Today in History, exactly 54 years ago, on March 24, 1966, Kofi Abrefa Busia returned to Ghana after Kwame Nkrumah’s government was unconstitutionally ousted from office through a military coup launched by the National Liberation council (NLC).
In 1959, As leader of the opposition against Kwame Nkrumah, Busia felt his life threatened and fled the country. He became a Professor of Sociology and Culture of Africa at the University of Leiden near the Hague, Netherlands.
Kofi Abrefa Busia returned to Ghana in March 1966 after Nkrumah’s government was overthrown by the military to serve on the National Liberation Council of General Joseph Ankrah, the military head of state; and was appointed as the Chairman of the National Advisory Committee of the NLC.
In 1967/68, he served as the Chairman of the Centre for Civic Education. He used this opportunity to promote 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).
In 1969, the PP won the parliamentary elections with 104 of the 105 seats contested. This paved the way for him to become the next Prime Minister. Kofi Abrefa Busia continued with NLC’s anti-Nkrumaist stance and adopted a liberalized economic system.