History

Political History
'Poli' in Latin means 'many' and 'tics' means 'bloodsucking creatures'.

Political highlights
1957 - independence, Nkrumah of CPP is PM, 2 key parties
1960 - declared republic, one party system, presidential system
1966 - military overthrow of 1st republic
1969 - 2nd republic, Busia of PP is PM, 2 key parties
1972 - military overthrow of 2nd republic
1978 - palace coup to restructure military government
1979 - junior officer uprising and military housecleaning
1979 - ushered third republic, Limann of PNP is President, 3 parties
1981 - overthrow of the constitutional PNP gov't by the PNDC military junta
1983 - Attempted overthrow of the PNDC junta by other junior army men 1992 - Rawlings of NDC is Dem elected as President, 2 parties **
1996 - Rawlings of NDC is re-elected, 2 parties
2001 - Kuffour (NPP) is President

2005 - Kufuor begins second-term in office

Summary: multiparty system 16 years
military system 21 years
oneparty system 6 years

** fraud allegations led to an electoral boycott resulting in an effective one party system. Also, marks the first time when the head of a military regime had contested in an election.

Ghana lies at the heart of a region which has been leading sub-Saharan African culture since the first millenium BC in metal-working mining, sculpture and agriculture.

Modern Ghana takes its name from the ancient kingdom of Ghana, some 800 km. (500 miles) to the north of present-day Accra, which flourished up to the eleventh century AD. One of the great sudanic states which dominate African history, the kingdom of Ghana controlled the gold trade between the min- ing areas to the south and the Saharan trade routes to the north. Ancient Ghana was also the focus for the export trade in Saharan copper and salt.

The coming of Europeans altered the trading patterns, and the focus of economic power shifted to the West African coast- line. The Portuguese came first, seeking the source of the African gold. It lay too far inland for them to reach; but on the Gold Coast they found a region where gold could be obtained, exported along established trade paths from the interior. Their fort at Elmina ("the mine") was the first in a series of forts along the Gold Coast designed to repel the other European seafarers who followed in their wake, all struggling for their share of the profitable Gold Coast trade.

In due course, however, slaves replaced gold as the most lucrative trade along the coast, with the European slave buy- ers using the forts and adjoining buildings for their own accommodation and protection, as well as for storing the goods, mainly guns and gunpowder, which they would barter for slaves. Some of the forts were also used for keeping newly acquired slaves pending the arrival of the ships sent to collect them.

The history of the various forts, given later in this guide, graphically expresses how the various European trading nations fought for our gold, ivory and later, slaves.

But while Europeans quarrelled over access to the coastal trade, and despite the appalling depredations of the slave traders, which left whole regions destroyed and depopulated, the shape of modern Ghana was being laid down. At the end of the 17th century, there were a number of small states on the Gold Coast; by 1750, these had merged, by conquest or diplomacy, into two: the Asante empire, and the Fantes. By the 19th century, the Asantes were seeking mastery of the coast, and especially access to the trading post of Elmina. By this time the British had won control of the coastal trade from the other European nations, and their interests could not tolerate further Asante expansion - more so since the Asante Empire was known for its sophisticated admin- istrative efficiency and would have been difficult or im- possible to best at trade. Nevertheless it took a series of military campaigns over some 50 years before the British were finally able to force the Asantes to give up sovereignty over their southern possessions. In a final campaign in 1874 the British attempted, without success, to seize Asante; they were however able to take Kumasi and exact a huge ransom for it in gold; and the vast Asante empire shrunk to the Asante and Brong-Ahafo regions of modern Ghana.

Meanwhile, the Fantes too had been uniting and organiz- ing, and in 1868 formed themselves into a confederacy under a king-president with a 15,000 strong army, a civil service and a constitution. In 1871 the British arrested the Fante leaders for "treason". They were however freed a month later, but the con- federacy never recovered from the blow. In 1874 the British for- mally established the British Crown Colony of the Gold Coast, "legalizing" a colonial policy which had in fact been in force since the signing of the bond between the coastal Chiefs and the British in 1844, despite the fact that the Chiefs never ceded sovereignty to the British under the bond, though some of them allowed British intervention in judicial matters.

