Hilla Limann

Hilla Limann, (12 December 1934 – 23 January 1998) was a Ghanaian diplomat and politician who served the President of Ghana from 24 September 1979 to 31 December 1981. He served as a diplomat in Lomé, Togo and Geneva, Switzerland. Education Limann, whose original last name was Babini, was born in the northern Gold Coast town of Gwollu in the Sissala West District of the Upper West Region to a poor family. He managed to gain an excellent education, and took up a foreign service career. Hilla completed his basic school education at the Government Middle School, Tamale, in 1949. Between 1957 and 1960, he studied political science at the London School of Economics. He subsequently completed a diploma in French at the Sorbonne University, France. He also obtained a BA (Hons) degree in history at the University of London and a Ph.D. in political science and Constitutional Law at the University of Paris. Foreign service Dr. Limann worked as the head, Europe Desk, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ghana between 1965 and 1968. During 1967, he was a member of the Constitution Commission which drafted the 1969 Constitution of Ghana. In 1968, he became the head of Chancery/Official Secretary at the Ghana embassy in Lomé, Togo. He was appointed counsellor at Ghana's Permanent Mission in Geneva, Switzerland in 1971. He assumed the position of head, Europe, the Americans Southeast Asia Desk back in Ghana at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in June 1975. Politics Following the 1979 coup led by Jerry Rawlings, Limann, though almost unknown even in Ghana, was elected President on the People's National Party ticket and had strong support among followers of former Ghana President Kwame Nkrumah. He stood for the elections following the disqualification of Alhaji Imoru Egala by the then ruling Supreme Military Council and won 62% of the popular vote in the second round of voting.