Kutu Acheampong: The Leader We Misjudged Then, and Are Quietly Relearning From Now
By Kofi Sasraku | HotDigitalOnline
It was yesterday’s public lecture on General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong that reopened an old door many of us thought we had closed. Listening to scholars, former civil servants, and even young people debate his legacy reminded me of something I’ve sensed for years but rarely said aloud:
Ghana is slowly returning to several of Acheampong’s ideas — not emotionally, but practically.
And as the speakers dissected his policies, his flaws, and the circumstances of his fall, it became clear that the story of Acheampong is no longer just a chapter in a dusty history book. It is becoming a mirror reflecting what we misunderstood then, and what we are repeating now.
The Acheampong We Believed We Knew
Growing up, Acheampong was either a hero or a villain, depending on who was speaking. The lecture captured this perfectly: the man who championed self-reliance was also the man condemned for economic mismanagement; the leader who built houses was the same leader overthrown in anger; the nationalist who pushed local empowerment died without a fair trial.
But listening to yesterday’s presentations, you could feel a shift in a willingness to think beyond the slogans and judgments of 1979. For the first time in a long time, nuance had entered the room.
Acheampong wasn’t being canonised, but he was finally being understood.
Operation Feed Yourself: The Policy We Mocked but Now Embrace
One observer said something that stuck with me:
“When you strip away the slogans, Acheampong simply asked Ghanaians to feed themselves. Today we call it food security.”
It’s true.
The country laughed at “Operation Feed Yourself” in the 1970s — until we found ourselves battling the same food inflation, the same import dependence, the same foreign exchange pressures.
Today, when we push for local rice, promote backyard gardens, and encourage youth agribusiness, we are dusting off an idea we once dismissed.
Acheampong’s old message — Grow what you eat — has returned, disguised as modern policy.
Housing: His Most Enduring Achievement
Several speakers at the lecture highlighted something rarely mentioned in public: the durability of Acheampong’s housing estates. Many of the State Housing Corporation structures built during his time are still standing, still functioning, still housing thousands.
In a Ghana with a 1.8 million-unit housing deficit, the relevance is obvious.
Our current affordable housing initiatives from Pokuase to Koforidua to Asokore Mampong borrow heavily from his model: community layout planning, affordability, and state involvement.
We judged the man, but it’s his houses that have outlived the verdicts.
Economic Nationalism: The Idea That Refuses to Die
Acheampong’s economic nationalism, once criticised as isolationist, was framed at yesterday’s lecture as “a response to external vulnerability.” Today, as global shocks hit us from every direction, the country is rediscovering that instinct.
Some of his key beliefs have returned under new branding:
- import substitution
- local content protection
- industrialisation
- Made-in-Ghana campaigns
- support for domestic producers
Modern Ghana is essentially revisiting Acheampong’s thesis: economic independence strengthens political independence.
His delivery may have been flawed. His diagnosis was not.
Protecting the Cedi: Old Lessons for a New Crisis
One economist at the lecture joked, “If Acheampong were alive today, he’d simply ask us: how far with the cedi?”
Acheampong’s strict forex controls were condemned in his era, yet the cedi’s volatility has since forced Ghana to adopt modern variations of the same strategies.
Different language, different tools, same battle.
Sometimes history doesn’t repeat itself; it simply refuses to leave.
Civic Discipline and Community Life: The Acheampong We Forgot
The lecture also reminded us of the Ghana many older citizens remember: community clean-ups, orderly neighbourhoods, functioning sports centres, clear urban layouts. Acheampong strongly believed in civic responsibility, and, whatever his mistakes, the social order he tried to build was real.
Today, as sanitation struggles intensify and civic discipline collapses, even critics are quietly acknowledging that the 1970s had a certain social order we have not been able to restore.
The Tragedy of His Fall — And the Lessons We Now Accept
No lecture on Acheampong can avoid his execution. Yesterday, historians noted without drama that he did not receive due process. The AFRC tribunals were rushed, emotional, and politically charged.
You could sense the audience grappling with an uncomfortable idea:
We may have rushed to judgment.
We may have punished a man without thoroughly assessing his ideas.
And now, decades later, we are borrowing from the same ideas we buried with him.
The irony is hard to ignore.
Opinion: We Didn’t Understand Acheampong Then — But We’re Learning From Him Now
The renewed interest triggered by yesterday’s lecture shows that Ghana is entering a new phase of historical maturity. We are no longer treating past leaders as saints or demons. We are studying them to see what they got right and what they got wrong.
And with Acheampong, one truth is emerging:
He was a visionary with flaws, not a villain pretending to be a visionary.
We may criticise his methods, but we are borrowing his policies.
We may disagree with his politics, but we are embracing his solutions.
We may question his leadership, but we are learning from his blueprint.
Ghana is not returning to Acheampong the man.
Ghana is returning to the problems he tried to solve and accidentally rediscovering his answers.
History is catching up with us.
And in doing so, it is forcing us to reconsider a leader we thought we had already judged.
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