Kwame Nkrumah's Secret Intelligence Units
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Nkrumah's handwriting
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Over a period of years the Nkrumah's
National Security Service experienced a number
of reorganizations, nearly each of which was accompanied by an expansion of its
functions and duties. In time it grew to have so many parts that there was confusion
as to what each part of it should do. The following details reflect the last stages
of the National Security Service as it existed in February 1966. Many of its parts
have since been dissolved.
Department I Presidential Detail Department After the unsuccessful
attempt on the life of Nkrumah at Kulungugu in August 1962 he ordered that the presidential guard
company be expanded to a regiment, and, following the recommendation of Russian
security experts, added a Civilian Unit to the bodyguard. Military and civilian
wings became the Presidential Guard Department. In 1963 the name of the organization
was changed to the Presidential Detail Department.
The Presidential Detail Department was responsible for the personal safety of
Nkrumah. In February its military and civilian wings grew rapidly. The 1st Guard
Regiment included a battalion of 1,500 men, and the 2nd Guard Regiment was in
the process of formation and training under the Russian experts.
The Civilian Unit was housed in 1966 both flats directly across the road from Flagstaff
House in Accra. Its members were largely ex-servicemen and it was
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organized along military lines.
This unit was also
trained by the Russians, with emphasis on weapon handling, hand-to-hand combat and
physical fitness exercises.
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Its members were the personal bodyguards who preceded
Nkrumah on trips, mingled with crowds, and were prepared to remove individuals who
might make trouble. The Counter Intelligence Unit spied on all the other members
of the Presidential Detail Department. Secret Camps Under the Presidential Detail
Departments was the storage depots and training grounds for Nkrumah's constantly
expanding private army.
The existence of these secret military camps was not supposed to be known to the
command of the Ghana Armed Forces, except to Major-General C. M. Barwah. The camps
were located at Elmina Castle, Akosombo, Afienya, and Okponglo. After the dismissal
of Nkrumah each was found to contain very large stores of Russian and Chinese weapons,
ammunition and explosives. Many of these weapons, such as heavy machine guns, mortars
and field pieces were not at all the type of equipment required by Nkrumah's military
body-guard. Instead, they were intended for the private army that was to surpass
the size of the regular army and possess the latest modern weapons.
The camp at Afienya was the site of a training area where Russian instructors trained
the recruits of Nkrumah's private army. Contract 48812, of 23 June, 1964, between
Ghana and the U.S.S.R. provided for the services of Russian "specialists for technical
assistance on special equipment." Annexes to this contract listed eleven categories
of specialists and gave the names of specialists who came to Accra in April 1965.
All were paid £121 a month each.
A letter from the Russian Ambassador in Ghana dated 26 July, 1965, stated that this
special equipment would cost 803,000 rubles, and an Annex to the letter, compiled by the Representative of the General Engineering Department, U.S.S.R., listed the
types of special equipment. It is not known how many shipments there were of this
special equipment. Although not so stated in the contract which was vaguely worded,
the specialists and the special equipment were intended for the training of the
Presidential Detail Department. The specialists had the following designations: |
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