Retired army captain and close associate of late former president Jerry John Rawlings, Kojo Tsikata was a divisive and powerful figure in Ghanaian politics.

Before his death in 2021, the army officer had been the chief of intelligence and national security during the dictatorship of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).

False accusations of coup attempts and murder led to two death sentences that he managed to escape throughout his career as an army officer.

In archived film seen by GhanaWeb, Captain Kojo Tsikata reflected on the anguish he had endured due to the numerous accusations levelled against him.

He claims he was not even given an opportunity to refute the majority of the accusations.

" This accusation has been levelled against me year after year for the past twenty years, and I have been living in constant pain, " he said.

Kojo Tsikata, an early Ghanaian pan- Africanist, had unwavering faith in the liberationist and pan- Africanist ideals of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

As a young officer, Tsikata was stationed at the frontlines of the United Nations Force in the Congo after graduating from Achimota College and joining the army.

After accomplishing all of this and more in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Angola, he remained in office until the police and military collaborated to depose Kwame Nkrumah in 1966.