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List of heads of state of Ghana

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This is a list of the heads of state of Ghana, from the independence of Ghana in 1957 to the present day.

From 1957 to 1960 the head of state under the Constitution of 1957 was the queen of Ghana, Elizabeth II, who was also the monarch of other Commonwealth realms. The monarch was represented in Ghana by a governor-general. Ghana became a republic within the Commonwealth under the Constitution of 1960 and the monarch and governor-general were replaced by an executive president.

Monarch (1957–1960)

The succession to the throne was the same as the succession to the British throne.

No.	Portrait	Name
(Birth–Death)	Reign	Royal House	Prime minister	Reign start	Reign end	Duration	1
[[File:Queen Elizabeth II official portrait for 1959 tour (retouched) (3x4 close cropped).jpg	90px]]	Queen Elizabeth II
(1926–2022)	6 March 1957	1 July 1960		Windsor	Nkrumah

Governor-general

The governor-general was the representative of the monarch in Ghana and exercised most of the powers of the monarch. The governor-general was appointed for an indefinite term, serving at the pleasure of the monarch. Since Ghana was granted independence by the Ghana Independence Act 1957, rather than being first established as a semi-autonomous Dominion and later promoted to independence by the Statute of Westminster 1931, the governor-general was to be always appointed solely on the advice of the Cabinet of Ghana without the involvement of the British government, with the sole exception of Charles Arden-Clarke, the former colonial governor, who served as governor-general temporarily until he was replaced by William Hare. In the event of a vacancy the chief justice served as officer administering the government.

;Status

No.	Portrait	Name
(Birth–Death)	Term of office	Monarch	Prime minister	Took office	Left office	Time in office	1	2
[[File:The National Archives UK - CO 1069-43-9 - crop.jpg	90px]]	Sir Charles Arden-Clarke
(1898–1962)	6 March 1957	14 May 1957		Elizabeth II	Nkrumah
—	[[File:Sir-Kobina-Arku-Korsah.jpg	90px]]	Sir Kobina Arku Korsah
(1894–1967)	14 May 1957	13 November 1957
[[File:No image.png	90px]]	William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel
(1906–1997)	13 November 1957	1 July 1960

Republic (1960–present)

;Political parties

;Other factions

;Status

;Symbols Constitutional referendum

Died in office

First Republic (1960–1966)

Under the Constitution of 1960, the first constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the president replaced the monarch as executive head of state. The president was elected by Parliament for a 5-year term. In the event of a vacancy three members of the Cabinet served jointly as acting president.

No.	Portrait	Name
(Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office	Political party	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Convention People's Party}}; color:white;"	1
[[File:Kwame Nkrumah (JFKWHP-AR6409-A).jpg	90px]]	Kwame Nkrumah
(1909–1972)	1960
1 July 1960	24 February 1966
(Deposed in a coup)		CPP

Military rule (1966–1969)

Lieutenant-General Joseph Arthur Ankrah led a coup d'état which overthrew President Nkrumah and his government, all political parties and Parliament were also dissolved.

No.	Portrait	Name
(Birth–Death)	Term of office	Political party	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Military rule}}; color:black;"	2	Military rule}}; color:black;"	3
[[File:Joseph Arthur Ankrah in America (cropped).jpg	90px]]	Lieutenant-General Joseph Arthur Ankrah
(1915–1992)
Chairman of the NLC	24 February 1966	2 April 1969
(Resigned)		Military
[[File:No image.png	90px]]	Brigadier Akwasi Afrifa
(1936–1979)
Chairman of the NLC	2 April 1969	3 September 1969

Second Republic (1969–1972)

No.	Portrait	Name
(Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office	Political party	Prime minister	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Military rule}}; color:black;"	(3)	Independent politician}}; color:black;"	—	Independent politician}}; color:black;"	4
[[File:No image.png	90px]]	Brigadier Akwasi Afrifa
(1936–1979)
Chairman of the Presidential Commission	—	3 September 1969	7 August 1970		Military	Busia
[[File:No image.png	90px]]	Nii Amaa Ollennu
(1906–1986)	—	7 August 1970	31 August 1970		Independent
[[File:No image.png	90px]]	Edward Akufo-Addo
(1906–1979)	—	31 August 1970	13 January 1972
(Deposed in a coup)		Independent

Military rule (1972–1979)

General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led a coup d'état which overthrew President Akufo-Addo, Prime Minister Abrefa Busia and his government, all political parties, and Parliament were also dissolved.

