J. H. Allassani

Joseph Henry Allassani was a Ghanaian educationist and politician. He was a member of parliament and a minister of state during the first republic. He was the first health minister in the first republic of Ghana[3]

Joseph Henry Allassani
Resident Minister of Ghana to Guinea
In office September 1959 – 1 July 1960
President	Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
Preceded by	Ebenezer Ako-Adjei
Succeeded by	Rev. Stephen Allen Dzirasa
Minister for Health[1]
In office June 1956 – July 1959
President	Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
Succeeded by	Imoru Egala
Minister for Education
In office 21 June 1954 – June, 1956
President	Kwame Nkrumah
Succeeded by	John Bogolo Erzuah
Member of Parliament for Saboba
In office 1965 – February 1966
Succeeded by	Ernest Seth Yaney
Member of Parliament for Dagomba East[2]
In office 1951–1965
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	Joseph Henry Allassani 1906 Gumo, British Togoland
Nationality	Ghanaian

Early life and education

Allassani was born around 1906 at Gumo a suburb of the Kumbungu District situated about six miles from Tamale in the Northern Region, Ghana then a territory of Togoland under the trusteeship of the United Kingdom. He had his elementary education at catholic schools in Tamale, Elmina, Sunyani, and finally at St. Peter's school in Kumasi. He entered the Government Teacher Training College in 1924 and graduated with his Certificate 'A' in 1926.[4]

Career and politics

Allassani begun teaching in 1927 at St. Peter's Roman Catholic School, Kumasi. He taught there for about twenty-two years. In 1949 he resigned to take up an appointment as secretary to the Dagomba Native Administration. That same year, he was elected into the Northern Territories Council and in 1951 he was elected to the legislative assembly as a representative of Dagomba East on the ticket of the Convention People's Party.[5][6][7] He officially took office on 8 February 1951. On 1 April 1951, he was appointed ministerial secretary (deputy minister) to the ministry of development and on 20 June 1954 he was appointed Minister for Education, officially taking office on 21 June that year.[8][9] In 1955 and 1956 he argued for the integration of Northern Togoland with the Gold Coast before the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations.[10] He was appointed minister for health in June 1956[11][12][13][14] until September 1959 when he was appointed Ghana's Resident Minister in Guinea.[15] He held that office until 30 June 1960 when he was appointed chairman of Rural Housing officially taking office on republic day; 1 July 1960. He served in this capacity until 1 January when he was appointed chairman of the State Paints Corporation. He held this office until February 1966 when the Nkrumah government was overthrown.[4] During his tenure of office as a government official, he served on various boards and committees, some which include; the Scholarship Selection Board, the Central Tender Board, the Erzuah Committee on Civil Service Salaries and the Committee on Transport in the Northern Territories.[16] During the era of the National Liberation Council government he was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment with hard labour by two asset commissions on the conviction of perjury and contempt of Justice Apaloo's Commission.[17][18]

Personal life

Allassani was married to Susana Adani with whom he had twelve children.[4] He enjoyed listening to music.[16]

See also

• Nkrumah government
• Minister for Health (Ghana)
• List of MLAs elected in the 1954 Gold Coast legislative election
• List of MLAs elected in the 1956 Gold Coast legislative election
• List of MPs elected in the 1965 Ghanaian parliamentary election

References

1. "Parliamentary debates; official Report, Part 2". Ghana Publications Corporation. 1965: i. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
2. "The Diplomatic Press Directory of the Republic of Ghana, Volume 2". Diplomatic Press and Publishing Company. 1960: 26. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
3. "Parliamentary Debates; National Assembly Official Report". Accra, Government printing department. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
4. Report of the Manyo-Plange (Assets) Commission, appointed under the Commissions of Enquiry Act, 1964 (Act 250) and N. L. C. (Investigation and Forfeiture of Assets) Decree, 1966 (N. L. C. D. 72) to enquire into the assets of specified persons (Report). Ghana Publishing Corporation. 1969. p. xv.
5. "Report by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the General Assembly of the United Nations on the Administration of Togoland under United Kingdom Trusteeship". H.M. Stationery Office. 1955: 19. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
6. A History of Higher Education in Northern Ghana, 1907-1976. Ghana Universities Press. 1990. p. 194. ISBN 9789964302153.
7. "United Nations Bulletin, Volume 16". United Nations Department of Public Information. 1954: 222. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
8. "Gold Coast Gazette, Part 1". Government Print Office. 1956: 453. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
9. Rathbone, Richard (1992). Ghana, Part 2. p. xv. ISBN 9780112905264.
10. Rubin, J. A. (1962). Pictorial history of the United Nations. p. 181.
11. Steinburg, S. (2016). The Statesman's Year-Book: Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1960. p. 295. ISBN 9780230270893.
12. "The British Commonwealth Year Book". MacGibbon and Kee. 1953: 227. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
13. "GHANA'S CABINET". Crisis. USA: The Crisis Publishing Company. p. 204. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
14. Bawumia, Mumuni (1972). A life the Political History of Ghana:Memoirs of Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia. p. 116. ISBN 9789964303358.
15. Thompson, W. S. (1969). Ghana's Foreign Policy, 1957-1966: Diplomacy Ideology, and the New State. p. 75. ISBN 9781400876303.
16. "Ghana Year Book". Graphic Corporation. 1958: 179. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
17. "Africa Report, Volume 12". African-American Institute. 1967: 45. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
18. Rajasooria, J. P. (1972). Ghana & Nkrumah. p. 124. ISBN 9780871961914.