Kow Nkensen Arkaah

Ekow Nkensen Arkaah (July 14, 1927 – April 25, 2001) was a Ghanaian politician who was Vice President of Ghana from 1993 to 1997. He was also a chief of Senya Breku.

Early life

Ekow Arkaah was born on July 14, 1927 at Senya Breku in the Central Region of the Gold Coast (now Ghana).^[1] He attended Mfantsipim School between 1941 and 1946, then Achimota School.^[1] He proceeded to the United States of America where he obtained his first degree at Tufts College after which he attended Harvard University for an MBA between 1952 and 1954.^[1]

Career

Arkaah was an Assistant Sales Manager of Secony Oil Corporation of New York City. He later returned to his homeland. From 1954 to 1957, Arkaah worked as a Marketing Executive of the Mobil Oil Ghana Limited. For the next ten years up to 1968, Mr. Arkaah worked with the civil service, rising to become Principal Secretary between 1966 and 1968.^[1] Arkaah was also the head of the Ghana National Trading Corporation (GNTC), a huge national trading franchise at the time, the Ghana Airways Airline and the Ghana National Procurement Agency.^[1] He has also worked as a consultant in the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Yugoslavia and Ethiopia.

Politics

Arkaah became the leader of the National Convention Party (NCP) prior to the 1992 presidential elections. His party formed an alliance with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of Jerry Rawlings and Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere (EGLE). As part of the deal, Ekow Arkaah got to be the Vice Presidential candidate on Rawlings' ticket. Rawlings and Arkaah had a difficult working relationship throughout their four-year term. The highpoint was an alleged punch up between Rawlings and Arkaah at a cabinet meeting on December 28, 1995.^[2][3] Jerry Rawlings at least alluded that there had been some form of misunderstanding.^[4] Arkaah styled himself the "stubborn cat" after that incident.^[1]

Arkaah became the leader of the Convention People's Party formed by the merger of the NCP and the People's Convention Party. The merger was announced on January 29, 1996.^[5] Arkaah, who continued as Vice President of Ghana, stood as a candidate in the 1996 presidential elections and lost. He was replaced in the Rawlings government by Professor John Atta Mills, a law lecturer, as Rawlings' deputy.

Death

Arkaah was involved in a road traffic accident at Cantonments in Accra. He died of his injuries in Atlanta in the United States on April 25, 2001.^[1]

References