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Kwame Nkrumah

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Akwaba=Welcome (Twi) What day were you born on? Day of the WeekMaleFemale MondayKojoAdjoa TuesdayKwabenaAbena WednesdayKwakuAkua ThursdayYawYaa FridayKofiAfua SaturdayKwameAma SundayKwesiAkosua

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Ghana Throughout the ages The present state of Ghana derives its name from the medieval Ghana-Wagadu Empire of west Africa. Although the name of the empire officially was called Wagadugu, the kings had the title of Ghana. It was absorbed into the larger Kingdom of Mali.

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Etymology of the names Until 1957, after Ghana received its independence from the British, they were called the Gold Coast. The Portuguese came to Ghana in the 15 th century and discovered so much gold between the Ankobra and Volta rivers they called the land Mina-meaning mine in Portuguese. The term Gold Coast was later coined by the English. In 1482 the Portuguese built the castle in Elmina (Elmina castle)- This was one of the many slave forts located along the west African coastline.

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Elmina Castle

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Elmina castle

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History of Elmina Portuguese completed the castle in 1482 During the reign of King Alfonso V of Portugal. This is the oldest European construction in Sub- Saharan Africa. This fort exported 24,000 ounces of gold a year accounting for 1/10 of all the gold exported in the world. It also exported ivory and slaves in mass number.

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The Dutch and Slavery at Sao Jorge da Mina In 1637 the fort was taken over by the Dutch. They made it the capital of the west African trade company and protected it by nearby forts built up on hills. This became a center for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to the Americas and Caribbean. Slavery continued until 1814-until the Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1814 abolished the trade. The English took over the region after the Anglo- Dutch Sumatra Treaties of 1871. It then became known as the Gold Coast.

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The Gold Coast

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Great Britain controlled significantly less territory of West Africa than the French, with the exception of present day Ghana and Nigeria. These two regions were the wealthiest regions in West Africa! After the Sumatra Treaties of 1871, Great Britain controlled the Fante coastal regions bordering the Gulf of Guinea

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Fante Region

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The defeat of the Ashanti: The formation of the Gold coast The British defeated the Ashanti in 1900 and this signified the creation of the Gold coast. After the slave trade was abolished the Gold Coast led the world in rubber exports until Malaysia surpassed it. At this point, Cocoa became the chief export. By 1911, the Gold coast was the worlds leader of Cocoa exports.

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Nana Agyeman Prempeh I (1872- 1931)

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King Prempeh I was king of the Ashanti in Asante region when they were defeated by the British. He refused to accept the idea of being a British protectorate; he and the other members of the Ashanti Royal family were imprisoned, and later exiled to Sierra Leone and Seychelles (1897). This created discontent with the Ashanti people who were angry that their King had been taken. The British released King Prempeh and 54 other exiles in September of 1924. He was returned to Kumasi (capital of Asante people). He regained authority in 1926.

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Rise of Nationalistic sentiments? The educated elite of Ghana attended mission schools in Sierra Leone (Fourah Bay College), UK and USA; which created resentments about civil society, neglect, and inequalities. The educated began demanding more Universities, legislative councils, and civil services. They formed the Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS)-1897. This successfully argued for unclaimed lands to be given to the crown-This delayed the taking of the Forest land between 1911-27.

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Ghanaian Intellectuals: Casely Hayford

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Trained as lawyer at Cambridge. Published Gold Coast Native Institutions: With thoughts Upon A Healthy Imperial Policy For the Gold Coast and Ashanti This text addressed the hope for unity between coastal and Ashanti people of the Gold coast. He was an early nationalist, and Pan-Africanist who advocated African rights against interference from the British. He worked closely with the ARPS, and the movement ended up being mostly centered with the Fante people. He organized the National Congress of British West Africa in 1920-although it was unsuccessful because of territorial distance between colonial communities, traditional belief systems and political competition between western educated Africans.

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Indirect rule and Frederick Gordon Guggisberg Unlike India, Ghana experienced Indirect Rule-which permitted local authorities to rule within the colonial government. This was used in many British colonial governments. The Gold Coast utilized this with the return of King Prempeh I. Brigadier-General Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg was made Governor and commander in Chief of the Gold coast between 1919-1929. He developed railways, port facilities, hospitals, and colleges, He was uncharacteristically interested in creating infrastructure that would serve Africans.

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Reasons for a British rule to Weaken The depression slowed down Great Britain but not enough. ETHIOPIA- Mussolini invades Ethiopia- That was all I needed. At that moment it was almost as if the whole of London had suddenly declared war on me personally. For the next few minutes I could do nothing but glare at each impassive face wondering if those people could possibly realize the wickedness of colonialism, and praying that the day might come when I could play my part in bringing about the downfall of such a system.-Kwame Nkrumah

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Reasons for Weakening empire Both Kwame Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta were students in London at the time of the Abyssinia crisis which illustrated the failures of the League of nations. The 2 nd World War!!!!!!!! -As British regiments were defeated in the south pacific, many colonial subjects saw the weakness of the British Empire Soldiers were exposed to regular British soldiers who were anything but refined. Nearly a million Africans served in WWII, Ghanaians served in mass number in Burma to help liberate it from the Japanese. Demobilized soldiers returned expecting rewards, benefits and fulfillment of promises, which were not granted. (despite being guaranteed in the Atlantic charter).

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A Weakening Empire After WWII Great Britain became a nation in debt. (In part to India) The British believed the indirect model in the Gold coast combined abundant resources, was the best option for economic recovery. They also believed they could share power/resources with local leaders and hold colonial rule.