Lieutenant General Fred Akuffo led a palace coup which overthrew General Acheampong, then Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings led a coup d'état which overthrew the Supreme Military Council.

No.	Portrait	Name
(Birth–Death)	Term of office	Political party	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Military rule}}; color:black;"	5	Military rule}}; color:black;"	6	Military rule}}; color:black;"	7
[[File:Ignatius Kutu Acheampong illustration.png	90px]]	General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong
(1931–1979)
Chairman of the NRC	13 January 1972	5 July 1978
(Deposed in a coup)		Military
Chairman of the SMC
from 9 October 1975
[[File:Fred Akuffo illustration.png	90px]]	Lieutenant-General Fred Akuffo
(1937–1979)
Chairman of the SMC	5 July 1978	4 June 1979
(Deposed in a coup)
[[File:Fmr Prez. Rawlings (cropped).jpg	90px]]	Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings
(1947–2020)
Chairman of the AFRC	4 June 1979	24 September 1979

Third Republic (1979–1981)

Under the Constitution of 1979 the president was head of both state and government. The president was directly elected and served a four-year term that expired at the next general election; a president might serve a maximum of two terms. In the event of a vacancy the vice-president served as acting president.

No.	Portrait	Name
(Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office	Political party	Took office	Left office	Time in office	People's National Party (Ghana)}}; color:white;"	8
[[File:Hilla Limann.jpg	90px]]	Hilla Limann
(1934–1998)	1979	24 September 1979	31 December 1981
(Deposed in a coup)		PNP

Military rule (1981–1993)

Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings led a coup d'état which overthrew President Limann and his government, all political parties and Parliament were also dissolved.

No.	Portrait	Name
(Birth–Death)	Term of office	Political party	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Military rule}}; color:black;"	9
[[File:JJ Rawlings in Brussels 1998 (P002554000101, cropped).jpg	90px]]	Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings
(1947–2020)
Chairman of the PNDC	31 December 1981	7 January 1993		Military

Fourth Republic (1993–present)

Under the current Constitution the president is head of both state and government. The president is directly elected and serves a four-year term that expires at the next general election; a president may serve a maximum of two terms. In the event of a vacancy, the vice president serves the remaining time as the president.

No.	Portrait	Name
(Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office	Political party	Took office	Left office	Time in office	National Democratic Congress (Ghana)}}; color:white;"	(9)	New Patriotic Party}}; color:white;"	10	National Democratic Congress (Ghana)}}; color:white;"	11	National Democratic Congress (Ghana)}}; color:white;"	12	New Patriotic Party}}; color:white;"	13	National Democratic Congress (Ghana)}}; color:white;"	14
[[File:Jerry Rawlings visits AMISOM 02 (6874167713) (cropped).jpg	90px]]	Jerry Rawlings
(1947–2020)	1992
1996	7 January 1993	7 January 2001	years	NDC
[[File:John Kufuor 080915-A-8817J-090.JPG	90px]]	John Kufuor
(born 1938)	2000
2004	7 January 2001	7 January 2009	years	NPP
[[File:John Atta Mills (cropped) (2).jpg	90px]]	John Atta Mills
(1944–2012)	2008	7 January 2009	24 July 2012		NDC
[[File:John Dramani Mahama 2014 (cropped).jpg	90px]]	John Mahama
(born 1958)	2012	24 July 2012	7 January 2017		NDC
[[File:Nana Akufo Addo, Jan. 2020.jpg	90px]]	Nana Akufo-Addo
(born 1944)	2016
2020	7 January 2017	7 January 2025	years	NPP
[[File:John Dramani Mahama Nov2016 (cropped).jpg	90px]]	John Mahama
(born 1958)	2024	7 January 2025	Incumbent		NDC