The Asante and Fante traditions of education and organ- ization, and their urge for autonomy, remained throughout the years of British colonial rule. The Gold Coast was regarded as the showpiece of Britain's colonies: the richest, the best educat- ed, the first to have an elected majority in the legislature and with the best organized native authorities. The Gold Coast riots in 1948, which marked the start of the people's agitation for independence, were instrumental in changing British policy and drove home the point that colonialism had no future.

But a long struggle still lay ahead - and the man who was the catalyst of that struggle was Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

Born in 1909, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah trained as a teacher at Achimota College in Ghana and then in the United States and Britain, where he obtained his degrees.

He became prominent as a leader of West African organiza- tions in London and was invited to return to Ghana as general secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention. In 1949 he broke away to from the Convention People's Party with the slo- gan Self-Government Now.

In February 1951 the party swept to victory in the polls and became the leaders of Govermnent business in the colony's first African government. The Gold Coast had become the first British colony in Africa to achieve self-government. Govt in 1957

On 6 March 1957 Ghana achieved independence - again, the first British colony in Africa to do so - with Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as its first Prime Minister. On 1st July,1960 it became a republic with Kwame Nkrumah as its first President.

Ghana spearheaded the political advancement of Africa and Dr. Nkrumah laid the foundations for the unity later expressed in the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). He was a firm supporter of the Commonwealth and the Non-Aligned movement.

On 24th February 1966, the government of Dr. Nkrumah was overthrown by the Ghana armed forces and the police. A National Liberation Council (NLC), headed by Lt. General Joseph Arthur Ankrah, was formed to administer the country.

General Ankrah was removed from office in April 1969 and Lt. General Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa became the Chairman of the NLC, which later gave way to a three-man Presidential Commission with General Afrifa as chairman. The Commission paved the way for a general election in 1969 which brought into power the Progress Party government, with Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia as Prime Minister and Mr. Edward Akufo Addo as president.

The Ghana armed forces again took over the reins of gov- ernment on 13th January 1972, and Colonel (later General) Ignatius Kutu Acheampong became the Head of State and Chairman of the National Redemption Council (NRC). The name of the NRC was later changed to the Supreme Military Council (SMC). General Acheampong was replaced by General F.W.K. Akuffo in a palace coup in July 1978.

The SMC was overthrown on 4th June 1979, in a mass revolt of junior officers and men of the Ghana armed forces. Following the uprising, an Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) was set up under the chairmanship of Flt.-Lt. Jerry John Rawlings. The AFRC carried out a house-cleaning exercise in the armed forces and society at large, while restoring a sense of moral responsibility and the principle of accountability and pro- bity in public life. The AFRC was in office for only three months and, in pursuance of a programme already set in motion before the uprising, allowed general elections to be held. On 24th September 1979, the AFRC handed over power to the civilian administration of Dr. Hilla Limann, leader of the People's National Party which had won the elections.

In the wake of the continuing downward plunge of the coun- try, the Limann administration was overthrown on 31st December 1981, ushering in a new revolutionary era of far-reach ing reforms and rehabilitation at all levels. Flt.-Lt. Rawlings became the Chairman of a nine-member Provisional National Defence Ruling Council, (PNDC) with Secretaries of State in charge of the various ministries being responsible to the PNDC .

Immediately on assumption of office, the PNDC set up a National Commission for Democracy (NCD) charged with for- mulating a programme for the more effective realisation of true democracy. The Govemment of the PNDC also provided for the establishment of elected District Assemblies to bring local government to the grassroots.

In 1990, the NCD, at the prompting of the PNDC, organised forums in all the 10 regions of the country at which Ghanaians of all walks of life advanced their views as to what form of gov- ernment they wanted. These views were collated and analysed by the NCD whose final report indicated that the people want- ed a multi-party system of government.

