An assassination attempt is made on first Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah

Updated: 30 Sep 2019

An assassination attempt is made on first Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah

An assassination attempt was made on first Ghana President, Kwame Nkrumah. The bomb, intended to eliminate Nkrumah, exploded and killed four people, scores of whom were left injured. Four years before this incident, Nkrumah passed the Preventative Detention Act which he used to imprison more than 1 000 of his political and social opponents. This was not the first attempt to kill Nkrumah, who had led Ghana to independence in 1957.

How we know this

01Boddy-Evans, A. ‘This Day in African History: 01 July’, from About African History, [online], available at www.africanhistory.about.com (Accessed: 22 July 2013)
02South Africa History Online, ‘Assassination attempt on Kwame Nkrumah, first prime and later president of Ghana’, [online], available at www.sahistory.org.za (Accessed: 22 July 2013)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, July 26). An assassination attempt is made on first Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096234

South African History Online (2013) 'An assassination attempt is made on first Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah', South African History Online, 26 July. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096234 (Accessed: 8 November 2026).

South African History Online, An assassination attempt is made on first Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096234, (accessed 8 November 2026).

"An assassination attempt is made on first Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah." South African History Online, 26 July 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096234. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

South African History Online. "An assassination attempt is made on first Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah." South African History Online. July 26, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096234.