H. H. Cofie-Crabbe

Hugh Horatio Cofie-Crabbe was a Ghanaian politician who is notable as being detained with two cabinet ministers for the Kulungugu bomb attempt on the life of Ghana's political leader Kwame Nkrumah in 1962.[2][3][4] At the time of being detained, he was the executive secretary of Nkrumah's Convention People's Party and a widely known party functionary.[5]

Hugh Horatio Cofie-Crabbe
Executive Secretary of the Convention People's Party
In office
1 May 1961 – 29 August 1962
LeaderKwame Nkrumah
Preceded byNew position
Succeeded byNathaniel Welbeck[1]
Personal details
BornGhana
EducationAccra Academy
ProfessionCouncillor,
Politician

Early life

H. H. Cofie-Crabbe was a foundation student of Accra Academy. He had his secondary education there from 1931 to 1936.[6][7]

Career

Cofie-Crabbe was a member of the Accra Municipal Council. In April 1957, he lost his position on the council when it was suspended by the central government.[8][9] He worked also as a sales assistant to a local trader.[10]

Cofie-Crabbe became the Senior District Commissioner of Accra before being employed as administrative secretary at the Convention's People's Party headquarters.[10] He was appointed executive secretary of the Convention People's Party on 1 May 1961, the same day Nkrumah assumed office as the general secretary of the party. As executive secretary of the CPP, he enjoyed the status of a minister. He accompanied Nkrumah on foreign trips.

Cofie-Crabbe also served on the first school board of the Nungua Secondary School (now Nungua Senior High School) from 1960 to 1962.[11]

Kulungugu Trial

On 29th August, 1962, he was placed in police detention together with two government ministers Tawia Adamafio and Ako Adjei and dismissed from his post at the CPP headquarters.[12] He was charged in connection to the grenade attack on Kwame Nkrumah, the then president of Ghana in Kulungugu.[4] He was trialed before a judge panel presided on by the chief justice Arku Korsah. His lawyers at the trial were Bernard da Rocha and Edward Moore.[13] He was testified against by the party treasurer, A. Y. K. Djin. He was found not guilty by the judges but the decision of the judges were dissatisfying to Nkrumah who had him returned to detention cells with the removal of the judges. A new panel was reconstituted to hear the case and he was sentenced as guilty with a death sentence.

In February 1965, Nkrumah commuted the sentence of the three accused for the bomb attempt to a 20-year prison term. On 13 May 1966, his 20 years sentence was voided by an NLC decree signed by General Joseph Ankrah.[14]

References
  1. Matteo Grilli (6 August 2018). Nkrumaism and African Nationalism: Ghana's Pan-African Foreign Policy in the Age of Decolonization. p. 112. ISBN 9783319913254. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  2. "Ghana: Dealing with Enemies". time.com. 26 April 1963. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  3. "1962 Ghanaian Leader Arrests Three". The New York Times. 29 August 1962. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  4. Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts, Issues 170-171. United States Central Intelligence Agency. 1962. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  5. "Ghana: Who Will Save the Redeemer?". time.com. 7 September 1962. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  6. Programme for the Official Opening of the New School Building at the Accra-Winneba Road on 3 February 1962. Accra Academy. 1962. p. 6.
  7. Simon Ontoyin. Accra Aca Bleoo: The History of the Accra Academy from James Town to Bubiashie. Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2021. p. 133.
  8. "Correct list of those who owed". The Daily Graphic. 25 April 1957. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  9. "AMC: Councillors Petition P.M." The Daily Graphic. 18 April 1957. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  10. Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts, Issues 172-173. United States Central Intelligence Agency. 1962. p. 16. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  11. "About Us -Nungua Senior High School". nunsec.com. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  12. Bharat Year Book. Malhotra Brothers, 1961. 1961. p. 13. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  13. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (30 April 2010). "A Colossus Remembered; A tribute to BJ da Rocha". The Daily Graphic. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  14. West Africa. West Africa Publishing Company, Limited, 1966. 1966. p. 578.
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