Sister of the late former Prime Minister, Dr. Abrefa Busia, has revealed that her late brother was the first African lecturer as well as the first to occupy a chair at the University College of the Gold Coast, now called University of Ghana.
Ama Bame Busia during an interview with Citi TV’s ‘Footprint TV’ program said “He was a lecturer at Legon. The first African to become a professor in Legon.”
From 1969 to 1972, Dr. Abrefa Busia served as Ghana’s Prime Minister. He is credited with working to end military rule in Ghana and establish civilian governance.
He made significant advancements in education, which seems to have been his first love before he fully embraced politics.
Born in Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo Region in July 11, 1913, Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia received his basic education at the Methodist School in Wenchi, his secondary education at the Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast and then furthered to the Achimota College.
After this, he gained his first degree with Honours in Medieval and Modern History from the University of London and went on to study at the University College in Oxford as the first African student.
Though he returned to the Gold Coast after his first degree, he went back to achieve higher feats in Oxford.
In 1947, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Social Anthropology at the Nuffield College in Oxford – England and returned to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) to continue his teaching profession.
According to Ama Bame Busia, her older brother, Dr. Busia had to, at a point in his career, fled the country into exile because of political tensions in the country between him (as leader of then Ghana Congress Party which later became the United Party) against then President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
“This was during the time that political tension between Dr. Busia and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was at its height and Kwame Nkrumah wanted to arrest and detain Dr. Busia in July 1959 so he had to leave the country.
“The political tension was so high that they gave him an ultimatum either to stop teaching and do full-time politics or stop politics and do full-time teaching and he chose politics.
“He was compelled to leave the teaching field. He was teaching sociology,” she added.