Kwame Sanaa-Poku Jantuah

Who is Kwame Sanaa-Poku Jantuah?

Kwame Sanaa-Poku Jantuah, originally known as John Ernest Kwame Antoa Onyina Jantuah, was a Ghanaian politician, lawyer and diplomat. He was the last survivor from the first all-African cabinet set up by Kwame Nkrumah in the Gold Coast prior to independence.

Jantuah was born at Kejetia, a suburb of Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. When he was baptised on 19 May 1934, he was given the Christian names John and Ernest at the St. Peter's Catholic Church in Kumasi. In 1936, he proceeded to the St. Theres's Junior Seminary at Amissano, near Elmina for training. He was known formally as John Ernest Jantuah until 21 December 1962 when he changed his name to Kwame Sanaa-Poku Jantuah. He was one of many Ghanaians to receive national awards on 6 July 2007 in Accra.

He served as the Acting High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in the 1950s, the first resident Ambassador to France and the Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic in the late 1980s during the PNDC era. He was also the ambassador to Brazil during the Nkrumah era.

Jantuah served as a cabinet minister in the Nkrumah government of the first republic and as the Interior Minister during the Limann government.

Jantuah died after a short illness in Accra on 3 February 2011.