Kume Preko was the name given to an anti-government demonstration that occurred 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 , led by Charles Wereko Brobbey. The protest took place in opposition to the Value Added Tax (VAT) initiative which was introduced under the

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 ...

administration. It is said to have been one of the biggest protests ever organised in the country, with an estimated 100,000 people participating. The demonstration was initially billed as a peaceful protest but quickly became violent when unidentified assailants shot live bullets into the crowd resulting in the deaths of some protestors.

Etymology

"Kume Preko" means "You may as well kill me" in the

Akan language Akan (), or Twi-Fante, is the most populous language of Ghana, and the principal native language of the Akan people, spoken over much of the southern half of Ghana. About 80% of Ghana's population speak Akan as a first or second language, and ...

spoken by the majority of Akan people in

Reports

In the aftermath of the demonstration, some of the leading protestors -

Nana Akufo-Addo William Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ( ; born 29 March 1944) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the 13th president of Ghana from January 2017 to January 2025. He previously served as Attorney General of Ghana, Attorney General from 2001 to 20 ...

Charles Wereko-Brobby Charles Wereko-Brobby popularly known as Tarzan (born 27 March 1953) is a Ghanaian engineer, politician, diplomat and businessman in Ghana. He was once the chief executive officer of Ghana's Volta River Authority, then the country's major power ge ...

, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Akoto Ampaw and Napoleon Abdulai wrote a book "Ghana: The Kume Preko demonstrations: Poverty, Corruption and the Rawlings Dictatorship".

References

External links

* https://www.amazon.co.uk/GHANA-Demonstrations-Corruption-Rawlings-Dictatorship/dp/B0018LTSWQ

Etymology

Reports

References

External links

Further reading