For the rapper with the same birth name, see V.I.C.

V.I.C.

Victor Grimmy , better known by his stage name V.I.C., is an American rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. His hit single, "Get Silly", reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2008.-Background:...

.

Victor Owusu (1923 - 16 December 2000) is a former Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

ian politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 and lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

. He has also served as Attorney General

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

 and Justice minister as well as foreign minister on two separate occasions.

Early life

Victor trained as a lawyer. He was a prominent member of the National Liberation Movement

National Liberation Movement (Ghana)

The National Liberation Movement was a Ghanaian political party formed in 1954. Set up by disaffected Ashanti members of the Convention People's Party, who were joined by Kofi Abrefa Busia, the NLM opposed the process of centralization whilst supporting a continuing role for traditional leaders....

 which stood for the 1956 elections in the Gold Coast

Gold Coast (British colony)

The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...

 prior to elections. During the First Republic, he was detained under the Preventive Detention Act (1958) by the Kwame Nkrumah

Kwame Nkrumah

Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana...

 government. He was released after the February 24, 1966 coup d'état

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

 which brought in the military National Liberation Council

National Liberation Council

The National Liberation Council was the name of the Ghanaian government after the elected government of the Convention Peoples' Party led by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown on February 24, 1966. This government was in place till they handed over to a democratically elected government on October...

 (NLC) government. He was appointed Attorney General and Minister for Justice by the NLC.

In Government

He was a member of the Progress Party

Progress Party

Progress Party may refer to:* Gabonese Progress Party, political party in Gabon* German Progress Party, the first modern political party with a program in Germany...

 that won the 1969 elections. Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia

Kofi Abrefa Busia

Kofi Abrefa Busia was Prime Minister of Ghana from 1969–72. He was born in Wenchi, in the then British colony of Gold Coast . He was educated at Methodist School, Wenchi, Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast, then at Wesley College, Kumasi from 1931–32. He later became a teacher at Achimota Secondary...

 appointed him foreign minister

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Ghana)

The Minister for Foreign Affairs is the Ghana government official who is responsible for overseeing the country's foreign policy and international diplomacy. The minister is usually one of the most senior members of Cabinet....

 twice in the Second Republic. The first was in 1969 and the second was between 1969 and 1971. On both occasions, he took over the portfolio from Patrick Dankwa Anin

Patrick Dankwa Anin

Patrick Dankwa Anin was a former foreign minister of Ghana in the Second Republic.He died in 1999.He was the first foreign minister to be appointed in the Progress Party government by Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, the Prime Minister of Ghana. He served for a few months and was replaced by Victor Owusu...

 who also served twice. The Second Republic came to an end with the January 13, 1972 coup led by General (then Colonel) I.K. Acheampong.

Leader of the opposition

Victor Owusu was a founding member and leader of the Popular Front Party

Popular Front Party

The Popular Front Party was the main opposition political party in Ghana during the Third Republic .In elections held on 18 June 1979, PFP presidential candidate Victor Owusu won 29.9% of the vote and the party won 42 of 140 seats in the National Assembly...

 in the Third Republic. He was the runner-up to Dr. Hilla Limann

Hilla Limann

Hilla Limann was the President of Ghana from 24 September, 1979 to 31 December, 1981. Eventually he became a diplomat, and served in Switzerland. Limann, whose original last name was Babini, was born in the northern Ghanaian town of Gwolu in the Sissala West District of the Upper West Region to a...

 of the People's National Party

People's National Party (Ghana)

The People's National Party was the ruling party in Ghana during the Third Republic .All political parties in Ghana were disbanded following the January 1972 military coup led by Col. Ignatius Kutu Acheampong. When political activities resumed in 1979, there were five parties contesting the...

 (PNP) in the 1979 Ghanaian presidential elections

Ghanaian presidential election, 1979

Presidential elections were held in Ghana on 18 June 1979 , with a second round on 9 July 1979. The result was a victory for Hilla Limann of the People's National Party, who won 62.0% of the votes in the second round....

 with 38% of the votes after the second round of voting. After the election, the PFP merged with other opposition parties to form the All People's Party (AFP) under the leadership of Victor Owusu. The AFP, along with other political parties, were banned after the December 31, 1981 coup by the Provisional National Defence Council

Provisional National Defence Council

The Provisional National Defence Council was the name of the Ghanaian government after the People's National Party's elected government was overthrown by Jerry Rawlings, the former head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. This was on December 31, 1981. It remained in power until January 7,...

 led by Flt. Lt. Jerry Rawlings

Jerry Rawlings

Jerry John Rawlings is a former leader of the Republic of Ghana and now the African Union envoy to Somalia. Rawlings ruled Ghana as a military dictator in 1979 and from 1981 to 1992 and then as the first elected president of the Fourth Republic from 1993 to 2001...

.

Later life

From 1991 until his death, Victor Owusu lived in Putney, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, UK. He died in London. He was married to Agnes Owusu.

Trivia

John Kufuor

John Kufuor

John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor was the second president of the 4th Republic of Ghana and Chairperson of the African Union...

, president of Ghana, said he had practised as a junior in Victor Owusu's law firm.

See also

• Minister for Foreign Affairs (Ghana)
  Minister for Foreign Affairs (Ghana)
  The Minister for Foreign Affairs is the Ghana government official who is responsible for overseeing the country's foreign policy and international diplomacy. The minister is usually one of the most senior members of Cabinet....