 |
| Moves Towards Independence |
Independent
Ghana
|
Nkrumah Ghana
|
|
Nkrumah Ghana
|
Nkrumah, Ghana, and Africa
Nkrumah has been described by author Peter Omari as a dictator
who "made much of elections, when he was aware that they were
not really free but rigged in his favor". According to Omari,
the CPP administration of Ghana was one that manipulated the constitutional
and electoral processes of democracy to justify Nkrumah's agenda.
The extent to which the government would pursue that agenda constitutionally
was demonstrated early in the administration's life when it succeeded
in passing the Deportation Act of 1957, the same year that ethnic,
religious, and regional parties were banned. The Deportation Act empowered
the Governor general and, therefore, subsequent heads of state, to
expel persons whose presence in the country was deemed not in the
interest of the public good. Although the act was to be applied only
to non-Ghanaians, several people to whom it was later applied claimed
to be citizens.
The Preventive Detention Act, passed in 1958, gave power to the prime
minister to detain certain persons for up to five years without trial.
Amended in 1959 and again in 1962, the act was seen by opponents of
the CPP government as a flagrant restriction of individual freedom
and human rights. Once it had been granted these legal powers, the
CPP administration managed to silence its opponents. Dr. J.B. Danquah,
a leading member of the UGCC, was detained until he died in prison
in 1965. Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, leader of the opposition United Party
(UP), formed by the NLM and other parties in response to Nkrumah's
outlawing of so-called separatist parties in 1957, went into exile
in London to escape detention, while other members still in the country
joined the ruling party.
On July 1, 1960, Ghana became a republic, and Nkrumah won the presidential
election that year. Shortly thereafter, Nkrumah was proclaimed president
for life, and the CPP became the sole party of the state. Using the
powers granted him by the party and the constitution, Nkrumah by 1961
had detained an estimated 400 to 2,000 of his opponents. Nkrumah's
critics pointed to the rigid hold of the CPP over the nation's political
system and to numerous cases of human rights abuses. Others, however,
defended Nkrumah's agenda and policies.
Nkrumah discussed his political views in his numerous writings, especially
in Africa Must Unite (1963) and in Neocolonialism (1965). These writings
show the impact of his stay in Britain in the mid 1940's The Pan-Africanist
movement, which had held one of its annual conferences, attended by
Nkrumah, at Manchester in 1945, was influenced by socialist ideologies.
The movement sought unity among people of African descent and also
improvement in the lives of workers who, it was alleged, had been
exploited by capitalist enterprises in Africa. Western countries with
colonial histories were identified as the exploiters. According to
the socialists, "oppressed" people ought to identify with
the socialist countries and organizations that best represented their
interests; however, all the dominant world powers in the immediate
post-1945 period, except the Soviet Union and the United States, had
colonial ties with Africa. Nkrumah asserted that even the United States,
which had never colonised any part of Africa, was in an advantageous
position to exploit independent Africa unless preventive efforts were
taken.
According to Nkrumah, his government, which represented the first
black African nation to win independence, had an important role to
play in the struggle against capitalist interests on the continent.
As he put it, "the independence of Ghana would be meaningless
unless it was tied to the total liberation of Africa." It was
important, then, he said, for Ghanaians to "seek first the political
kingdom". Economic benefits associated with independence were
to be enjoyed later, proponents of Nkrumah's position argued. But
Nkrumah needed strategies to pursue his goals.
On the domestic front, Nkrumah believed that rapid modernization of
industries and communications was necessary and that it could be achieved
if the workforce were completely Africanized and educated. Even more
important, however, Nkrumah believed that this domestic goal could
be achieved faster if it were not hindered by reactionary politicians
elite's in the opposition parties and traditional chiefs who might
compromise with Western imperialists. From such an ideological position,
Nkrumah supporters justified the Deportation Act of 1957, the Detention
Acts of 1958, 1959 and 1962, parliamentary intimidation of CPP opponents,
the appointment of Nkrumah as president for life, the recognition
of his party as the sole political organisation of the state, the
creation of the Young Pioneer Movement for the ideological education
of the nation's youth, and the party's control of the civil service.
Government expenditure on road building projects, mass education of
adults and children, and health services, as well as the construction
of the Akosombo Dam, were all important if Ghana were to play its
leading role in Africa's liberation from colonial and neocolonial
domination.
On the continental level, Nkrumah sought to unite Africa so that it
could defend its international economic interests and stand up against
the political pressures from East and West that were a result of the
Cold War. His dream for Africa was a continuation of the Pan-Africanist
dream as expressed at the Manchester conference. The initial strategy
was to encourage revolutionary political movements in Africa, beginning
with a Ghana, Guinea, and Mali union that would serve as the psychological
and political impetus for the formation of a United States of Africa.
Thus, when Nkrumah was criticized for paying little attention to Ghana
or for wasting national resources in supporting external programs,
he reversed the argument and accused his opponents of being shortsighted.
But the heavy financial burdens created by Nkrumah's development policies
and Pan-African adventures created new sources of opposition. With
the presentation in July l961 of the country's first austerity budget,
Ghana's workers and farmers became aware of and critical of the cost
to them of Nkrumah's programs. Their reaction set the model for the
protests over taxes and benefits that were to dominate Ghanaian political
crises for the next thirty years.
CPP backbenchers and UP representatives in the National Assembly sharply
criticized the government's demand for increased taxes and, particularly,
for a forced savings program. Urban workers began a protest strike,
the most serious of a number of public outcries against government
measures during 1961. Nkrumah's public demands for an end to corruption
in the government and the party further undermined popular faith in
the national government. A drop in the price paid to cocoa farmers
by the government marketing board aroused resentment among a segment
of the population that had always been Nkrumah's major opponent. |
|
|
Copyright
- The Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress,
Country Studies/Area Handbook Program, sponsored by the U.S.
Data as of November 1994
|
|
