Coup Atlas Research Database
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45209202019ConspiracyMilitary coup

Ghana, 2019 — military coup conspiracy

Ghana (GHA)West Africa, AfricaSeptember 20, 2019

Event Summary

This entry is coded 20 September 2019, corresponding to the alleged 2019 coup plot against President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana. On Friday 20 September 2019 a joint security operation raided the Citadel Hospital in the Alajo suburb of Accra, a medical facility that also served as a weapons-manufacturing site, arresting three people, including a local arms manufacturer, and seizing newly made assault rifles and explosives. The government announced on 23 September that security agencies had foiled an attempt to destabilize the country after fifteen months of surveillance.

The alleged mastermind was Dr. Frederick Mac-Palm, and the group, linked to a movement called Take Action Ghana, was said to have plotted to obtain weapons, take over key installations including the National Communications Authority in order to jam radio stations, capture the president, and seize power. In 2023 a High Court convicted six people, including three soldiers, of high treason and sentenced them to death by hanging, while acquitting three others.

Some observers doubted the seriousness of the plot given the crude weaponry, and a mocking coup challenge hashtag trended online. The 20 September 2019 coding matches the raid and arrests.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Akufo-Addo's government foiled the plot; six were later sentenced to death
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
President Nana Akufo-Addo (target)
alleged mastermind Dr. Frederick Mac-Palm
a local arms manufacturer and serving soldiers

Sources

Ghana's government said security agencies foiled an attempt to topple the presidency after a joint operation led to the discovery of a weapons manufacturing factory at the Citadel Hospital in the Alajo suburb of Accra, where a cache of newly manufactured assault rifles and explosives was retrieved.
SOURCE REVIEWED Africa Feeds: Ghana foils attempted coup, suspects arrested open source ↗
A joint security operation the previous Friday led to the arrest of three people, including a local arms manufacturer, after 15 months of surveillance, with one suspect having contacted serving military personnel to hatch a plot to obtain weapons, take over key installations, and secure funding to take over the government.
SOURCE REVIEWED GhanaWeb/BBC: BBC reports on foiled coup plot open source ↗
The plotters discussed acquiring weapons and bulletproof gear, developing sketch maps of strategic state installations to be attacked, and taking over the National Communications Authority to jam all radio stations except the state broadcaster, from which they intended to announce their overthrow of the government.
SOURCE REVIEWED Dubawa Ghana: Ghanaian court sentences six persons to death over 2019 coup plot open source ↗
A Ghanaian court convicted and sentenced six persons, including three military officers, to death by hanging after finding them guilty of a coup plot to overthrow President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2019.
SOURCE REVIEWED Dubawa Ghana: Ghanaian court sentences six persons to death over 2019 coup plot open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 20 Sep 2019 matches the Friday raid and arrests (government announcement 23 Sep). Verified; note some observers doubted the plot's seriousness given the crude weaponry. First Ghana record in the run.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
45209202019

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Akufo-Addo's government foiled the plot; six were later sentenced to death.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Asia News Monitor

“Ghana: Ghana Foils ‘Elaborate Plot’ Targeting Government,” September 26, 2019

Daily Nation

“Ghana Foils ‘Attempted Coup’,” September 24, 2019

Vanguard

“Ghana Security Arrests Three Alleged Coup Plotters,” September 25, 2019

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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