Background
D.C.K. Amenu was born on February 11, 1929, in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana.
D.C.K. Amenu was born on February 11, 1929, in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana.
He was educated at the Evangelical Presbyterian School at Peki Blengo in the Volta Region.
He finished middle school education in 1945 and joined the West African Frontier Force when he was 19 as an ordinary soldier. He worked his way through the ranks and became a warrant officer in 1951.
In 1954 he was selected for officer training at the Special Training School at Teshie and in 1955 went on to Eaton Hall, Chester, followed a year later by further training at the Support Weapons Wing School of Infantry at Warminster in 1960.
He was promoted fast in the army, doing a further course in 1967, at the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA.
He rose to Deputy Chief of Defence Staff in 1969, under General Addo and General Michael Otu. When he was "retired” by the Busia government, he remained Deputy to Major-General Addo. He held the post until June 1971 when he was shifted by the government of Dr. Busia to become head of the National Service Corps, a job which he did not relish.
As a general, he was not involved in the young officers’ coup of January 1972 and, like the other generals, is not a member of the National Redemption Council.
He has always had the reputation of having the best transport unit in the Ghana Army and this particular passion led to his appointment as Commissioner for Transport and Communications, a task he found much harder than keeping his army unit at 100% efficiency.