31/03/2024
This Dangme man was the first African to command a police force south of the Sahara and in the British Commonwealth. The first Ghanaian inspector General of Police. He is from Manya Krobo, one of the 7 Dangme states. That makes him a proud Krobo and a Dangme.
Erasmus Ransford Tawiah Madjitey, CBE (11 November 1920 – 23 February 1996) was a Ghanaian police officer. He was appointed Police Commissioner in the Dominion of Ghana (now Ghana) on 9 October 1958, making him not only the first Ghanaian to head the Ghana Police Service, but also the first African south of the Sahara and in the British Commonwealth to command a police force.
E.R.T. Madjitey was born on 11 November 1920 at Aframase, in the Manya Krobo District of the Eastern Region of Ghana. His father was a local chief, Asafoatse Madjitey I and his mother was one of his four wives, Madam Ogbeko Madjitey. He was the fifth of seven children. E.R.T. Madjitey started his education at Obenyemi, where he lived with his uncle Mr. J. A. Okumador. He had his basic education at Presbyterian Junior School at Odumase-Krobo, and Presbyterian Senior Boys Secondary School at Bana Hill. He started his secondary education at Mfantsipim School and completed at Adisadel College in 1940. He then continued to Achimota College, the predecessor of the University of Ghana, where he excelled with an 'Inter BA'. He married Miss Vera Scales in 1949.
Police career:
E.R.T. Madjitey taught Mathematics and Latin at Accra Academy briefly before joining the Gold Coast Police Force in 1948 as one of its first Ghanaian college graduates. In April 1957, he was appointed Superintendent of Police in charge of the then Accra Region. He was the first African to hold such a position. He rose to become Deputy Commissioner of Police in March 1958. On 9 October 1958, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the Prime Minister of Ghana appointed him the Commissioner of Police, replacing Arthur Lewin Alexander, the last British citizen to occupy that position; making him not only the first Ghanaian to head the Ghana Police Service, but also the first African south of the Sahara and in the British Commonwealth to command a police force. In January 1964, due to an assassination attempt by a police constable Seth Ametewe on Kwame Nkrumah, ERT Madjitey and the top six officers in the police administration were removed from office. Madjitey was later detained, for reasons not established to date, under the Preventive Detention Act by the CPP government. He was then replaced by John Willie Kofi Harlley.
Honours:
-First Ghanaian head of the Ghana Police Service.
-Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) (1960).
-Congo Service Medal.
-Republic Commemorative Medal.
-African Police Medal for Meritorious Service.
-Colonial Police Long Service Medal.
-Good Conduct Medal.
-Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953.
-Republic Day Medal.
-"Adeyekote" (There is a warrior in the house)- title conferred on him by Nene Oklemekuku Azu Mate-Kole, the late paramount chief of Manya Krobo.
