Daniel Ameyaw: The Man Who Claimed He Planned the Nkrumah Coup

Let me tell you about Mr. Daniel Ameyaw, a man largely forgotten in our history.

As news of the 1966 NLC coup which overthrew Dr. Kwame Nkrumah were reported, many Ghanaians abroad and in Ghana were jubilating. You could understand why there seemed to be a sense of joy among many people. Dr. Nkrumah had become increasingly unpopular, and amid the economic difficulties in the country, together with the introduction of increasingly authoritarian laws and restrictions, many Ghanaians clearly wanted change.

The jubilations in the UK, particularly among Ghanaian students, were interesting. But as the celebrations were going on, then came Mr. Daniel Ameyaw with a claim so bold that it would make headlines.

The coup makers, after successfully overthrowing Dr. Nkrumah, were widely celebrated as heroes. As stated earlier, Nkrumah had become increasingly unpopular and the coup was welcomed by large sections of the population. However, there was one lingering question: Was there external involvement in the coup, particularly from the United States?

A lot of people did not believe that the Ghanaian military and police could have pulled off the operation without some form of external support. This was partly because Nkrumah was thought to have had a very strong grip on the country.

I have seen and heard popular Nkrumaists such as Mr. Kwesi Pratt strongly link the United States to the overthrow of Nkrumah. But personally, I have never come across convincing evidence that shows that the United States actively planned or directed the coup. What the declassified American documents show is rather interesting. The United States clearly wanted Nkrumah weakened. Washington did not like his government, was deeply concerned about his relationship with the Soviet Union and other communist countries, and regarded him as increasingly hostile to Western interests.

More importantly, the Americans knew about the coup plot before it happened. In one 1965 U.S. memorandum, American National Security Council staff member Robert Komer wrote that “the plotters are keeping us briefed” and even remarked that the Americans were “more on the inside than the British.” But in the same document, he noted that the Americans were not directly involved. Other declassified documents show that American officials were monitoring the plot and were aware of discussions among some of the Ghanaian military and police officers involved.

The Americans clearly had an interest in seeing Nkrumah go. They clearly knew that something was being planned. But knowing about a coup and wanting a particular political outcome is not necessarily the same thing as planning the coup yourself.

Now, let's get back to Mr. Daniel Ameyaw.

While the coup makers were trying to distance themselves from the suggestion that an external power had put them up to the operation, Mr. Daniel Ameyaw, who appears to have been largely unknown at the time, granted an interview to a BBC journalist and made a claim so bold that it would put him directly on the radar of the new military government.

Mr. Daniel told them that he was the man behind the coup. He claimed that he had orchestrated events from London and that he was the one who gave the green light for the operation to commence in Ghana.

Now imagine making that claim just after a military government has taken power.

The NLC heard about it and, understandably, they were not happy.

I don't know exactly what made Mr. Daniel return to Ghana, or what kind of reception he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't one with red carpets and balloons.

At a time when there were already questions about whether the coup had received external assistance, here was a man claiming that he had personally orchestrated the whole thing from London. Mr. Daniel Ameyaw was picked up from the airport immediately he landed by security operatives and brought before the leadership of the NLC to be questioned about his alleged role in the coup.

In an early public appearances of the NLC, where General Ankrah introduced himself and his colleagues to the nation, Mr. Ameyaw was brought forward and asked to explain himself.

The surviving footage associated with the incident is fascinating.

Mr. Daniel, who in the BBC interview had reportedly appeared confident and charismatic, now looked visibly shaken. He was asked questions about how he had planned the coup and which of the coup makers he knew. Instead of giving the dramatic answers one might have expected from a man who had just claimed to be the mastermind of a military coup, he denied involvement. He appeared nervous. He struggled to give coherent answers. He was shouted at and questioned repeatedly. In today's Ghanaian pidgin, we would probably say: “Na he make really busy.”

And honestly, watching the footage today, you get a bit of second-hand embarrassment for our man Daniel.

The man who had allegedly presented himself as the mastermind of the operation in London now found himself standing before the very people he had claimed to have commanded. Whether he genuinely believed what he had told the BBC, was exaggerating his importance, was seeking publicity, or had some other reason for making the claim, we may never know.

What we do know is that the NLC had the opportunity to publicly challenge the claim that the coup had been orchestrated from outside Ghana.

After the public episode, very little was heard about Daniel Ameyaw again. I have not found sufficient reliable evidence to establish exactly what happened to him afterwards. Considering the political climate at the time, it will be fair to believe he was tortured till he died.

But did this episode prove that the United States had nothing to do with the coup?

Not really. It certainly did not prove that the United States was behind the coup either.

The Daniel Ameyaw episode simply showed that the NLC was very keen to establish that the Ghanaian military and police officers who carried out the coup were not acting on the instructions of some external power. And despite that, the question of American involvement has never completely disappeared. Till today, there are many Nkrumaists who firmly believe that the United States was actively involved in the overthrow of Nkrumah.

My conclusion is that the United States had a clear interest in seeing Nkrumah removed, had advance knowledge of the coup plotting and welcomed the result, but the available declassified documents do not establish that the Americans planned or directed the coup.

The coup makers themselves appear to have taken advantage of a political environment that had become increasingly favourable to an overthrow.

Could the coup have succeeded without the knowledge of the Americans? That is a different question.

Could the Americans have done more behind the scenes than the documents currently available reveal? That is also a question history may continue to debate.

But based on the evidence available to us today, I don't think we can honestly say that “the Americans overthrew Nkrumah.”

And as for Mr. Daniel Ameyaw?

Well, our man certainly knew how to make an entrance.

He went from allegedly telling the BBC that he was the mastermind of one of Africa's most consequential coups to standing nervously before the very men he claimed to have directed.

Whatever his real motivation was, history has almost completely forgotten him.