Two interesting but unknown facts about Dr. Hilla Limann

Ghana's former president in the third republic, Dr Hilla Limann lived a rather quiet life with some arguing that his calm demeanour largely contributed to his short term in office.

From 1965 until January 1979, Dr. Limann served as a foreign officer. He was head of chancellery at the Ghana Embassy in Lomé from 1969-71 and from 1971 to 1975 he was counsellor for the Ghana permanent mission in Geneva.

This diplomatic career path could have contributed to him taking a low profile but Limann would later ascend to the highest office of the land, which was the presidency.

Despite serving a short term in office, some two rather interesting but unknown facts about Dr. Hilla Limann have emerged.

According to policy analyst Bright Simons, Dr Limann is said to have refused to publicly confess a personal religion of faith.

He adds that it is still unclear whether he was a Christian or Muslim despite coming from Gwolu in the Upper West region of Ghana, which is predominantly Muslim.

The second fact, according to the post shared by Bright Simons, is that Dr. Hilla Limann was also the youngest ever Ghanaian to be elected President of the Republic at the age of 45.

He served as president from 1979 and was ousted from office in 1981 by the late former president Flight Lt. Jerry John Rawlings.

2 facts almost no Ghanaian knows/remembers about the country's 3rd Republic President, Dr. Hilla Limann:

1. He refused to publicly confess a personal religion. It is still unclear whether he was a Christian or Muslim

2. He was the youngest ever Ghanaian to be elected President. pic.twitter.com/PRtsDFRhCX

— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) October 6, 2023

Dr. Limann was elected the presidential candidate of the People's National Party (PNP), the successor of the CPP, for the 1979 general elections.

He polled 631,559 votes (35.32 percent) in the June 18 elections to beat nine other candidates. He went into a run-off with Victor Owusu, the Popular Front Party (PFP) candidate who had 533,928 (29.86 percent) of the votes.

During the second round in July 1979, Dr. Limann convincingly beat Victor Owusu to be elected president of the third republic. He was sworn into office on September 24, 1979, and took over from Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).

His tenure was however plagued by internal squabbles in the party, leading to his overthrow by Flt. Lt. Rawlings on December 31, 1981.

Dr. Limann later formed the People's National Convention (PNC) to contest the 1992 elections when the ban on political activities was lifted. He came a distant third to President Rawlings of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Professor Albert Adu Boahen of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Dr. Limann surprised many people when he stepped down for Dr. Edward Mahama as the presidential candidate of the party during the 1996 polls.

He was in and out of hospital for heart ailment for a number of years but died in 1998.

Dr. Limann is survived by a wife, Fulera Limann, and six children - Sibi, Sammoi, Hagommie, Leda, Danni-Hasi, Habuguwie.

MA/DAG