This led to the appointment of a Committee of Experts to draw up constitutional proposals for the consideration of a Consultative Assembly. The Assembly prepared a draft consti- tution based on proposals submitted to it by the PNDC, as well as previous constitutions of 1957,1969 and 1979, and the report of the Committee of Experts. The final draft constitution was unanimously approved by the people in a referendum on April 28,1992.

Among other things, the Constitution provides for an Executive President elected by universal adult suffrage for a term of four years and eligible for re-election for only one addi- tional term. In the presidential elections held on November 3, 1992, Flt.-Lt- Rawlings who stood on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), garnered 58.8% of the 3,989,020 votes cast to beat to second place his closest rival Prof. Albert Adu Boahen representing the New Patriotic Party who polled 30.4% of the votes. Other contestants for the presidency were former president Dr. Hilla limann of the People's National Convention (6.7%), Mr. Kwabena Darko of the National Independence Party (2.8%) and Lt-Gen. Emmanuel Erskine representing the People's Heritage Party (1.7%).

In the parliamentary elections held on December 29,1992, the Progressive Alliance made up of the National Democratic Congress, the National Convention Party and the Egle Party won 198 seats out of a total of 200, within the Alliance the NDC won 189 seats, the NCP had 8, the Egle Party 2, and Independents 2. Four parties - the NPP, PNC, NIP and PHP - boycotted the parliamentary elections, disatisfied with the pro posed election strategy.

The Fourth Republic was inaugurated on January 7,1993 with the swearing-in of Flt. Lt. Rawlings as President and his running mate, Mr.K.N. Arkaah as Vice President. The newly elected Parliament was opened on the same day and elected, Mr. Justice D.F. Annan as Speaker.

1996: Rawlings was re-elected for a second term

In the December 7, 2000 elections, John A. Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), won the largest share of the presidential vote with 48.17% of the vote, compared to 44.54.% for Rawlings vice-president and hand-picked successor, John Atta Mills of the NDC. The NPP also won 100 of the 200 seats in Parliament. The NDC won 92 seats, while independent and small party candidates won eight seats. In the December 28 run-off election, with pledges of support form the other five opposition parties, Kufuor defeated Mills by winning 56.73% of the vote and the NPP picked up one additional MP by winning a by-election, giving them 100 seats and a majority in Parliament. Both rounds of the election were observed, and declared free and fair by a large contingent of domestic and international monitors. President Kufuor took the oath of office on January 7, 2001, becoming the first elected president in Ghanas history to succeed another elected president. He was re-elected in December 2004 for a second four-year term, becoming the first civilian president (without a military background) to fully serve his tenure and go ahead to be re-elected.
Political outlook
Under Jerry Rawlings' rule, Ghana became the most politically stable and prosperous nation in West Africa and provided a model of development for the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. This may continue under President Kufuor if the new government and opposition remain mindful of the turbulence in neighbouring Cte d'Ivoire and try to quell some of the grassroots violence seen during the last general election and in Dagbon in 2002.

Political instability and the intervention of the military is unlikely, particularly given Kufuor's ability to turn the Ghanaian economy around since he came to power. Despite his outbursts, Rawlings' career as a serial coup maker appears to be over. Nevertheless, following his inauguration in January 2001, President Kufuor appeared to backtrack on many popular policies which brought him electoral success. Apparently more interested in appeasing Western donors and international financial institutions than bolstering his own popularity, Kufuor pledged a period of austerity measures. He claims he is fully aware of the dangers this could pose to Ghana's political stability. In his swearing-in ceremony he warned that the ailing economy would 'put severe strains on our people's beliefs and enthusiasm for the democratic process' unless donors step up their assistance.

Colonial period: AD 1902-1957

In 1901, taking effect from 1 January 1902, Ashanti is declared a British crown colony. The regions further north become at the same time the Protectorate of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast.

The colonial years are relatively prosperous and untroubled. At first little is done to involve the African population in the political processes of the colony. But in the years immediately after World War II events move so fast that the Gold Coast becomes the first colony in sub-Saharan Africa to win its independence. The turning point is the return home in 1947 of Kwame Nkrumah after twelve years of study and radical politics in the USA and Britain.

