''For the rapper with the same birth name, see

V.I.C. Victor Grimmy Owusu (born July 20, 1987), better known by his stage name V.I.C., is a retired American rapper. His single, " Get Silly", reached #29 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 2008. Early life V.I.C. was born Victor Grimmy Owusu in ...

'' Victor Owusu (26 December 1923 – 16 December 2000) 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 A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

. He has also served as

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and Justice minister as well as foreign minister on two occasions. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Third Republic from 1979 to 1981.

Early life

Owusu was born on 26 December 1923 in

Agona Agona is a small town in 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 Ghana–Ivo ...

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 ...

. Owusu was an economist who later trained as a lawyer. He was a prominent member of the National Liberation Movement which stood for the 1956 elections in 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 ...

prior to elections. During the First Republic, he was detained under the Preventive Detention Act (1958) by the

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. He was released after the 24 February 1966

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 ...

that brought in the military

National Liberation Council The National Liberation Council (NLC) led the Ghanaian government from 24 February 1966 to 1 October 1969. The body emerged from a ''coup d'état'' against the Nkrumah government carried out jointly by the Ghana Police Service and Ghana Armed For ...

(NLC) government. He was appointed Attorney General and Minister for Justice by the NLC.

Education

Victor Owusu attended Achimota School between 1937 and 1945. There, his contemporaries included K. B. Asante and

Joe Reindorf Joe Reindorf (1924 – 1996) was a Ghanaian historian, lawyer and politician. He served in the third republic as Attorney General and minister for Justice of Ghana. Early life and education Formerly a pupil of Achimota School, his contemporar ...

. He proceeded to 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 ...

in 1946 to study Economics at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

and later studied law at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He was called to the bar at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1952.

In Government

He was a member of the Progress Party that won the 1969 elections.

Kofi Abrefa Busia Kofi Abrefa Busia (born 11 July 1913 – 28 August 1978) was a Ghanaian political leader and academic who was Prime Minister of Ghana from 1969 to 1972. As a nationalist leader and prime minister, he helped to restore civilian government to the ...

appointed him

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

twice in the Second Republic. The first time was in 1969 and the second was between 1969 and 1971. On both occasions, he took over the portfolio from

Patrick Dankwa Anin Patrick Dankwa Anin (27 July 1928 – 24 October 1999) was a foreign minister of Ghana in the Second Republic. He died in 1999. He was the first foreign minister to be appointed in the Progress Party government by Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, the Pri ...

, who also served twice. The Second Republic came to an end with the 13 January 1972 coup led by General (then Colonel) I. K. Acheampong.

Leader of the opposition

Owusu was a founding member and leader of the

Popular Front Party The Popular Front Party (PFP) was the main opposition political party in Ghana during the Third Republic (1979-1981). In elections held on 18 June 1979, PFP presidential candidate Victor Owusu won 29.9% of the vote and the party won 42 of 140 sea ...

in the Third Republic. He was the runner-up to Dr.

Hilla Limann Hilla Limann, (12 December 1934 – 23 January 1998) was a Ghanaian diplomat and politician who served the President of Ghana from 24 September 1979 to 31 December 1981. He served as a diplomat in Lome, Togo and Geneva, Switzerland. Education ...

of the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) is a social-democratic political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in the House of Representatives, as 96 of the 227 local go ...

(PNP) in the

1979 Ghanaian presidential election General elections were held in Ghana on 18 June 1979, with a second round of the presidential election on 9 July 1979. The presidential election resulted in victory for Hilla Limann of the People's National Party, who received 62% of the votes in ...

s with 38% of the votes after the second round of voting. After the election, the PFP merged with other opposition parties to form the All People's Party (AFP) under Owusu's leadership. The AFP, along with other political parties, were banned after the 31 December 1981 coup by the

Provisional National Defence Council The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) was the name of the Ghanaian government after the People's National Party's elected government was overthrown by Jerry Rawlings, the former head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, in a co ...

led by Flt. Lt.

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 ...

Later life

From 1991 until his death, Victor Owusu lived in Putney,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He died in London on 16 December 2000. He was married to Agnes Owusu.

Trivia

John Kufuor John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor (born 8 December 1938) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the President of Ghana from 7 January 2001 to 7 January 2009. He was also Chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008. Kufuor's career has been spe ...

, president of Ghana, said he had practised as a junior in Victor Owusu's law firm. He was an uncle of Dr

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 ...

and a maternal half-brother to Kobina Annan, a retired diplomat who is also a paternal half-brother to

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owusu, Victor 1923 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Ghanaian lawyers Foreign ministers of Ghana Ghanaian Freemasons Ghanaian MPs 1956–1965 Ghanaian MPs 1969–1972 National Liberation Movement (Ghana) politicians Popular Front Party politicians Alumni of Achimota School Candidates for President of Ghana Attorneys General of Ghana People from Ashanti Region Ghanaian expatriates in the United Kingdom