Lieutenant General Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa (24 April 1936 – 26 June 1979) was a Ghanaian soldier, farmer, traditional ruler and politician.

He was also popularly referred to by his title Okatakyie /ˈoʊkætætʃiː/ Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa and was in addition the abakomahene of Krobo in the Asante-Mampong Traditional Area of the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

After his secondary education at Adisadel College, he joined the Ghana Army in 1957 and was sent to the Regular Officer's Special Training School.

[8] At the time, Ghana had become a one-party state, political opposition was effectively removed with the Preventive Detention Act of 1958 and in 1964 Kwame Nkrumah declared himself president for life.

There was a lot of discontent among the general population as prices rocketed for basic consumer goods which were widely unavailable, and among the Ghana Armed Forces.

[4] Nkrumah had asked the military at the time to prepare for a possible campaign in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) due to that country's recent unilateral declaration of independence under a white minority regime.

Martin Okai, a member of the PDD, claimed at the National Reconciliation Commission hearings that his torture was supervised by Afrifa.

Afrifa also went through a series of rapid promotions rising from major to lieutenant general in the three years his government was in power.

[1][6] The head of state of Ghana and chairman of the NLC, Joseph Arthur Ankrah was forced to resign in April 1969 following a bribery scandal involving Francis Nzeribe, a Nigerian businessman.

Ankrah was accused of effecting payments to influence the results of a poll which showed him ahead of Afrifa and Kofi Abrefa Busia for the national elections due in August 1969.

He continued as chairman of the newly created Presidential Commission until August 1970 when he was replaced by Nii Amaa Ollennu, the speaker of Parliament in the Second Republic.

[17] A referendum was scheduled in March 1978, and Afrifa was one of the leaders of the Popular Movement for Freedom and Justice, which led the opposition to this UNIGOV concept.

[6] Following the fall of Acheampong, the new SMC under General Fred Akuffo organized presidential and parliamentary elections on 18 June 1979 for a multi-party national assembly.

Afrifa stood for and won the Mampong North constituency seat on the ticket of the United National Convention, whose roots were from the Progress Party of Kofi Abrefa Busia.

Afrifa is also credited with initiating the Krobo Rehabilitation Project, raising funds leading to the rebuilding of the entire village.

[18] Afrifa was the son of Opanin Kwaku Amankwa and Ama Serwaa Amaniampong, both from Krobo, near Mampong, in the Ashanti Region.

[21] Following a petition by the widows of the executed generals, President John Kufuor decided that their bodies be returned to their respective families as part of a national reconciliation.