Kow Nkensen Arkaah (14 July 1927 – 25 April 2001) was a

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian politician who was

Vice-President of Ghana The vice-president of Ghana is the second-highest officer in the Government of Ghana. The vice-president, together with the President of Ghana, is directly elected by the people through popular vote to serve a four-year term in office. The vice- ...

from 1993 to 1997. He was also a chief of Senya Breku.

Early life

Kow Arkaah was born on 14 July 1927 at Senya Breku in the Central Region of the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

(now Ghana). He attended

Mfantsipim School Mfantsipim is an all-boys boarding secondary school in Cape Coast, Ghana, established by the Methodist Church in 1876 to foster intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth on the then Gold Coast. Its founding name was Wesleyan High School and ...

between 1941 and 1946, then

Achimota College Achimota School ( /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. The schoo ...

. He proceeded to the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, where he obtained his first degree at

Tufts College Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, after which he attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

for an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

between 1952 and 1954.

Career

Arkaah was an Assistant Sales Manager of Secony Oil Corporation of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He later returned to his homeland. From 1954 to 1957, Arkaah worked as a Marketing Executive of

Mobil Oil Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

Ghana Limited. For the next 10 years up to 1968, Arkaah worked with the civil service, rising to become Principal Secretary between 1966 and 1968. He was head of the Ghana National Trading Corporation (GNTC), a huge national trading franchise at the time, the

Ghana Airways Ghana Airways Limited was the flag carrier of Ghana, with its main base of operation and hub at Kotoka International Airport in Accra. The airline ceased operations in 2004, although plans were discussed to revive it in 2020 in partnership wit ...

airline and the Ghana National Procurement Agency. During 1965, he was the Chief Commercial Officer for foreign trade. He has also worked as a consultant in the Gambia,

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

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 Jerry John Rawlings (22 June 194712 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer and politician who led the country for a brief period in 1979, and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the de ...

, and

Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere The Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere (EGLE) is an inactive political party in terms of elections in Ghana. It has not contested any elections since the 2004 Ghanaian general election. According to Ghanaian law, political parties must have a pres ...

(EGLE). As part of the deal, Arkaah became the Vice-Presidential candidate on Rawlings' ticket. Rawlings and Arkaah had a difficult working relationship throughout their four-year term. The high point was an alleged punch-up between them at a cabinet meeting on 28 December 1995. Rawlings alluded that there had been some form of misunderstanding. Arkaah styled himself the "stubborn cat" after that incident. Arkaah became the leader of the

Convention People's Party The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a socialist political party in Ghana based on the ideas of the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. The CPP was formed in June 1949 after Nkrumah broke away from the United Gold Coast Convention (UG ...

formed by the merger of the NCP and the

People's Convention Party The People's Convention Party is a former political party in Ghana. It merged with the National Convention Party in 1996 and became the reformed Convention People's Party The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a socialist political party i ...

. The merger was announced on 29 January 1996. 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 This is a listing of the ministers who served in Jerry Rawlings's National Democratic Congress government during the Fourth Republic of Ghana. This started on January 7, 1993, after 11 years of military rule by Rawlings. He retired from the Ghana ...

by Professor

John Atta Mills John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (21 July 1944 – 24 July 2012) was a Ghanaian politician and legal scholar who served as President of Ghana from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, having defeated the governing party ...

, a law lecturer, as Rawlings' deputy.

Death

Arkaah was involved in a road traffic accident at Cantonments, Accra. He died of his injuries in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

in the United States on 25 April 2001.

References

¹ {{DEFAULTSORT:Arkaah, Ekow Nkensen 1927 births 2001 deaths Ghanaian MPs 1979–1981 Vice-presidents of Ghana Alumni of Achimota School Mfantsipim School alumni Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard Business School alumni ExxonMobil people National Convention Party (Ghana) politicians Convention People's Party (Ghana) politicians Ghanaian expatriates in the United States Fante people Ghanaian Methodists