Background
He was born on 17 June 1916 in Adjeikrom, in the Eastern Region of Ghana (then the Gold Coast), to Samuel Adjei who was a farmer and trader, and Mistress Johanna Okaile Adjei.
He was born on 17 June 1916 in Adjeikrom, in the Eastern Region of Ghana (then the Gold Coast), to Samuel Adjei who was a farmer and trader, and Mistress Johanna Okaile Adjei.
Lincoln University.
Ako-Adjei is considered to be one of the "Big Six", who were arguably some of the most famous people in Ghana"s fight for independence from British rule. In December, 1936 he was one of the candidates presented by the Accra Academy for the University of Cambridge Senior School Leaving Certificate Examination. Among the candidates presented by Accra Academy who passed the exam, only two obtained exemption from the University of London Matriculation Examination.
One of these two students was Ako-Adjei.
From June 1937 to December 1938 he was a Second Division Clerk in the Gold Coast Civil Service. He was assigned to assist Harold Cooper, a European Assistant Colonial Secretary, and J. East. South. de Graft-Hayford to organise and establish the Gold Coast Broadcasting Service.
These were the beginnings of what is now the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. In December 1938 he resigned from the Gold Coast Civil Service to travel to the United States of America to attend Lincoln University, Pennsylvania.
At Lincoln University he was housed at Houston Hall.
He registered for courses in Political Science, Economics, Sociology, English, Latin and Philosophy. Together with a group of students they often had long heated discussions (known as Bulletin Sessions) about the emancipation of African countries from colonial domination. Among the African students who regularly took part in these discussions were Ako Adjei, Mr.
Nkrumah, Ozuomba Mbadiwe, Nwafor Orizu and Mr.
Okechukwu Ikejiani. He was instrumental in introducing Doctor Kwame Nkrumah to the political scene in Ghana and Nkrumah later became the first president of Ghana. However, in 1962 President Nkrumah had him imprisoned.
On the eve of his release from the Nsawam Prison in 1966, Ako-Adjei completely forswore politics. He spent the remainder of his long life in relative obscurity.
Ako-Adjei died in Accra on 14 January 2002.
1962 - Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Lincoln University, United States of America
The Ako Adjei Interchange in Accra, which used to be Sankara Interchange, was renamed after him. There is also an Ako-Adjei Park in Osu, Accra. "Ghana is our country.
We have nowhere to go.
This is where God has placed us and the earlier we realized this the better for all of us.".
He was also a founding member of the United Gold Coast Convention, the political party that initially spearheaded the surge for independence.
Quotations: "Ghana is our country. We have nowhere to go. This is where God has placed us and the earlier we realized this the better for all of us.".
