Kow Nkensen Arkaah

Infobox_President | name=Kow Nkensen Arkaah


imagesize =
caption =
order = 1st Vice President of Ghana
(4th Republic)
term_start = January 7, 1993
term_end = January 7, 1997
vicepresident =
viceprimeminister=
deputy =
president = Jerry John Rawlings
primeminister =
predecessor = "New position"
successor = John Atta Mills
birth_date = July 14, 1927
birth_place = Senya Breku, Ghana
death_date = death date and age|2001|4|25|1927|7|14
death_place = Atlanta, USA
constituency =
party = National Convention Party
spouse = Marian Arkaah
profession = Marketing Executive
Civil Servant
religion = Christian


footnotes =|

Kow Nkensen Arkaah (July 14, 1927 – April 25, 2001), the "stubborn cat," was a Ghanaian politician and former Vice President of Ghana during the Fourth Republic. He was also a chief of Senya Breku.

Early life

Kow Arkaah was born on July 14, 1927 at Senya Breku in the Central Region of Ghana.cite news |url=http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=14895 |title=Former Vice President Arkaah is Dead |accessdate=2007-04-17 |date=26 April 2001 |work=General News of Thursday, 26 April 2001 |publisher=Ghana Home Page] He attended Mfantsipim School between 1941 and 1946, then the Achimota College, the predecessor of the University of Ghana. He proceeded to the United States of America where he obtained his first degree at Tufts College. He then attended Harvard University where he obtained an MBA between 1952 and 1954.

Career

Arkaah worked as an Assistant Sales Manager of Secony Oil Corporation of New York. He later returned to Ghana. From 1954 to 1957, Arkaah worked as a Marketing Executive of the Mobil Oil Ghana Limited. For the next ten years up to 1968, Mr. Arkaah worked with the civil service, rising to become Principal Secretary between 1966 and 1968. Arkaah was also the head of the Ghana National Trading Corporation (GNTC), a huge national trading franchise at the time, the now defunct Ghana Airways Airline and the Ghana National Procurement Agency. He has also worked as a consultant in the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Yugoslavia and Ethiopia.

Politics

Arkaah became the leader of the National Convention Party (NCP) prior to the 1992 Ghanaian presidential elections. His party formed an alliance with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of Jerry Rawlings and Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere (EGLE). As part of the deal, Kow Arkaah got to be the Vice Presidential candidate on Rawlings' ticket.Rawlings and Arkaah had a difficult working relationship throughout their four year term. The highpoint was an alleged punch up between Rawlings and Arkaah at a cabinet meeting on December 28, 1995. [cite news |url=http://www.newsrunner.com/archive/NW030196.HTM |title=GET OUT...BASTARD!! DR. RAWLINGS' FIST OF FURY - LEGAL REMEDY? 'WABORONO FREE' |accessdate=2007-04-16 |date=3 January 1996 |last=Coomson |first=Kofi |work=News Back-Issue |publisher=Ghanaian Newsrunner] [cite news| url=http://www.newsrunner.com/archive/NW030196.HTM |title=.........WHAT ARKAAH TOLD THE PRESS AFTER HE WAS MAULED |accessdate=2007-04-16 |date=3 January 1996 |work=News Back-Issue |publisher=Ghanaian Newsrunner] Jerry Rawlings at least alluded that there had been some form of misunderstanding. [cite news|url=http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=473 |title= "I MUST ADMIT THAT I AM NOT THE BEST OF DIPLOMATS " -JJ |accessdate=2007-04-16 |work=General News of Saturday, 27 January 1996 |publisher=Ghana Home Page] Arkaah styled himself the "stubborn cat" after that incident.

Arkaah became the leader of the Convention People's Party formed by the merger of the NCP and the People's Convention Party. The merger was announced on January 29, 1996. [cite news |url=http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=494 |title=Arkaah says he can work with Rawlings despite |accessdate=2007-04-17 |work=General News of Thursday, 1 February 1996 |publisher=Ghana Home Page] Arkaah, who continued as Vice President of Ghana, stood against his own government in the 1996 Ghanaian presidential elections and lost. He was replaced in the Rawlings government by Professor John Atta Mills, a law lecturer, as Rawlings' deputy.

Death

Arkaah was involved in a road traffic accident at Cantonments in Accra. He died in the Atlanta, USA on April 25, 2001, from his injuries.

References

s-non|reason=Merger with People's Convention Party to form the Convention People's Party¹