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India and Pakistan (1947) When India and Pakistan became independent in 1947 a Gold Coast lawyer named JB Danquah established the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC). (Modeled on the INC, and the Indian Independence movement) The UGCC sought self government in the shortest time possible.-similar to the Quit India Campaign. Kwame Nkrumah took up the position as General Secretary of the UGCC.

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The Big 6 The six leaders of the UGCC were: Ebenezer Ako-Adej-Founding member Edward Akufo-Addo-Founding member, Chief Justice, and President J.b. Danquah-founding member Kwame Nkrumah-Prime Minister and President of Ghana Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey-Founding member William Ofori Atta-Founding member

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AWAM boycott And Shooting An organized boycott of European goods took place in January 1948. There was an association of foreign traders known as the Association of West African Merchants (AWAM), who wanted to reduce the price of goods in Ghana. An incident occurred called the Christiansborg cross-roads shooting- where former soldiers of the Gold coast Regiment marched to the Christiansborg Castle to the seat of the colonial government. British troops ordered the regiment to disperse, when they did not they British troops were ordered to fire.

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February 28 th 1948 Boycotts, riots and uprisings across the Gold coast led to the British organizing an all African Committee to create a new constitution. Danquah took part in the committee in 1948. Nkrumah felt that the participants were all men of property and standing and he broke from the committee. Nkrumah then formed the Convention Peoples Party (CPP)

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Kwame Nkrumah and the CPP After breaking from Danquah, Nkrumah pushed vigorously for Independence stressing mass action, non violence and Self-government now. January 1950 he began a campaign of strikes and boycotts to stimulate positive action in a similar fashion to the Indian independence movement. He and his associates were arrested and served three years for subversion. This increased his status as a folk hero to the people.

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Nkrumah and CPP 1951 the CPP became the most popular party and defeated the UGCC, winning 34 out of 38 popularity seats. The British Governor Sir Charles Arden-Clarke decided independence was a better course than repression and released Nkrumah from prison. The UK maintained its presence in the Gold coast from 1951-7 by maintaining control of resources. They increased their profits by 50% in this time period. The goldmines were also still under British ownership. However, there was a steady increase in parliamentary seats and government positions being occupied by Ghanaians.

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Internal tensions Nkrumah and the government negotiated a new constitution which brought fully-elected, internal self- government to the Gold coast in 1954. The CPP won the next round of elections, but their popularity had declined. They lost the popularity of the North, who united with the Ashanti and cocoa farmers against coastal Fante people. Farmers believed that Nkrumah government received high profits from cocoa at the expense of farmers.

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Internal Tensions The cocoa farmers then created the National Liberation Movement, which desired power to be regional in a federal state. Ethnic rivalry between Fante and Ashanti people might have delayed Independence; but Arden-Clarke supported Nkrumahs goal of a peaceful transition. The CPP won the elections in 1956 and the country became Ghana and received its Independence on March 7 th 1957.

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Independence No imperial power has ever granted independence to a colony unless the forces were such that no other course was possible, and there are many instances where independence was only achieved by a war of liberation, but there are many other instances then no such war occurred. The very organization of the forces of independence within the colony was sufficient to convince, the imperial power that resistance to independence would be impossible or that the political and economic consequences of a colonial war outweighed any advantage to be gained by retaining the colony. Kwame Nkrumah

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Ghana After Independence under Kwame Nkrumah Ghana was one of the wealthiest former African colonies. They had roads, railways, well-developed education systems, efficient civil services and a variety of exportable natural resources. (gold, diamonds, manganese, bauxite and a successful cocoa industry.) The first 3 years he implemented a cautious policy where foreign investment in industry was allowed and there was a 5% annual growth in GDP. 75% of the profit was allocated for infrastructure development and social services.

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The 2 nd (5year) plan (1959-64) He allocated even more money to both infrastructure and social services. In 1961 he favored socialist policies for equality. He incorporated state controlled corporations. (47 in 1965). These often worked at a loss because of a lack of trained personal, proper planning, corruption, and dispersal of funds for recruitment of trained staff. Nkrumahs government failed to turn Ghana into the booming industrial state that it had hoped for. People lacked basic commodities; there was high inflation and the country eventually became bankrupt. His government did double the hospitals, health workers, and enrollment in secondary schools.

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Spending Many of the cabinet members of Nkrumah became exceedingly corrupt and embarked on lavish projects that had little viability. Presidential palace, a motorway to Accra and the Volta Dam. The Dam provided electricity to most of the people in Accra (The capital), but later could not even do this. It did not benefit the majority of the Ghanaian people. This project was financed by the World bank, United States, United Kingdom and the Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO), A US company. The Volta Lake is the largest man-made lake in the world. The project pushed Ghana into tremendous debt which has had impacts to the present day.

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Pan-Africanism Nkrumah desired to unite Ghana with its neighbors in a federation. He felt that a United Africa would be a successful model for a strong African Economy. There was a large movement of Pan-Africanism with famous thinkers such as Marcus Garvey. He held conferences in Accra, (All African Peoples Conference)-December 1958. Ghana, along with the UN; helped the Congo when conflict developed between Belgium and indigenous people. non-alignment.

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The Fall of Kwame Nkrumah Many Ghanaians felt that Nkrumah spent too much time working for African unity and not enough on domestic policies. He is credited with the total end of colonial rule within Africa. Although Nkrumah had aims to make a more representative democracy, he ended up creating a Single party state, which was similar to other former colonial governments. This Single party state change occurred in 1964/5. As early as 1958, he passed the Preventative Detention Act, which detained people such as Danquah, who opposed him.

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The Coup By 1965 Ghana was essentially a no party state, where new members of Parliament were not elected, and change seemed impossible. Therefore, on the 24 th of February 1966, while Nkrumah was in Beijing, he was overthrown by the armed forces. He was replaced by the National Liberation Council.