Dr. Ebenezer Ako Adjei
Dr. Ebenezer Ako Adjei was
born on the 17th June 1916, in the small village of Adjeikrom, which is located
between Bosuso Railway Station and Begoro in the Benkum Division of the Akyem Abuakwa
Traditional Area, in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The village was named after his
father, Mr. Samuel Adjei, who was a farmer, and who founded the village. His mother was Mrs. Johanna Okailey Adjei. Both parents hailed from La, (formerly Labadi),
Accra Ghana. Dr. Ako Adjei had his early education at the Presbyterian Primary School
at Bosuso in Akyem Abuakwa, and later continued at the Presbyterian Junior and Senior
Schools at La, (formerly Labadi), Accra Ghana. He was baptized and confirmed at
the La Presbyterian Church. He was a founding member of the La Presbyterian Church
Choir under the leadership of the late S. Trebi Laryea. He entered the Accra Academy
in April 1933 for his Secondary Education, and was placed in Form 2. He was promoted
to Form 4 in January 1934. He passed the University of Cambridge Junior Certificate
Examination in December 1934. After obtaining the University of Cambridge Senior
School Certificate with exemption from the University of London Matriculation Examination
in December 1936, Dr Ako Adjei entered the Civil Service of the Gold Coast, as a
Second Division Clerk at the Colonial Secretary's Office, in Accra. He resigned
from the Civil Service after a short period, and proceeded to the United States
of America in pursuit of higher education. Dr. Ako Adjei entered Lincoln University,
in Pennsylvania, in January 1939, where he met Dr. Nkrumah, and the two of them
became intimate friends. He completed his course of studies
and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts Degree (B.A.) in Economics, Political Science and Sociology - his major
subjects, in June 1942. In September 1942, Dr. Ako Adjei entered the Graduate School
of Journalism, at Columbia University, and obtained the Master of Science Degree
in Journalism in June 1943.
Dr. Ako Adjei was offered the post of General Secretary of the United Gold Coast
Convention (U.G.C.C.), but he declined the offer and rather recommended that his
intimate friend Dr. Kwame Nkrumah should be invited to come back home from London
to take up the appointment as General Secretary. Upon the recommendation which Dr.
Ako Adjei made, and which was accepted by the Working Committee of the U.G.C.C.,
Dr. Nkrumah eventually arrived home from London in December 1947. Dr. Ako Adjei
was Solicitor for the Gold Coast Ex-service Men's Union, and he prepared the Petition,
which the Gold Coast Ex-service Men's Union was going to present to the Governor at the Castle Osu, Accra Ghana on Saturday the 28th February 1948, when an English
Senior Police Officer shot and killed three of the Ex-service men, namely Sgt. Adjetey,
Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey, at the Cross Roads, Osu, Accra. Two
weeks after the shooting and killing of the Ex-service men at the Cross Roads Osu,
six leading members of the U.G.C.C. were arrested and detained by the Colonial Government
for several weeks. The six leading
members of the U.G.C.C. that
were arrested and detained were: Dr. J.B. Danquah, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Mr. Obetsebi
Lamptey, Mr. Akuffo Addo, Mr. William Ofori-Atta and Dr. Ako Adjei. These six people
became popularly known and referred to as the "Big Six”. Dr. Ako Adjei published
The African National Times, a daily morning newspaper from September 1948 to January
1952. He also published The Star of Ghana, a daily afternoon newspaper from November
1948 to January 1952. In September 1948, Dr. Ako Adjei with like-minded citizens
of La, (Formerly Labadi), Accra founded the La Bone Secondary School, Accra. He
was also instrumental in founding the Nungua Secondary School, Nungua, Accra. On
11th December 1948, he married Miss Theodosia Kutorkor Kotei-Amon in Kumasi.
They led an exemplary married life. During the period that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was
Prime Minister, and later President of Ghana, Dr. Ako Adjei held several ministerial
appointments in the Government, including those of Trade and Labor and Interior
and Justice. He was the first Foreign Minister of Ghana, and was responsible for
the formulation of the principles on which the
foreign policy of Ghana is based.
In June 1962, Dr. Ako Adjei was honored by Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.,
his alma mater, with the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws. Two months later, on
Wednesday 29th August 1962, accompanied by his wife, Dr Ako Adjei went to Tema Port
to meet Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani, an old mutual friend of his and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah,
during their student days at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.the United
States and Europe. In religious circles, it ent or expulsion of the spirit(s) responsible
for the patient's bad health. The social and psychological effects of these methods
were highly successful. As in the case of psychotherapy, medication and the power
of suggestion were used by traditional healers to treat the whole person.
He had earlier informed the President of his wish to stop over in Ghana and pay his respects with his wife, children and a few friends who were en-route by sea
to Nigeria. Just as the party had settled for lunch at his home, it was at that
instance that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the Police came to arrest him for a cause or
causes he was not advised of until he was put in the condemned cells at the Nsawam
Medium Security Prison. He was served with indictment or charges of:
1) Conspiracy
to commit Treason and
2) Treason, together with four other persons, namely, Robert
Benjamin Otchere, Joseph Yaw Manu, Tawia Adamafio and Hugh Horatio Cofie Crabbe.
