All about E. R. T. Madjitey: Ghana’s first IGP who became a founding member of the NPP

In October 9, 1958, the last British Citizen to occupy office in Ghana as the Commissioner of Police left.

The then Prime Minister of the newly independent country, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah appointed his replacement who became the first Ghanaian to head of the Ghana Police Force.

That honour was bestowed on Erasmus Ransford Tawiah Madjitey (ERT Madjitey) who before then was deputy to the outgone commissioner, Arthur Lewin Alexander.
Born on November 11, 1920, at Aframase, in the Manya Krobo District of the Eastern Region of Ghana, his father was a local chief, Asafoatse Madjitey I and his mother, Madam Ogbeko Madjitey was one of his father’s four wives.

Madjitey who was the fifth of seven children started his education at Obenyemi, where he lived with his uncle Mr. J. A. Okumador.

He had his basic education at Presbyterian Junior School at Odumase-Krobo, and Presbyterian Senior Boys Secondary School at Bana Hill. He started his secondary education at Mfantsipim School and completed at Adisadel College in 1940.

He then continued to Achimota College where he excelled with an ‘Inter BA’.

His working career started as a teacher at Accra Academy where he taught Mathematics and Latin for a brief period before he joined the Gold Coast Police Force in 1948 as one of its first Ghanaian college graduates.

E.R.T. Madjitey was appointed Superintendent of Police in charge of the then Accra Region in 1957, becoming the first African to hold such a position.

He rose through the ranks of the Police Force and attained the position of Deputy Commissioner in March 1958.

His subsequent appointment by Kwame Nkurmah as Commissioner of Police made him not only the fist Ghanaian to attain the position but also the first African South of the Sahara and the British Commonwealth to command a Police Force.

In January 1964, a Police Constable, Seth Ametewe made an assassination attempt on Kwame Nkrumah.

The failed assassination led to a removal of ERT Madjitey and the top six officers in the police hierarchy.

He was later detained under the Preventive Detention Act with his Deputy, John Willie Kofi Harley assuming his position as replacement.

The former commissioner of police was released from cells by the National Liberation Council which overthrew Kwame Nkrumah’s CPP on February 24, 1966.

Later that year, he was appointed Ghana’s High Commissioner to Pakistan where he served until 1969 when he left diplomatic service to return to Ghana and ventured into politics.

He won parliamentary election on the ticket of the National Alliance of Liberals in the 1969 elections and represented the people of Manya Krobo Constituency.

He was their Member of Parliament until 1972 when the army under a Colonel Acheampong overthrew the government of Ghana’s second republic, suspended parliament and also banned political activities.

With the ban imposed on several figures and political parties by the National Liberation Council, E.R.T. Madjitey joined a coalition of opposition parties which became known as the Justice Party.

He was the leader of the party and was therefore the opposition leader from 1970 to 1972 and served on the Council of State within the period.

With plans by then Head of State, General I. K. Acheampong to institute a Union government, ERT Madjitey together with other opposition figures in 1977 formed a small anti-UNIGOV group called the Peoples Movement for Freedom and Justice (PMFJ) to resist this move.

This was after a referendum held on the proposal of the Union government was largely deemed as having been rigged by the Acheampong government.

Madjitey and some members of the PMFJ were arrested and put in preventative detention.

However, Acheampong who had become very unpopular was removed from office by his military colleagues on the Supreme Military Council in a palace coup in 1978.

Acheampong was replaced by General Akuffo who decided to return Ghana to constitutional
General Akuffo set up a Constitutional Drafting Commission and released the political prisoners.

ERT Madjitey after being released from detention came to serve as a member of the Constitutional Drafting Commission which drew up the Constitution for Ghana’s Third Republic between 1977 and 1978.

The former police chief also served as a member of the 1979 Constituent Assembly consequently set up to defend and ratify the Draft Constitution.

When the Supreme Military Council led by Gen. Akuffo lifted the ban on political activities, Madjitey joined others to found the Popular Front Party led by Victor Owusu in 1979.

The party became the main opposition in the Third Republic and later went through some changes to become the All People’s Party in the 1980’s before becoming the New Patriotic Party in the early 90s.

E.R.T. Madjitey however died on February 24, 1996 at the age of at Asite, Odumase Krobo.