List of heads of state of Ghana

This is a list of the heads of state of Ghana, from the independence of Ghana in 1957 to the present day.^[1]

From 1957 to 1960 the head of state under the Constitution of 1957 was the queen of Ghana, Elizabeth II, who was also the monarch of other Commonwealth realms.^[2] The monarch was represented in Ghana by a governor-general.^[3] Ghana became a republic within the Commonwealth under the Constitution of 1960 and the monarch and governor-general were replaced by an executive president.^[4]

Monarch (1957–1960)

The succession to the throne was the same as the succession to the British throne.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Reign			Royal House	Prime minister
			Reign start	Reign end	Duration
1		Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022)	6 March 1957	1 July 1960	3 years, 117 days	Windsor	Nkrumah

Governor-general

The governor-general was the representative of the monarch in Ghana and exercised most of the powers of the monarch.^[5] The governor-general was appointed for an indefinite term, serving at the pleasure of the monarch. Since Ghana was granted independence by the Ghana Independence Act 1957, rather than being first established as a semi-autonomous Dominion and later promoted to independence by the Statute of Westminster 1931,^[6] the governor-general was to be always appointed solely on the advice of the Cabinet of Ghana without the involvement of the British government, with the sole exception of Charles Arden-Clarke, the former colonial governor, who served as governor-general temporarily until he was replaced by William Hare.^[7] In the event of a vacancy the chief justice served as officer administering the government.^[8]

Status

  Denotes Chief Justice acting as Officer Administering the Government

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Monarch	Prime minister
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Sir Charles Arden-Clarke (1898–1962)	6 March 1957	14 May 1957	69 days	Elizabeth II	Nkrumah
—		Sir Kobina Arku Korsah (1894–1967)	14 May 1957	13 November 1957	183 days
2		William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel (1906–1997)	13 November 1957	1 July 1960	2 years, 231 days

Republic (1960–present)

Political parties

  Convention People's Party (CPP)

  People's National Party (PNP)

  National Democratic Congress (NDC)

  New Patriotic Party (NPP)

Other factions

  Military

  Independent

Status

  Denotes acting president

Symbols

^C Constitutional referendum

^† Died in office

First Republic (1960–1966)

Under the Constitution of 1960, the first constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the president replaced the monarch as executive head of state.^[9] The president was elected by Parliament for a 5-year term. In the event of a vacancy three members of the Cabinet served jointly as acting president.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972)	1960 1964[C]	1 July 1960	24 February 1966 (Deposed in a coup)	5 years, 238 days	CPP

Military rule (1966–1969)

Lieutenant-General Joseph Arthur Ankrah led a coup d'état which overthrew President Nkrumah and his government, all political parties and Parliament were also dissolved.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
2		Lieutenant-General Joseph Arthur Ankrah (1915–1992) Chairman of the NLC	24 February 1966	2 April 1969 (Resigned)	3 years, 37 days	Military
3		Brigadier Akwasi Afrifa (1936–1979) Chairman of the NLC	2 April 1969	3 September 1969	154 days

Second Republic (1969–1972)

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office			Political party	Prime minister
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
(3)		Brigadier Akwasi Afrifa (1936–1979) Chairman of the Presidential Commission	—	3 September 1969	7 August 1970	338 days	Military	Busia
—		Nii Amaa Ollennu (1906–1986)	—	7 August 1970	31 August 1970	24 days	Independent
4		Edward Akufo-Addo (1906–1979)	—	31 August 1970	13 January 1972 (Deposed in a coup)	1 year, 135 days	Independent

Military rule (1972–1979)

General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led a coup d'état which overthrew President Akufo-Addo, Prime Minister Abrefa Busia and his government, all political parties, and Parliament were also dissolved.^[10]

Lieutenant General Fred Akuffo led a palace coup which overthrew General Acheampong,^[11] then Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings led a coup d'état which overthrown the Supreme Military Council.^[12]

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
5		General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong (1931–1979) Chairman of the NRC	13 January 1972	5 July 1978 (Deposed in a coup)	6 years, 173 days	Military
		Chairman of the SMC from 9 October 1975
6		Lieutenant-General Fred Akuffo (1937–1979) Chairman of the SMC	5 July 1978	4 June 1979 (Deposed in a coup)	334 days
7		Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings (1947–2020) Chairman of the AFRC	4 June 1979	24 September 1979	112 days

Third Republic (1979–1981)

