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Military Academy Sandhurst. A member of 2 Platoon, Blenheim Company of Intake 13, his college commander wrote that ‘his powerful physical build emphasises his strength of character’. Not only did Barwah win the overseas cadet prize, but he was also graded fourth in the whole intake of 260.
Barwah rose rapidly through the ranks and, when the Gold Coast became the first British Colony to gain independence in 1957, was earmarked for high command in the army of newly established Ghana. A great believer in education, Barwah set-up a programme for the education of soldiers and their children and frequently acted as an instructor in night classes. The first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, initially relied heavily on the former colonial power to construct the mechanisms of the new state but, as he became more confident, he turned away from Britain and fostered closer ties with the Soviet Union.
In 1961, Nkrumah dismissed the British advisors attached to his army and began to send young men for military training in Russia. He also espoused pan-Africanism and set up camps to train fighters to return and take up the struggle against white minority rule in South Africa. The close ties with Russia and the Chinese instructors in the training camps set alarm bells ringing with the CIA. The movement away from Britain also did not sit well with some senior Ghanaian officers, who viewed British traditions and ‘The Sandhurst Way’ as the cornerstones of the army. As Nkrumah established a one-party state and imprisoned political opponents, the economy stagnated, setting the conditions for a coup.
In February 1966, Nkrumah was encouraged by the US to travel to China and Vietnam to attempt to broker a ceasefire in the Vietnam War. A group of senior officers gathered several hundred soldiers and moved them to Accra, telling them that Nkrumah was going to send them to fight in Vietnam. Aided by these men, the plotters, under Colonel Emmanuel Kokota, seized the state radio and presidential palace. The chief of defence staff was abroad at a meeting, so the ranking officer was Barwah, by now a major-general and army chief of staff. Barwah refused to acknowledge the coup and professed his loyalty, as a professional soldier, to the head of state – and was promptly shot dead.
The level of involvement of the CIA is still debated and a staple of conspiracy theorists. Ultimately, the coup succeeded, Nkrumah was deposed and there followed a period of great instability, resulting in a further five military coups over the next 15 years. Charles Barwah is now seen as a standard bearer for loyalty and one of the few senior officers of the period untainted by his involvement in politics. Barwah Barracks in Northern Ghana is named in his honour.
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