The Social Network of Ghana's First Coup
On February 24, 1966, the National Liberation Council overthrew the government of Kwame Nkrumah. Nkrumah published his account of the coup in 1968, from exile in Conakry. This project treats that account as relational data. Each actor named in the text is recorded as a node, each relationship asserted between actors as an edge
It is worth noting: This is a reading of one book, not a reconstruction of the events of 1966. Every node and line exists because Nkrumah placed it on the page.
A line records a relationship the text asserts or unambiguously implies: shared office, chain of command, conspiracy, correspondence, patronage.
The National Liberation Council
Key members of the NLC included Colonel E. K. Kotoka, Major A. A. Afrifa, Lieutenant General J. A. Ankrah, and Police Inspector-General J. W. K. Harlley. The council comprised four army and four police officers. Interestingly, in the graph they do not form a separate cluster but are tightly embedded.
Contemporary Heads of State
Several heads of state expressed solidarity with Nkrumah after the coup. Ahmed Sékou Touré granted him asylum in Conakry and declared him ceremonial Co-President of Guinea.
Others are named without relational content. Modibo Keïta, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, and Lee Kuan Yew appear at the periphery as isolates.
Foreign Actors
Nkrumah blamed the CIA. In 1978, former CIA officer John Stockwell alleged US involvement. Declassified US documents later confirmed that Washington monitored the plotters, anticipated the coup, and welcomed the outcome. British files released in 2024 show a Foreign Office covert propaganda campaign intended to create conditions for his removal.
In the network drawn from the 1968 text, these actors sit in a small component unconnected to the principal structure.