Nkrumah is invited back to the Gold Coast to become general secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention, an organization campaigning for self-government. The UGCC has won the right (in 1946) for an African majority in the colony's legislative assembly, but the fight is now on for a share in executive power.

Nkrumah rapidly extends the movement's popular base, with the result that there are widespread riots in February 1948. The older UGCC leaders are alarmed by this (and by their brief arrest with Nkrumah). A split within the movement leads to Nkrumah founding in June 1949 the Convention People's Party, committed to immediate self-government.

From January 1950 Nkrumah organizes a campaign of nonviolent protests and strikes, which lands him back in gaol. But in the colony's first general election, in February 1951, the CPP wins convincingly even in the absence of its leader. Nkrumah is released from prison to join the government. In 1952 he becomes prime minister.

During the years of preparation for independence the neighbouring British Togo votes, in a 1956 plebiscite, to merge with the Gold Coast. It is therefore a slightly extended territory which becomes independent in 1957 under Nkrumah's leadership. A new name of great resonance in African history is adopted - Ghana (although the ancient kingdom of that name was far to the north, in present-day Mali)

Independence: from AD 1957

Nkrumah, well aware of his status at the head of the first west African nation to emerge from colonialism, dreams of leading the continent into a Marxist future. This requires a republic, which Ghana becomes in 1960 with Nkrumah as president for life. It also needs only one political party, the CPP. However Nkrumah's authoritarian rule, combined with a collapse in the nation's economy, prompts a coup when the president is away in China in 1966 (he goes into exile in Guinea).

It is the first of several such coups in Ghana's short history, but the nation remains true to the hope of democracy. In four decades Ghana establishes as many new republics.

A general election launching the second republic, in 1969, brings to power Kofi Busia, a university professor with a long track record in Ghanaian politics as an opponent of Nkrumah. But he is unable to improve Ghana's economic performance (weakened by low cocoa prices), and he is removed by military officers in 1972.

For a few years from 1972 a military regime rules with repressive brutality, under the successive leadership of two generals, Ignatius Acheampong and Frederick Akuffo. But by 1979 a group of younger officers has had enough. Led by Jerry Rawlings, a flight lieutenant in the air force, they take power. Acheampong and Akuffo are executed. Arrangements are put in place for speedy elections.

The third republic, in 1979, lasts only two years before Rawlings and his fellow officers intervene again. After his second coup Rawlings takes personal power, ruling through a Provisional National Defence Council which has the specific brief to organize a renewal of the nation's political and economic life down to village level.

Rawlings proves an efficient leader, winning international support for his economic policies, and the 1990s demonstrate that he has popular approval as well. In the prevailing fashion for multiparty democracy, Ghana holds elections in 1992 in preparation for its fourth republic.

Rawlings transforms his ruling council into a political party, the National Democratic Congress. The NDC wins nearly all the seats in parliament and Rawlings is elected president. But only 29% of the electorate vote, and most of the opposition parties boycott the election. The 1992 result can hardly be taken as a popular mandate.

However elections in 1996, at the end of the four-year term, are altogether more significant. There are other presidential candidates, at least one of them enjoying wide support. Yet Rawlings astonishes observers by winning 57% of the vote, to his nearest rival's 40%. And the NDC retains its absolute majority in parliament.

After two terms as an elected president, Rawlings stands down for the presidential election of December 2000. It is won by the opposition leader, John Kufuor.

A chronology of key events:

1482 - Portuguese set up trading settlement.


GHANA'S MOST FAMOUS SON
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan: recognised the world over as the public face of the UN

Profile: UN chief 1997 - 2006
1874 - British proclaim coastal area a crown colony.

1925 - First legislative council elections take place.

1957 March - Ghana becomes independent with Kwame Nkrumah as prime minister.

1960 - Ghana proclaimed a republic; Nkrumah elected president.

1964 - Ghana becomes a one-party state.

1966 - Nkrumah overthrown in military coup; Russian and Chinese technicians expelled.

1969 - New constitution facilitates transfer of power to civilian government led by Kofi Busia.


