Wenchi, where he attended the Methodist School. Later he went to the Mfantsipim College in Cape Coast in the Central Region.

From 1931-1932 visited Busia, The Wesley College in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region and taught at Achimota College from 1936 to 1939 at this time., He made the final in medieval and modern history of the University of London ( University of London ) and completed it with from special honor.

In 1941, he studied at Oxford University and graduated in Politics, Philosophy and Economics with a Bachelor and Master's from. A doctoral degree ( Ph.D.) was awarded to him in Social Anthropology (Social Anthropology ). Title of his doctoral thesis was The Position of the Chief in the Modern Political System of Ashanti, who is praised by some authors as the best work on this subject.

Career between politics and teaching

Back in Ghana, Busia worked from 1942-1949 as head of a district, so a lower administrative unit ( District Commissioner ).

In 1949, Busia was the first chair of an Africa - study course ( African Studies ), which he retained until 1954. Busia was the first African president of the University of Cape Coast was.

In 1951, Busia was elected by the Ashanti Confederacy in the Legislative Council ( Legislative Council ) and was only a year later, in 1952, Chairman of the Party Ghana Congress Party. This party worked together with other opposition parties to form the United Party (United Party, UP).

In exile

As leader of the opposition, summarized in the opposition United Party, and opponents of the later first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, Busia felt threatened and therefore escaped in 1959 from the country. He was Professor of Sociology and Culture at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Between 1961 and 1966 he was a member of St Antony's College, Oxford University, UK.

After Nkrumah

Once in February 1966 a successful military coup deposed the President Nkrumah and by the National Liberation Council (NLC, dt: National Befreiungsrat ) replaced, Busia returned on March 19, 1966 by Ghana. He was advisor to the NLC.

Between 1967 and 1968, Busia was chairman of the Center for Civil Education ( Center for Civil Education, CCE)

In 1968, Busia was a member of the Constitutional Committee ( Constitutional Review Committee ) and founded immediately after the fall of the initially imposed by the NLC party ban with friends from the former United Party, the Progress Party ( PP).

In the first election after the military coup and the time of the NLC in September 1969 the PP won 104 parliamentary seats and thus more than a two-thirds majority.

In October 1969, Busia was sworn in as prime minister under President Edward Akufo - Addo. This Busia was considered real holders of power, not Akufo - Addo. Busia continued the policy oriented to the west of the NLC.

Policy under Busia

The Busia government was heavily under the heavy burden of debt of former President Nkrumah. As the former president went after the coup in Guinea into exile and from there continued to be active, was the government a steady fear, the former rulers could return to Ghana. Although the government under Busia opposition had some leeway, but propaganda was banned in favor of the deposed president and punishable.

To date, very controversial is a law of December 1969, which had hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Togo and Nigeria from the country. In some cases this should be done under questionable circumstances. In particular, human rights to have been greatly injured by this action. Estimates are talking about nearly a quarter of a million affected.

Busia was also criticized for the proposal to enter into political and economic contact with the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Ultimately, however, it was the economic problems that led to the end of the Busia government. It was not possible Busia to stabilize the cedi. Cocoa, one of the most important assets of Ghana, was smuggled to neighboring countries in order to obtain better prices here due to better exchange rates. Corruption was widespread. The government had changed to the nationalized system from the time Nkrumah not much, so that the economic problems could not be resolved. The high world market prices for cocoa could support a while but the system still.

After the world cocoa prices plummeted dramatically, the currency of " Cedi " was devalued massively. This led to an uproar in the country as now staple for many were hard to pay more. From this turmoil, a climate that used the later coup against Busia developed.

The coup

The government Busia was deposed by the second military coup in Ghana under Colonel ( Colonel) Ignatius Kutu Acheampong on 13 January 1972.

Death

Busia died in 1978 in Great Britain of a heart attack.

Family

Busia was married to Naa Morkor Busia. The writer and actress Akosua Busia is a daughter and was born in the year of the coup against Nkrumah in Oxford. The famous University Professor Abena Busia is also a daughter of the former Prime Minister of Ghana.

Publications

• Africa in Search of Democracy (Academic Literature, 1967)
• Urban Churches in Britain ( Report, 1966)
• Purposeful Education for Africa (Academic Literature, 1964)
• Challenge of Africa (Academic Literature, 1962)