Robert Kotei

Robert Kotei competed for Ghana at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Cardiff, Wales. He was the only Ghanaian to win a medal at the games.[1][2] He won the bronze medal in the high jump event with a jump of 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m)[3] He won the Men's AAA Championships in 1960.[4] He subsequently set the Ghana High Jump record in London on 16 July 1960. This record stood for 36 years until 1996.[5] He also competed in the men's high jump at the 1960 Summer Olympics.[6] He also became a member of the Ghana Olympic and Commonwealth Games Committee in 1973.[7]

On 4 June 1979, the SMC was overthrown by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) led by Flt. Lt. Jerry Rawlings. Following the bloody coup, Kotei surrendered himself to the authorities at the Achimota Police Station in response to requests that previous political office holders report. Some soldiers apparently "later went to the Police Station and brutalised him when they got to know he was there". His assets were also confiscated to the state.[9] After an investigation that was apparently incomplete[10] and a trial held in camera, Kotei was sentenced to death. It is alleged however that Kotei and his colleagues were probably never tried.[11] On 26 June 1979, Kotei and five other senior army officers, including two former heads of state, Lt. Gen. Fred Akuffo and Lt. Gen. Akwasi Afrifa, were executed by firing squad.[12] Along with the other officers, he was unceremoniously buried at the Nsawam Prisons Cemetery in Adoagyiri, near Nsawam in the Eastern Region.[13] He left behind nine children, including a two-year-old.[9]

All eight senior military officers executed in June 1979 were exhumed and their bodies released to their respective families for reburial in 2001.[14] On 27 December 2001, two of the eight, Major General Kotei and Air-Vice Marshal Boakye were buried with full military honours at the Osu Military Cemetery in Accra.[15]