Under the Constitution of 1979 the president was head of both state and government. The president was directly elected and served a four-year term that expired at the next general election; a president might serve a maximum of two terms.^[13] In the event of a vacancy the vice-president served as acting president.^[14]

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
8		Hilla Limann (1934–1998)	1979	24 September 1979	31 December 1981 (Deposed in a coup)	2 years, 98 days	PNP

Military rule (1981–1993)

Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings led a coup d'état which overthrew President Limann and his government, all political parties and Parliament were also dissolved.^[15][16]

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
9		Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings (1947–2020) Chairman of the PNDC	31 December 1981	7 January 1993	11 years, 7 days	Military

Fourth Republic (1993–present)

Under the current Constitution the president is head of both state and government.^[14][17] The president is directly elected and serves a four-year term that expires at the next general election; a president may serve a maximum of two terms. In the event of a vacancy, the vice president serves the remaining time as the president.^[18]

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
(9)		Jerry Rawlings (1947–2020)	1992 1996	7 January 1993	7 January 2001	8 years	NDC
10		John Kufuor (born 1938)	2000 2004	7 January 2001	7 January 2009	8 years	NPP
11		John Atta Mills (1944–2012)	2008	7 January 2009	24 July 2012[†]	3 years, 199 days	NDC
12		John Mahama (born 1958)	2012	24 July 2012	7 January 2017	4 years, 167 days	NDC
13		Nana Akufo-Addo (born 1944)	2016 2020	7 January 2017	7 January 2025	8 years	NPP
14		John Mahama (born 1958)	2024	7 January 2025	Incumbent	227 days	NDC

Timeline since 1960

Term of office in years

This is a list of each head of state in order of term length.

Of the 12 post monarchy heads of state, only two, Jerry Rawlings and John Mahama, served in two non consecutive periods.

Rank	Head of State	Political party	Longest continuous term	Total time in office	Periods	Cause of end of term
1	Jerry Rawlings	Military/National Democratic Congress	19 years, 7 days	19 years, 119 days	2	Resignation/Natural expiration
2	John Kufuor	New Patriotic Party	8 years, 0 days	8 years, 0 days	1	Natural expiration
	Nana Akufo-Addo	New Patriotic Party	8 years, 0 days	8 years, 0 days	1	Natural expiration
4	Ignatius Kutu Acheampong	Military	6 years, 173 days	6 years, 173 days	1	Deposed
5	Kwame Nkrumah	Convention People's Party	5 years, 238 days	5 years, 238 days	1	Deposed
6	John Mahama	National Democratic Congress	4 years, 167 days	5 years, 29 days	2	Natural expiration/In office
7	John Atta Mills	National Democratic Congress	3 years, 199 days	3 years, 199 days	1	Death
8	Joseph Arthur Ankrah	Military	3 years, 37 days	3 years, 37 days	1	Resignation
9	Hilla Limann	People's National Party	2 years, 98 days	2 years, 98 days	1	Deposed
10	Edward Akufo-Addo	Independent	1 year, 135 days	1 year, 135 days	1	Deposed
11	Akwasi Afrifa	Military	1 year, 127 days	1 year, 127 days	1
12	Fred Akuffo	Military	334 days	334 days	1	Deposed
–	Nii Amaa Ollennu	Independent	24 days	24 days	1

Standards

• 
  Governor-General's standard
• 
  Presidential standard

Demographics

Head of state	Ethnicity	Religious affiliation
Kwame Nkrumah	Nzema (Akan)	Roman Catholic (later Nondenominational Christian)[19]
Joseph Ankrah	Ga	Methodist
Akwasi Afrifa	Ashanti (Akan)	Anglican
Nii Amaa Ollennu	Ga	Presbyterian
Edward Akufo-Addo	Akuapem (Akan)	Presbyterian
Kofi Abrefa Busia	Bono (Akan)	Methodist
Ignatius Kutu Acheampong	Ashanti (Akan)	Roman Catholic
Fred Akuffo	Akuapem (Akan)	Presbyterian
Hilla Limann	Sissala	Roman Catholic
Jerry John Rawlings	Scottish/Anlo Ewe	Roman Catholic
John Agyekum Kufuor	Ashanti (Akan)	Roman Catholic
John Atta Mills	Fante (Akan)	Methodist
John Dramani Mahama	Gonja	Assemblies of God (raised Presbyterian)
Nana Akufo-Addo	Akuapem/Akyem (Akan)	Anglican (raised Presbyterian)