Samia Nkrumah recalls traumatic 1966 coup at Flagstaff House

Samia Nkrumah, daughter of Ghana's first president Dr Kwame Nkrumah, recounted her harrowing experience during the 1966 coup that ousted her father from government.

Narrating the incident in an interview with The Break Down on September 6, 2025, she said she was just six years old but remembers everything clearly because it was “quite traumatic,” with the “deafening” sounds of gunfire at Flagstaff House, the presidential residence.

Samia, who shared a room with her two brothers, recalled waking up in the pre-dawn darkness to the sound of gunfire and rushing to her mother’s room with her heart pounding.

“So, this was early in the morning? Dawn, yes, it was still dark. Yes, the three of us, myself and my two brothers, slept in the same room. I remember getting up, rushing to my mother’s room, my heart was racing, boom boom.

"‘What’s going on?’ The sound from the gun battle in our compound was deafening. I took one look at my mother’s face, but before I could say anything, she asked, ‘Where’s your younger brother?’ Our youngest, Seiko, was two years old. I rushed back to pick him up, and the three of us just found ourselves in our mother’s room while we heard her speaking on the phone in Arabic," Samia shared.

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Samia further recounted that her mother, "had the presence of mind to contact the Egyptian ambassador at the time. The first thing that came to her mind was to send a message to Cairo; that she was Egyptian, had three young children, and could they please do something so we could leave Ghana safely?”

Fathia Nkrumah, an Egyptian citizen, immediately understood the gravity of the situation and sought safe passage for herself and her children.

A father's mission and a mother's prayer

Samia confirmed that her father was not in the country during the coup. He was on his way to Hanoi to broker a peace deal between the United States and Vietnam, a trip he had postponed three times due to intelligence warnings.

He ultimately decided to go, believing it would benefit Ghana, Africa, and world peace.

Before the family was forced to leave the residence, Samia’s mother asked them to kneel and pray.

She recalled her mother’s comforting words, saying, “Even if they fire at you, nothing is going to happen to you.”

Her mother’s faith and reassurance provided immense comfort to the children.

The gun battle eventually subsided, and the family was instructed to leave the house with only the clothes on their backs. It was later revealed that the presidential guards, who were prepared to die defending the residence, had surrendered to the coup soldiers after being threatened that the family would be harmed if they resisted.

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From Flagstaff House to the airport

After their surrender, the family was taken by the soldiers to the police headquarters.

Samia remembers sitting with the commander until Egyptian embassy staff arrived to escort them to the airport, where they waited for a flight to Egypt.

She noted that her memories of that day will be detailed in a book she is currently writing.

VPO/MA

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