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Rare photo of Acheampong, Utuka moments before execution resurfaces
via GhanaWeb5 min read
A rare photograph showing former Head of State General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong and Major General Edward Kwaku Utuka moments before their execution has resurfaced. The image, shared by Adeyinka Makinde, depicts the two military officers hooded and tied to execution stakes at the Teshie Military Shooting Range in Accra, awaiting a firing squad. Acheampong and Utuka were executed on June 16, 1979, after being sentenced to death by decree of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council AFRC. The AFRC had seized power 12 days prior through an uprising led by junior officers and soldiers in the Ghana Armed Forces. General Acheampong, born in 1931, joined the British colonial army in 1951 and was commissioned into the Ghana Army in 1959. He served with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Congo and became Chairman of the Western Regional Committee of Administration after the overthrow of Dr Kwame Nkrumah's government. Acheampong led the January 13, 1972 coup that removed Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia's government, establishing the National Redemption Council NRC, which suspended the 1969 Constitution and banned political activities. His rule ended in 1979 when the AFRC overthrew the Supreme Military Council government, leading to his trial and execution alongside Major General Utuka. The resurfaced photograph is noted as one of the few known images documenting their final moments.
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