They were tried by a Special Court constituted by Justice K. Arku Korsah, Chief
Justice, Mr. Justice W. B. van Lare and Mr. Justice E. Akufo Addo, both Justices
of the Supreme Court. On Monday 9th December, 1963, the Special Court, which had
sat from Friday 9th August 1963 through to Monday, 28th October, 1963, acquitted
and discharged Tawia Adamafio, Ako Adjel and Cofie Crabbe on all charges. Notwithstanding
their acquittal and discharge, these three gentlemen were not released from prison,
but rather, were taken back to the Nsawam Medium Security Prison on the orders of
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the President.
The harrowing experience in the condemned cell
continued as before. On 10th December, 1963, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the President of
Ghana, declared the whole trial at the Special Court null and void. He also made
an order, dismissing from office the Chief Justice of Ghana, Sir Arku Korsah and
the other two judges who together with the Chief Justice presided over the Special
Court. The President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, ordered a retrial of the three accused persons
by another" Special Court" specially constituted by him. The newly constituted "Special
Court" had the newly appointed Chief Justice of Ghana, namely, Mr. Justice J. Sarkodee-Adoo
as the sole member, sitting with a jury of twelve young-men, recruited from the
Kwame Nkrumah ideological College.
The Ghana Bar Association, realizing that the
action taken by the President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, in declaring the earlier trial
null and void, dismissing the trial judges and reconstituting another special court
amounted to undue interference in the administration of justice in Ghana, resolved
that none of its members should appear for any of the accused persons. The GBA considered
the whole process as a complete travesty of justice and a flagrant violation of
the fundamental principle of the Rule of Law in a civilized Society.
The second
trial was conducted partly in public in the Supreme Court Buildings in Accra and
partly in camera at the Castle Osu, Accra. The public and the Press were excluded
from the trial in camera. During his summing up the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Sakordee-Adoo
wept bitterly and openly. Dr Ako Adjei recorded in his autobiography, The African
Dream, that he was amazed to see the Chief Justice weeping bitterly "with tears
streaming down his cheeks."
He felt sorry for him and pitied him for the part he
was taking in his second trial, because he, Dr. Ako Adjei, knew he was innocent.
Dr. Ako Adjei was found guilty and sentenced to death, as was each of the four other
accused persons. In response to the Chief Justice's offer to the accused to
say a few words before sentence, Dr. Ako Adjei said that he was innocent, but if the
Jury had said that he was guilty, he would leave the matter in the hands of God,
his Father. He was taken, together with the other accused persons, back to the condemned
cells.
The sentence was later commuted to twenty years in prison. Whilst he was
in the condemned cell, he heard Mr. Samuel Danso Amaning (at one time Deputy Commissioner
of Police), who was also being kept in a condemned cell, shouting at the top of
his voice and mentioning the names of Ako Adjei, Tawiah Adamafio and Cofie Crabbe,
that each of them should forgive him for the leading role he took in fabricating
the treason charges against them, which resulted in their trials at the two special
courts. The excruciating experiences that Dr. Ako Adjei went through during his
period in the condemned cells, so overwhelmed him, that he found it difficult to
recount or talk about them. He wrote: "It was a period of harrowing experience and
bitter affliction".
He had no doubt that it was only "by the Grace of God my loving
Father that I survived”, he concluded. Indeed, since his release from Nsawam Medium
Security Prison on 6th September 1966, by the National Liberation Council (NLC),
after the overthrow of the First Republic, he never stopped praising and thanking
God Almighty for protecting and delivering him from his affliction. From then on,
he devoted his time to the Almighty God, his family, his law practice and farming.
In 1978, Dr. Ako Adjei was appointed by the Supreme Military Council II Government
as one of the Members of the Constitutional Commission who drafted the Third Republican
Constitution of Ghana. On 7th March 1997, the highest National Honor of the Republic
of Ghana, Officer of the Order of the Star of Ghana, was conferred on him by the
President on behalf of the Government and People of Ghana.
This was followed by
a durbar of Chiefs, as well as a dinner at The International Conference Centre on
15th March 1997, by The Ga-Dangme Association. The Ghana Bar Association honoured
him for his Statesmanship in January 1999. On 11 December 1999, he received a Certificate
of Honour from Labone Secondary School. He received a Millenium Excellence Award
for Outstanding Statesman in December 1999.
The Methodist Church Ghana honoured
him in June 2000 by naming the Conference Hall of the Rev. Peter Kwei Dagadu of
the Memorial Methodist Church at Osu, after him. Dr. E. Ako Adjei wrote two books,
namely: The African Dream and Life and Work of George Alfred Grant respectively.
He was honoured by his Alma Mater, Accra Academy, during its 70th anniversary celebrations
in July 2001. Dr. Ako Adjei left behind a loving wife, children, grandchildren,
family, friends and a host
of admirers.