The June 4th Revolution or June 4th Uprising was an uprising in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

in 1979 that arose due to a conflict between the lower ranks and officers in the Ghana armed forces. This led to frustration among the general public and misunderstandings within the Ghanaian army.

Cause

The revolution began when the military government of the Supreme Military Council (SMC II), consisting of Lieutenant General

Fred Akuffo Lieutenant General Frederick William "Fred" Kwasi Akuffo (21 March 1937 – 26 June 1979) was a Ghanaian soldier and politician who was the Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces from 1976 to 1978, and chairman of the ruling S ...

, put Flight Lieutenant

Jerry John Rawlings Jerry John Rawlings (born Jerry Rawlings John; 22 June 194712 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer, aviator, and politician who led the country briefly in 1979 and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1993 and then se ...

on public trial for attempting to overthrow the government on 15 May 1979. This failed coup had happened because Rawlings, a junior soldier in the Ghanaian Army, and other

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

soldiers were not given their salaries. Rawlings turned the trial against the government by accusing it of massive corruption and requesting his fellow accused to be set free as he was solely responsible for the mutiny. He was publicly sentenced to death and imprisoned. On the night of 3 June 1979, junior military officers, including Major Boakye Djan, broke into the jail where Rawlings was held and helped free him. They then marched him to the national radio station to make an announcement. The first time the public heard from Rawlings was a statement that he had been released by the junior officers and that he was under their command. He requested all soldiers to meet with him at the Nicholson Stadium in

Burma Camp Burma Camp is the headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghanaian Ministry of Defence. The camp is in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. It retains notoriety and fear from previous Ghanaian military regimes, when civilians who entered the camp ...

, in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

. The soldiers rounded up senior military officers, including three former heads of state, General

Ignatius Kutu Acheampong Ignatius Kutu Acheampong ( ; 23 September 1931 – 16 June 1979) was a Ghanaian military officer and politician who was the military head of state of Ghana from 13 January 1972 to 5 July 1978, when he was deposed in a palace coup. He was execute ...

and

Akwasi Afrifa Lieutenant General Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa (24 April 1936 – 26 June 1979) was a Ghanaian soldier, farmer, traditional ruler and politician. He was the head of state of Ghana and leader of the military government in 1969 and then chairman of t ...

for trial. They were executed by a firing squad.

Aftermath

Rawlings was then appointed the head of the

Armed Forces Revolutionary Council The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) was a group of Sierra Leone soldiers that allied itself with the rebel Revolutionary United Front in the late 1990s. While the AFRC briefly controlled the country in 1998, it was driven from the ca ...

(AFRC) by the revolting junior military officers to run the country until the ongoing election was completed. Rawlings handed over his power to

Hilla Limann Hilla Limann, (12 December 1934 – 23 January 1998) was a Ghanaian diplomat and politician who served as the eighth president of Ghana from 1979 to 1981. He previously served as a diplomat in Lomé and in Geneva. Education Limann, whose origi ...

in September 1979, but overthrew Limann's government on 31 December 1981.

References

Bibliography

* Amamoo, Joseph G., "The Ghanaian Revolution", p. 190, iUniverse (2000), * Ninsin, Kwame A., "Issues in Ghana's Electoral Politics", p. 40, CODESRIA (2017), * Gocking, Roger, "The History of Ghana", Greenwood Publishing Group (2005), p. 212, * ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'': "Hard. Times Follow Ghana Coup" (30 July 1979) * ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'': "Los golpistas de Ghana prometen elecciones este mes" (6 June 1979) {{African coups d'état Military coups in Ghana 1970s coups d'état and coup attempts 1979 in Ghana Conflicts in 1979 20th-century revolutions June 1979 in Africa

Cause

Aftermath

See also

References

Bibliography