William Ofori Atta (10 October 1910 – 14 July 1988), popularly called "Paa Willie", was a founding member of the

United Gold Coast Convention The United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was a political party founded in 1947 whose aim was to bring about Ghanaian independence from their British colonial masters after the Second World War. The United Gold Coast Convention appointed its leade ...

(UGCC) and one of the founding fathers 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 ...

, as one of "

The Big Six ''The Big Six'' is the ninth book of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books, published in 1940. The book returns Dick and Dorothea Callum, known as the Ds, to the Norfolk Broads where they renew their friendship with ...

" detained by the British colonial government in the then

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 ...

. He later became a

Minister for Foreign Affairs 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 ...

in Ghana's second republic between 1971 and 1972.

Early life

Nana William Ofori Atta was the son of

Nana Sir Ofori Atta I Nana Sir Ofori Atta I, KBE (11 October 1881 – 21 August 1943) was the Okyenhene or King of the Akyem people and of Akyem Abuakwa, a traditional kingdom that stretches back to the thirteenth century and was one of the most influential kingd ...

who was the Omanhene (''King'') of

Akyem Abuakwa Akyem Abuakwa is one of the four states of Akyem in 14th century Africa. Currently, it is part of Ghana. Historically, the Akyem were part of the Adansi Kingdom, which was the first nation to build buildings out of mud. They were therefore were ...

between 1912 and 1943. He was thus a nobleman of royal lineage of the Ofori-Atta dynasty, although the fact that the

Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan language, a language spoken by the Akan people *Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan * Central Tano languages, a language group ...

people (to which he belonged) are traditionally

matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...

meant that he was not a dynastic prince. William Ofori Atta 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 ...

, but was withdrawn to Achimota School where he was among the first batch of students to sit for the Cambridge School Certificate. Some of his school mates included

Komla Agbeli Gbedemah Komla Agbeli Gbedemah (17 June 1913 – 11 July 1998) was a Ghanaian politician and Minister for Finance in Ghana's Nkrumah government between 1954 and 1961. Known popularly as "Afro Gbede", he was an indigene of Anyako in the Volta Region of Gh ...

and

Edward Akufo-Addo Edward Akufo-Addo (26 June 1906 – 17 July 1979) was a Ghanaian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the " Big Six" leaders of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) and one of the founding fathers of Ghana who engaged in the fight for ...

. His batch of students also pioneered the intermediate degree programs. He was also the first ever school prefect of the School. This arrangements went on to form the nucleus of the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

. He attended Queens' College, University of Cambridge from 1935 to 1938. He became a lawyer in 1956. His sister was Susan Ofori-Atta, the first Ghanaian woman to become a physician.

Politics

William Ofori Atta was a founding member of the

after joining in 1947. He won one of the Akim Abuakwa seats during the 1951 Gold Coast election. He later became the leader of the United Party in opposition to Dr Kwame Nkrumah. Ofori Atta was detained by Nkrumah during the first republic under the Preventive Detention Act. During the second republic, he represented the people of Akwatia as a member of the 1st Parliament of the Second Republic, he was also the Minister for Education and then Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Progress Party government of Dr. Busia. He was an active member of the People's Movement for Freedom and Justice (PMFJ) which campaigned against the 'Union Government' concept by General I. K. Acheampong, then

Head of state of Ghana This is a list of the heads of state of Ghana, from the independence of Ghana in 1957 to the present day. From 1957 to 1960 the head of state under the Constitution of 1957 was the queen of Ghana, Elizabeth II, who was also the queen of the U ...

and Chairman of the Supreme Military Council (SMC). This was an attempt by the military regime to extend military rule instead of handing back power to civilians. After the fall of the SMC, he stood for president 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 ...

on the ticket of the United National Convention coming third with 17.41% of the popular vote. Eventually, he became chairman of the Council of State for the Third Republic.

Later life

William Ofori Atta became a devout Christian and played various roles in Christian circles. He was one of the founders of the Accra Chapel Trust, (now the Korle-Bu Community Chapel) an independent evangelical church at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

in 1967. Ofori Atta delivered the

J. B. Danquah Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah (18 December 1895 – 4 February 1965) was a Ghanaian politician, scholar, lawyer, and one of the founding fathers of Ghana. He played a significant role in pre- and post-colonial Ghana, which was former ...

Memorial Lectures organised by the

Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) is a learned society for the arts and sciences based in Accra, Ghana. The institution was founded in November 1959 by Kwame Nkrumah with the aim to promote the pursuit, advancement and dissemination ...

in 1985. His topic was – "Ghana, A Nation in Crisis". He died in 1988 and was given a state burial.

William Ofori-Atta Memorial Lectures

The William Ofori-Atta Memorial Lectures were instituted in his memory after his death.

Literature

Sawyer, Harry, ''William Ofori Atta'', Harry Sawyer, 1979 Ghana, a Nation in Crisis The vision of an independent State of Ghana

Notes

Publications

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ofori Atta, William 1910 births 1988 deaths Ghanaian MPs 1951–1954 Akan people Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Cambridge 20th-century Ghanaian lawyers Ghanaian MPs 1969–1972 Ghanaian Presbyterians Alumni of Achimota School Mfantsipim School alumni Culture ministers of Ghana Education ministers of Ghana Foreign ministers of Ghana Sports ministers of Ghana United Party (Ghana) politicians Progress Party (Ghana) politicians United National Convention politicians United Gold Coast Convention politicians Candidates for President of Ghana

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

University of Ghana alumni Ghanaian independence activists