Adu Boahen dies after prolonged illness

Accra, May 25, GNA- The death is reported of Emeritus Professor Albert A. Adu Boahen, Ghana's most renowned historian.

He died last night at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra at the age of 74, after a prolonged illness. He was on admission at the hospital for a couple of years, after he had suffered a stroke in 2001.

Emeritus Prof. Adu Boahen, whose death coincided with is birthday, was born on May 24, 1932 at Oseim, in the Eastern Region.

His political life started whilst he was in his second year as a student of the Mfantsipim Secondary School in the Central Region.

He was part of the protest strike of the school and other Cape Coast schools against the arrest of the 'Big Six' by the British government.

Prof. Adu Boahen graduated from the University of Ghana in 1956, with a B.A. Honours degree in history and was offered a scholarship to study at the University of Oriental and African Studies, London, where he graduated with Ph.D degree in African Studies.

He became a lecturer at the University of Ghana in 1959 and a professor of History in 1971.

He was also noted for both his political activism and international role as a visiting professor to universities throughout the world, and as a consultant to UNESCO.

To his credit are nine books and over 25 published and unpublished articles. Amongst his many books and papers on modern and colonial history. is the monographs Mfantsipim and the

Making of Ghana: A Centenary History 1876-1976, for which, he won the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa in 1997.

He was also editor of UNESCO's eight volume History of Africa series.

He also received many awards and on July 12, 2004, Prof. A Ali Mazruri, the renowned African International Cultural Historian and Political Scientist presented a copy of a "Ghana in Africa and the World" dedicated to Adu Boahen to President Agyekum Kufuor.

The seventh volume of the book of eight volumes and written by about 30 authors was edited by Adu Boahen.

Prof. Adu Boahen's real political carrier began in 1978, when he took part in a strike against the Acheampong government, which later caused him a detention in the Tamale prison for four months.

He also criticised the June 4 coup by Ft. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings (Rtd), which ended Acheampong's era.

His involvement in the Movement of Freedom and Justice in June 1990 led to his arrest and detention together with fellow members of the movement.

Prof. Adu Baohen became the first Presidential Candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 1992 general elections, which he lost.