Salifu Dagarti – The man who took a bullet for Kwame Nkrumah at Flagstaff House

On January 2, 1964, Salifu Dagarti, a presidential bodyguard sacrificed his life for Dr Kwame Nkrumah when he put himself on the path of a bullet that was meant for the president. According to Ghanaianmuseum.com, it was a bright afternoon around 1:15 pm local time when Nkrumah left his office at the presidential palace on his way to Christianborg Castle for lunch. Two security guards accompanied him. One was Salifu Dagarti who was a British-trained police professional together with a less experienced man who was from Nkrumah’s political party, the CPP.

As they made their way towards the car, a police officer named Constable Ametewee who was on duty at the Flagstaff House started firing shots at the president. This attempt on the president’s life would be the fifth since he assumed the highest office of the land. The younger bodyguard from the CPP quickly took cover to protect his life while Salifu Dagarti and Nkrumah dived. The gunshots did not stop. Salifu, realizing the president would be hit by the following bullet shielded Nkrumah with his own body, dying in the process. Constable Ametewee kept firing but after none was able to hit Nkrumah as he was shielded and also had a bulletproof vest on.

Kwame Nkrumah raced away to the kitchen at the Flagstaff House and was pursued by the Constable where they physically fought as the gun had developed a temporary problem. The president was able to overpower Constable Ametewee by hitting his groin with force. Ametewee lay motionless on the floor. This was when other officers arrived at the scene.

So seriously, after failing to Kill Nkrumah, this guy was going to beat him? Ah, like how? People can mean people paaa oo

1. Ok, so two men were bodyguarding Nkrumah- professional police and a party footsoldier. When the battle got tough and technical, the footsoldier runs away, and the technocrat faced it. This is a lesson to our state institutions, which are busily recruiting party footsoldiers (as against technocrats). This country will collapse one day.

2. The attempted killer was an “insider”- a police officer stationed at the Flagstaff House. Be careful of insiders, friends, and familiar people. Most of our life’s darkest moments are caused by them.

Thank you

Ebenezer Quist wrote the story and Kojo Swedru added the moral lessons.