In January 1972, led a bloodless coup d'état to overthrow the democratically elected government of the Progress Party and its leader, . This event led to him becoming the Head of State and Chairman of the National Redemption Council (NRC), which was later transformed into the Supreme Military Council (SMC) on October 9, 1975, with Colonel Acheampong (promoted to General) as its chairman. The era of General Acheampong has been described as effective but also oppressive by some historians and citizens. Under his regime, Ghana switched from driving on the left to right-hand traffic in a campaign called 'Operation Keep Right'. There was also the famous 'Operation Feed Yourself' initiative and the repudiation of Ghana's foreign debts with the 'yentua' slogan.