Timeline since 1960

ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:21 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:120 left:20 AlignBars = late

Define $today =

Colors = id:ind value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8) legend:None_(Independent) id:mil value:rgb(0.76,0.69,0.57) legend:Military id:cpp value:rgb(0.81,0.07,0.15) legend:Convention_People's_Party id:pnp value:rgb(0.89,0.2,0.18) legend:People's_National_Party id:ndc value:rgb(0.04,0.39,0.21) legend:National_Democratic_Congress id:npp value:rgb(0.04,0.18,0.48) legend:New_Patriotic_Party

id:gray1 value:gray(0.85) id:gray2 value:gray(0.95)

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1960 till:31/12/ TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gray1 unit:year increment:5 start:1960 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gray2 unit:year increment:1 start:1960

Legend = columns:1 left:150 top:35 columnwidth:170

TextData = pos:(20,38) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:"Political party:"

BarData = bar:Nkrumah bar:Ankrah bar:Afrifa bar:Ollennu bar:EdwardAkufo-Addo bar:Acheampong bar:Akuffo bar:Rawlings bar:Limann bar:Kufuor bar:Mills bar:Mahama bar:NanaAkufo-Addo

PlotData = width:5 align:left fontsize:9 shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:Nkrumah from: 01/07/1960 till: 24/02/1966 color:cpp text:"Kwame Nkrumah" bar:Ankrah from: 24/02/1966 till: 02/04/1969 color:mil text:"Joseph Arthur Ankrah" bar:Afrifa from: 02/04/1969 till: 07/08/1970 color:mil text:"Akwasi Afrifa" bar:Ollennu from: 07/08/1970 till: 31/08/1970 color:ind text:"Nii Amaa Ollennu (acting)" bar:EdwardAkufo-Addo from: 31/08/1970 till: 13/01/1972 color:ind text:"Edward Akufo-Addo" bar:Acheampong from: 13/01/1972 till: 05/07/1978 color:mil text:"Ignatius Kutu Acheampong" bar:Akuffo from: 05/07/1978 till: 04/06/1979 color:mil text:"Fred Akuffo" bar:Rawlings from: 04/06/1979 till: 24/09/1979 color:mil from: 31/12/1981 till: 28/07/1992 color:mil from: 28/07/1992 till: 07/01/2001 color:ndc text:"Jerry Rawlings" bar:Limann from: 24/09/1979 till: 31/12/1981 color:pnp text:"Hilla Limann" bar:Kufuor from: 07/01/2001 till: 07/01/2009 color:npp text:"John Kufuor" bar:Mills from: 07/01/2009 till: 24/07/2012 color:ndc text:"John Atta Mills" bar:Mahama from: 24/07/2012 till: 07/01/2017 color:ndc from: 07/01/2025 till: $today color:ndc text:"John Mahama" bar:NanaAkufo-Addo from: 07/01/2017 till: 07/01/2025 color:npp text:"Nana Akufo-Addo"

Term of office in years

This is a list of each head of state in order of term length.

Of the 12 post monarchy heads of state, only two, Jerry Rawlings and John Mahama, served in two non consecutive periods.

