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General Acheampong: The Life and Times of Ghana’s Head of State
273 pages, Paperback
Published March 31, 2021
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 19, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. Most of Ghanaian history is dominated by two personalities: Kwame Nkrumah (the founding father of Ghana) and J.J. Rawlings (the leader who stayed in power for the longest time). All the leaders between Nkrumah and Rawlings are usually referred to as the 'short-lived military regimes'. Ignatius Kutu Acheampong was one of these military leaders. However, he actually stayed in power from 1972 to 1978, which is sufficient time to have a lasting impact on the country's history.
After reading this book, I must say that Acheampong is a very interesting person in Ghana's history and his importance is overseen by many. His ideas of home-grown development and self-reliance in Africa were an interesting response to Ghana's bankruptcy at that time. The book describes well how Acheampong tried to quickly strengthen and modernise Ghana through military-style development policies. The Operation Feed Yourself (OFY) is surely the most important of these and encouraged Ghanaians to grow their own food to become less dependent on food imports. Although the operation was relatively successful, this success was not sustainable. Here, the book reflects on both, Acheampong's successes and failures in a balanced manner. As the role of Acheampong is often neglected in the literature on Ghanaian history, this book is a valuable contribution. It is remarkable that in Ghana, Acheampong is rarely even mentioned in the public and academia despite his impact. I doubt that many people outside of Ghana have even heard of him. It seems like this man has been canceled from the discourse. But, I think there are many things to learn from Acheampong. And to me, it seems that many of his political approaches have been revived a few years later by Burkina leader Thomas Sankara, who is still seen as a hero across Africa. Maybe Sankara had better charisma or just a more revolutionary approach than Acheampong. At least this would explain the large difference in how both leaders are remembered today. So, to conclude, I really enjoyed this book and I learned a lot about one of Ghana's lesser known but still very important heads of state.
After reading this book, I must say that Acheampong is a very interesting person in Ghana's history and his importance is overseen by many. His ideas of home-grown development and self-reliance in Africa were an interesting response to Ghana's bankruptcy at that time. The book describes well how Acheampong tried to quickly strengthen and modernise Ghana through military-style development policies. The Operation Feed Yourself (OFY) is surely the most important of these and encouraged Ghanaians to grow their own food to become less dependent on food imports. Although the operation was relatively successful, this success was not sustainable. Here, the book reflects on both, Acheampong's successes and failures in a balanced manner. As the role of Acheampong is often neglected in the literature on Ghanaian history, this book is a valuable contribution. It is remarkable that in Ghana, Acheampong is rarely even mentioned in the public and academia despite his impact. I doubt that many people outside of Ghana have even heard of him. It seems like this man has been canceled from the discourse. But, I think there are many things to learn from Acheampong. And to me, it seems that many of his political approaches have been revived a few years later by Burkina leader Thomas Sankara, who is still seen as a hero across Africa. Maybe Sankara had better charisma or just a more revolutionary approach than Acheampong. At least this would explain the large difference in how both leaders are remembered today. So, to conclude, I really enjoyed this book and I learned a lot about one of Ghana's lesser known but still very important heads of state.
June 18, 2025
It’s a nice book but I just don’t like reading biography but I recommend it to be read to know what happened in the past
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews