Major Boakye-Djan Passes On

Former member of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Major Kojo Boakye-Djan (Rtd), has reportedly passed on. He was 81.

His nephew, by name Yiadom Boakye-Djan, who confirmed the sad news on Accra-based Adom FM yesterday, said the late Osahene Boakye-Djan died yesterday Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.

Mr. Yiadom Boakye-Djan said his uncle was recovering from an ailment until his sudden demise.

The late Maj. Boakye-Djan hails from Babianiha, near Drobo, in the Jaman South District in the Bono Region.

He was the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the Jaman South Constituency during the 2016 elections, where he lost to the incumbent MP, Yaw Afful, of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Not much was heard of him after the 2016 elections, as he moved to his base in Tema in the Greater Accra Region.

As at the time of filing this report, news of his death was yet to be communicated to his people back in his hometown.

According to a family source, the former Army chief had not visited his hometown for some years now.

His works are documented in two books – “A Call To Duty” and “Beyond Fear And Power: Osahene Boakye-Djan – Pioneer Journey From The Village To The City And Back.”

Profile

Major Kojo Boakye-Djan is a Ghanaian military officer and politician. He is known to have planned the coup that brought Flight-Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings to power in Ghana on 4th June 1979, with other junior officers.

Early Life

Boakye-Djan attended secondary school at Opoku Ware School for his ‘O’ Levels, his sixth form at the Achimota School. He was also the best man at the wedding of Rawlings and Nana Konadu Agyeman- Rawlings.

Military Career

He was with the Fifth Infantry Battalion, prior to the 4th June 1979 coup d’état, which replaced the Supreme Military Council government with the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council.

Politics

Boakye-Djan formed the Free Africa Movement, with some colleagues in the early 1970s, and they were planning to take power in the 1980s, as senior officers in the army.Their planning was still at an early stage and the 15th May 1979 abortive coup attempt by Flight-Lieutenant Rawlings forced them into initiating theirs, as some of them were being arrested on suspicion of plotting against the military government. It appears it was one of his members, Peter Tasiri, who actually initiated the coup on the day. There appeared to be a lot of confusion and no clear leadership during the coup events.

In 2003, he said that the main purpose was to save Rawlings, who was facing a possible death sentence for planning a coup in the previous month. During an interview, in 2017, he stated that he and Rawlings had grown apart and had not spoken to each other, since the end of the AFRC rule.

Post-AFRC

Boakye-Djan went to the United Kingdom, under a UNDP Fellowship, for postgraduate studies. This was at a time when the Limann government sent most of the former members of the AFRC abroad. Until his death, he was also affiliated with the National Democratic Congress.

Source: Anchorghana.com