Acheampong, Ignatius Kutu (1931–1979)

Ghanaian army officer and politician, military ruler of Ghana 1972–78. He led the coup of January 1972 that overthrew the president, Dr Busia, and was himself replaced by his deputy, Frederick Akuffo, in a bloodless coup in 1978.

On seizing power, Acheampong became president of the National Redemption Council and formed a new government. His programme of ‘self-reliance’ included the government's nationwide food-production programme ‘Operation Feed Yourself’, which gave Ghana an abundance of maize and rice. However, his subsequent mismanagement of the economy prompted a series of plots to overthrow his regime. He and Akuffo were executed in June 1979 after a coup led by young officers, whose Armed Forces Revolutionary Council returned Ghana to civilian rule in September 1979.

He was born in Kumasi and educated at the Central College of Commerce, Agona Swedru. His early career was as a schoolteacher, and he became vice principal of Agona Swedru College of Commerce, then a tutor at Kumasi Commercial College. His military career began in 1959, and he received his instruction in the UK, at the Mons Officer Cadet School, and in the USA, at the military academy at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. He advanced rapidly in the Ghanaian army and by 1971 was commander of the First Infantry Battalion.