Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism and the 1966 Coup

Nkrumah made Ghana a center of Pan-Africanism. In 1958 Accra hosted the All-African Peoples' Conference, and Ghana offered support to Guinea after its break with France. Nkrumah argued for a continental union government, but at the founding of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa in May 1963 most leaders preferred cooperation between sovereign states. At home Nkrumah launched ambitious projects such as the Akosombo Dam on the Volta River.

But his rule grew authoritarian: the 1958 Preventive Detention Act allowed imprisonment without trial, and in 1964 Ghana became a one-party state. Falling cocoa prices, debt and shortages caused discontent. On 24 February 1966, while Nkrumah was abroad on a visit to China, army and police officers overthrew him. Assessments differ sharply: admirers see a visionary who championed African unity and development, critics an autocrat whose policies weakened the economy. Both views draw on real evidence.