Kow Nkensen Arkaah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kow Nkensen Arkaah
1st Vice President of Ghana (4th Republic)
In office January 7, 1993 – January 7, 1997
President	Jerry John Rawlings
Preceded by	New position
Succeeded by	John Atta Mills
Born	July 14, 1927 Senya Breku, Ghana
Died	April 25, 2001 (aged 73) Atlanta, USA
Political party	National Convention Party
Spouse	Marian Arkaah
Profession	Marketing Executive Civil Servant
Religion	Christian

Kow Nkensen Arkaah (July 14, 1927 – April 25, 2001), the "stubborn cat," was a Ghanaian politician and former Vice President of Ghana during the Fourth Republic. He was also a chief of Senya Breku.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Politics 4 Death 5 References

[edit] Early life

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

[edit] Career

Arkaah worked as an Assistant Sales Manager of Secony Oil Corporation of New York. He later returned to Ghana. 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 now defunct 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.

[edit] Politics

Arkaah became the leader of the National Convention Party (NCP) prior to the 1992 Ghanaian 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, Kow 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 against his own government in the 1996 Ghanaian presidential elections and lost. He was replaced in the Rawlings government by Professor John Atta Mills, a law lecturer, as Rawlings' deputy.

[edit] Death

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

[edit] References

Political offices
Preceded by Fourth Republic established	Vice President of Ghana 1993 – 1997	Succeeded by John Atta Mills
Party political offices
New title	Leader of National Convention Party 1992 – 1996	Merger with People's Convention Party to form the Convention People's Party1
New title	Leader of the Convention People's Party 1996 – ?	Succeeded by George Hagan
Notes and references
1. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=494

v • d • e Vice-Presidents of Ghana Johnson • post vacant, 1981-93 • Arkaah • Atta-Mills • Mahama