Dr Kwame Nkrumah, African statesman who led Ghana to independence. Born Francis Nwia Kofi, but later changed his name to Kwame Nkrumah in 1945 in the UK as he was born on Saturday. The Fanti teacher who enrolled Francis Nwia-Kofi Ngonloma into school mistakenly wrote Nkrumah for Ngonloma and it stuck. He attended elementary school at Half Assini where his father worked as a goldsmith.

He studied at Lincoln and Pennsylvania Universities, USA, where he obtained his BA, MSc and MA in Theology, Education and Philosophy respectively and was voted 'Most Outstanding Professor of the Year' in 1945 at Lincoln University.

He was involved in African and West African associations in Britain and the USA. In the Gold Coast in 1947 he became a full-time politician as General Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), the colony's most powerful nationalist body. In this post, Nkrumah made a name for himself, not only as an opponent of colonialism and an advocate of the federation of African socialist states.

After disturbances in 1948, Nkrumah and other UGCC leaders were arrested and deported from Accra, known as the 'Big Six' they became very popular. In 1949, Nkrumah broke away from the UGCC and formed the more radical Conventions Peoples Party (CPP), which campaigned for positive action and immediate independence. For inciting illegal strikes, Nkrumah was imprisoned for a year (1950-1951), but while he was in prison the CPP won the 1951 general election and the colonial authorities released him to become Leader of Government Business (1951) and Prime Minister (1952). In 1957 he led the Gold Coast and British Togoland to independence as Ghana, the first African colony to win independence.

Nkrumah had triumphantly led Ghana to independence, but he had little success in securing his other great ambition, the union of African states. This was partly because his Pan-Africanism was distorted by being made part of his personal political creed  'Nkrumahism'. In 1960 he led Ghana into the unsuccessful 'Union of African States' with Guinea and Mali; he hoped this would be a pioneer scheme for African unity.

Initially, Nkrumah was popular in Ghana and much admired by African nationalist leaders and the political Left all over the world. He disillusioned many supporters when he fostered his own personal cult, assuming the honorific title of Osagyefo (he who is successful at war).

In Ghana, he adopted draconian measures to concentrate power in his hands and to crush any opposition. Isolated from his people he listened only to self-seeking sycophants and allowed the CPP to become entwined in a web of corruption and intrigue. In 1958 he removed the obligation to consult regional assemblies on constitutional changes and in 1960 made Ghana a republic with himself as President.

In 1964, he finally eliminated any legal opposition by making Ghana a single-party socialist state. Internationally he moved closer to the communist world, while maintaining his own version of socialism and seeking Western financial aid in his attempt to break Ghana's dependence on cocoa. Nkrumah spent heavily on development, mainly on massive and prestigious projects like the Akosombo Dam, which created lake Volta in 1966.The economy was overspent and Ghana accumulated heavy debts. Nkrumah was toppled by a military coup while he was abroad (February 1966). He went into exile in Guinea, where he died.