AFRICAN TRAIL BLAZER
Independence leader Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah triggered a wave of liberation movements
Hailed as hero when he led Ghana to independence in 1957
Fell from grace as economy collapsed and he became ever more authoritarian
Ousted in 1966

On This Day 1957
Story of Africa - Independence
1972 - Busia ousted in military coup led by Colonel Ignatius Acheampong.

1978 - Acheampong forced to resign; General Frederick Akuffo takes over.

Rawlings era

1979 - Akuffo deposed in coup led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings. Acheampong and Akuffo tried and executed on charges of corruption.

1979 September - Rawlings hands over power to an elected president, Hilla Limann.

1981 - Limann ousted in military coup led by Rawlings after two years of weak government and economic stagnation.

1983 - Rawlings adopts conservative economic policies, abolishing subsidies and price controls, privatising many state enterprises and devaluing the currency.

1992 - Referendum approves new constitution introducing a multiparty system. Rawlings elected president.

1994 - One thousand people are killed and a further 150,000 are displaced in the Northern Region following ethnic clashes between the Konkomba and the Nanumba over land ownership.


COUP LEADER
Jerry Rawlings, former president
Airforce pilot Jerry Rawlings ruled for two decades
1979 - Ousted military, handed power to elected president
1981 - Seized power. Won elections in 1992 and 1996
Stood down in 2001
Leads main opposition party

2000: Rawlings - The legacy
1994 June - Seven ethnic groups involved in violence in Northern Region sign peace agreement.

1995 - Government imposes curfew in Northern Region as renewed ethnic violence results in a further 100 deaths.

1996 - Jerry Rawlings re-elected president.

Kufuor elected

2000 - December - John Kufuor beats Vice-President John Atta Mills in the presidential election.

2001 February - Petrol prices rise by 60% following the government's decision to remove fuel subsidies.

2001 April - Ghana accepts debt relief under a scheme designed by the World Bank and the IMF.

2001 May - National day of mourning after football stadium stampede leaves 126 dead. Inquiry blames police for overreacting to crowd trouble.

2001 June - Government scraps public holiday celebrating Rawling's military coup in an effort to wipe out the legacy of his rule.


Cape Coast
Cape Coast, once a centre of the slave trade

2004: UN opens slavery remembrance year
2001 June - Floods hit Accra, causing 10 deaths and forcing 100,000 to flee their homes.

2002 April - State of emergency is declared in the north after a tribal chief and more than 30 others are killed in clan violence. State of emergency is lifted in August 2004.

2002 May - President Kufuor inaugurates reconciliation commission to look into human rights violations during military rule.

2003 October - Government approves merger of two gold-mining firms, creating new gold-mining giant.

2004 February - Former President Jerry Rawlings testifies at commission investigating human rights offences during the early years of his rule.


Accra skyline
Accra, the capital, is renowned for its beaches, nightlife
1877: Becomes capital of Britain's Gold Coast colony
Population: 1 million
2004 October - Group of current and former military personnel detained on suspicion of planning to destabilise government ahead of elections.

2004 December - Presidential poll: Incumbent John Kufuor wins a second term.

2005 April-May - Thousands of Togolese refugees arrive, fleeing political violence in their home country.

2006 April - A boat capsizes on Lake Volta reservoir; more than 100 passengers are feared drowned.

2006 June - Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao promises to lend Ghana about $66m to fund development projects. He is on an African tour aimed at opening new export markets for China's booming economy and at securing energy and mineral supplies.

2007 March - Ghana celebrates 50 years of independence from Britain.

2007 June - Major off-shore oil discovery announced. President Kufuor says oil will turn Ghana into an "African tiger".

2007 September - The worst floods for more than 30 years cause widespread devastation, destroying much of the annual harvest.

2007 December - President Kufuor says off-shore oil reserves total 3 billion barrels.

2008 December - John Atta Mills, candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress, is elected president, narrowly winning a run-off vote against Nana Akufo-Addo, of incumbent President John Kufuor's New Patriotic Party.