Kwame Nkrumah orders release of political prisoners

Date: 23 Dec 1962
Updated: 4 Dec 2019

President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (formerly Gold Coast), a leading exponent of Pan-Africanism, ordered the release of the last of his political prisoners, detained under the Preventive Detention Act of 1958. Many of the political prisoners, who were labelled militants, were arrested in order to calm down the growing opposition against Kwame Nkrumah's government, which had rejected multiparty rule in favour of one party rule and scientific socialism.

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01Bobby-Evans, A, This Day in African History: 23 December, from About.com, [online], Available at africanhistory.about.com [Accessed 16 September 2011]

Last updated · 4 Dec 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Kwame Nkrumah orders release of political prisoners. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011972

South African History Online (2011) 'Kwame Nkrumah orders release of political prisoners', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011972 (Accessed: 27 July 2026).

South African History Online, Kwame Nkrumah orders release of political prisoners [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011972, (accessed 27 July 2026).

"Kwame Nkrumah orders release of political prisoners." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011972. Accessed 27 July 2026.

South African History Online. "Kwame Nkrumah orders release of political prisoners." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011972.