Nkrumah, Kwame

Ghanaian nationalist politician, prime minister of the Gold Coast (Ghana's former name) 1952–57 and of newly independent Ghana 1957–60. He became Ghana's first president in 1960 but was overthrown in a coup in 1966. His policy of ‘African socialism’ led to links with the communist bloc.

Originally a teacher, he studied later in both the UK and the USA, and on returning to Africa formed the Convention People's Party (CPP) in 1949 with the aim of immediate self-government. He was imprisoned in 1950 for inciting illegal strikes, but was released the same year. As president he established an authoritarian regime and made Ghana a one-party (CPP) state in 1964. He then dropped his stance of non-alignment and drew closer to the USSR and other communist countries. Deposed from the presidency while on a visit to Beijing (Peking) in 1966, he remained in exile in Guinea, where he was made a co-head of state until his death, but was posthumously ‘rehabilitated’ in 1973.