Reginald Reynolds Amponsah (30 December 1919 – 3 June 2009) was a Ghanaian potter and politician of the first Parliament of the Second Republic representing the Mampong North constituency in the Ashanti region of

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 ...

. He was a

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

in the Busia government.

Education

Amponsah completed his secondary education at the

Achimota School 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 school wa ...

in 1942. He was the school prefect for his year. Among his mates there were

Victor Owusu ''For the rapper with the same birth name, see V.I.C.'' Victor Owusu (26 December 1923 – 16 December 2000) was a Ghanaian politician and lawyer. He has also served as Attorney General and Justice minister as well as foreign minister on two occa ...

, K. B. Asante, and Silas Dodu. He was awarded a scholarship to study pottery at

Stoke on Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Politics

First republic

Amponsah was in opposition with the United Party in the first republic.

Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

, he was accused of plotting to overthrow the

Convention People's Party The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a Socialism, 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 Conven ...

government along with Victor Owusu, Apaloo,

William Ofori Atta William Ofori Atta (10 October 1910 – 14 July 1988), popularly called "Paa Willie", was a founding member of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) and one of the founding fathers of Ghana, as one of "The Big Six" detained by the British col ...

, Dzenkle Dzewu

Joe Appiah Joseph Emmanuel Appiah, MP ( ; 16 November, 1918 – 8 July, 1990)Eric Pace"Joe Appiah Is Dead; Ghanaian Politician And Ex-Envoy, 71" ''New York Times'', July 12, 1990. was a Ghanaian lawyer, politician and statesman. Biography He was born in K ...

and Major Awhaitey. During a

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

interview, he said about his arrest in 1958 that A British police officer came to me and said “you are under arrest", "He pulled a gun and said “come at once or I will blow your head off." Amponsah was jailed without trial under the Preventive Detention Act. He stayed there from 1958 until the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

of 24 February 1966 which brought down the

Second republic

Amponsah was appointed by Kofi Abrefa Busia as Minister for Lands, Mineral Resources, Forestry and Wildlife in his Progress Party

. He was later appointed Education minister and initiated the process for reforms in basic education in Ghana.

Fourth republic

During the fourth republic, he was the Chairman of the Council of Elders of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). He was influential in uniting various factions within the NPP leading up to the 2008 presidential and

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

elections.

Other activities

Amponsah was chairman of the now-defunct

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 in the 1960s.

Personal life

Amponsah was born at Daaman near Asante Mampong in the Sekyere West District of the

Ashanti Region The Ashanti Region is located in southern part of Ghana and it is the third largest of 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of or 10.2 percent of the total land area of Ghana. In terms of population, however, it is the mo ...

of Ghana. He was married with four children. He was buried on 3 September 2009 at Adudwan, also near Asante Mampong.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amponsah, Reginald Reynolds 1919 births 2009 deaths Ghanaian MPs 1969–1972 Alumni of Achimota School Government ministers of Ghana United Party (Ghana) politicians New Patriotic Party politicians Politicians from Ashanti Region Ghanaian civil servants Progress Party (Ghana) politicians African potters 20th-century Ghanaian politicians Leaders of organizations