Rank	Head of State	Political party	Longest continuous term	Total time in office	Periods
Jerry Rawlings	Military/National Democratic Congress			2	Resignation/Natural expiration
John Kufuor	New Patriotic Party			1	Natural expiration
Nana Akufo-Addo	New Patriotic Party			1	Natural expiration
Ignatius Kutu Acheampong	Military			1	Deposed
Kwame Nkrumah	Convention People's Party			1	Deposed
John Mahama	National Democratic Congress	****	****	2	Natural expiration/In office
John Atta Mills	National Democratic Congress			1	Death
Joseph Arthur Ankrah	Military			1	Resignation
Hilla Limann	People's National Party			1	Deposed
Edward Akufo-Addo	Independent			1	Deposed
Akwasi Afrifa	Military			1
Fred Akuffo	Military			1	Deposed
Nii Amaa Ollennu	Independent			1

Standards

File:Flag of the Governor-General of Ghana (1957-1960).svg|alt=|Governor-General's standard File:Presidential Standard of Ghana.svg|alt=|Presidential standard

Demographics

Head of state	Ethnicity	Religious affiliation
Kwame Nkrumah	Nzema (Akan)	Roman Catholic (later non-denominational Christian)
Joseph Ankrah	Ga	Methodist
Akwasi Afrifa	Ashanti (Akan)	Anglican
Nii Amaa Ollennu	Ga	Presbyterian
Edward Akufo-Addo	Akuapem (Akan)	Presbyterian
Kofi Abrefa Busia	Bono (Akan)	Methodist
Ignatius Kutu Acheampong	Ashanti (Akan)	Roman Catholic
Fred Akuffo	Akuapem (Akan)	Presbyterian
Hilla Limann	Sissala	Roman Catholic
Jerry John Rawlings	Scottish/Anlo Ewe	Roman Catholic
John Agyekum Kufuor	Ashanti (Akan)	Roman Catholic
John Atta Mills	Fante (Akan)	Methodist
John Dramani Mahama	Gonja	Assemblies of God (raised Presbyterian)
Nana Akufo-Addo	Akuapem/Akyem (Akan)	Anglican (raised Presbyterian)

References

(2016). "Independence, Coups, and the Republic, 1957–present". Duke University Press.
"Magnum Photos".
"Magnum Photos".
"Ghana – INDEPENDENT GHANA".
Vandrei, Martha. (2018-07-19). "That ubiquitous monarch". Oxford Scholarship Online.
Ibingira, Grace Stuart. (2019-04-30). "Ghana". Routledge.
(2007-12-01). "Lewis, Sir Allen (Montgomery), (26 Oct. 1909–18 Feb. 1993), Governor-General of St Lucia, 1982–87 (first Governor-General, 1979–80; Governor, 1974–79)". Oxford University Press.
Prempeh, H. Kwasi. (2013-07-30). "Constitutional autochthony and the invention and survival of "absolute presidentialism" in postcolonial Africa". Order from Transfer.
Todd E, Pettys. (2018-02-09). "Part Two The Iowa Constitution and Commentary, Art.IV Executive Department". The Iowa State Constitution.
(2007-12-01). "Busia, Dr. Kofi Abrefa, (11 July 1913–28 Aug. 1978), Prime Minister of Ghana, 1969–72". Oxford University Press.
Rich, Jeremy. (2011-12-08). "Akuffo, Fred". Oxford University Press.
Shillington, Kevin.. (1992). "Ghana and the Rawlings factor". Macmillan.
Yankson-Mensah, Marian.. (2020). "Transitional justice in Ghana an appraisal of the National Reconciliation Commission". T.M.C. Asser Press.
Nketia, J.H. Kwabena. (2001). "Republic of Ghana [formerly Gold Coast]". Oxford University Press.
Gyimah-Boadi, E.. (1993). "Ghana under the PNDC rule". CODESRIA.
Isaacs, Anita. (1993). "Development and Reform under Military Rule". Palgrave Macmillan UK.
"Ghana - Constitution & Politics". Ghana - Constitution & Politics.
"Ghana - Constitution & Politics". Ghana - Constitution & Politics.
Miller, Jon. (2014-05-22). "Missionary Zeal and Institutional Control: Organizational Contradictions in the Basel Mission on the Gold Coast 1828-1917". Routledge.

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