In this post we will be looking at the History of Ghana, Colonialism, Independence, geography and climate with Its politics.
INTRODUCTION.
Ghana is Formerly known as the Gold Coast, Ghana gained independence from Britain in 1957, becoming the first sub-Saharan nation to break free from colonial rule. Gold, cocoa and more recently oil form the cornerstone of Ghana’s economy and have helped fuel an economic boom. The country is named after the great medieval trading empire that was located northwest of the modern-day state until its demise in the 13th century. Nana Akufo-Addo won the presidential election in December 2016, tapping into an electorate fed up with a sputtering economy and ready for change. The erudite 72-year-old human rights lawyer won 53.8% of the vote, according to the country’s election agency, and incumbent John Mahama conceded defeat after a hotly contested race that was seen as a test of the country’s democracy in a region plagued by dictators and coups. President Akufo-Addo won re-election in December 2020, again defeating John Mahama. Ghana enjoys a high degree of media freedom, and the private press and broadcasters operate without significant restrictions. Radio is Ghana’s most popular medium, although it is being challenged by increased access to TV.
HISTORY OF GHANA.
Most of what is now Ghana was inhabited in the Middle Ages and the Age of Discovery by different ethnic groups. The earliest known kingdoms to emerge in modern Ghana were the Mole-Dagbani states. The Mole-Dagomba came on horseback from present-day Burkina Faso under a single leader, Naa Gbewaa. With their advanced weapons and based on a central authority, they easily invaded and occupied the lands of the local people ruled by the tendamba (land god priests), established themselves as the rulers over the locals, and made Gambaga their capital. The death of Naa Gbewaa caused civil war among his children, some of whom broke off and founded separate states including Dagbon, Mamprugu, Mossi, Nanumba and Wala. Although the area of present-day Ghana has experienced many population movements, the Akan-speaking peoples began to move into it toward the end of the 15th century. By the early 16th century, the Akans were firmly established in the Akan state called Bonoman, for which the Brong-Ahafo region was named. From the 17th century, Akans emerged from what is believed to have been the Bonoman area, to create several Akan states, mainly based on gold trading. These states included Bonoman (Brong-Ahafo region), Ashanti (Ashanti Region), Denkyira (Western North region), Mankessim Kingdom (Central region), and Akwamu (Eastern region). By the 19th century, the territory of the southern part of Ghana was included in the Kingdom of Ashanti, one of the influential states in sub-Saharan Africa prior to the onset of colonialism. The government of the Ashanti Empire operated first as a loose network and eventually as a centralized kingdom with an advanced, highly specialized bureaucracy centered in the capital city of Kumasi. Prior to Akan contact with Europeans, the Akan people created an advanced economy based on principally gold and gold bar commodities then traded with the states of Africa. The Ga-Dangme and Ewe migrated westward from south-western Nigeria because of pressure from incessant tribal wars. The Ga- Dangme occupy the Greater Accra Region and parts of the Eastern Region while the Ewe are found in the Volta Region as well as the neighboring Togo and Benin.
COLONIALISM
European traders started gold trading by the mid-17th century, most notably the Swedes, establishing the Swedish Gold Coast (Svenska Guldkusten), and Denmark–Norway, establishing the Danish Gold Coast (Danske Guldkyst or Dansk Guinea). In addition to the gold trade, European traders participated in the Atlantic slave trade in this area. More than 30 forts and castles were built by the merchants. The Germans also established the Brandenburger Gold Coast or Groß Friedrichs burg). In 1874 Great Britain established control over some parts of the country, assigning these areas the status of British Gold Coast. Many military engagements occurred between the British colonial powers and the various Akan nation-states. The Kingdom of Ashanti defeated the British a few times in the 100-year-long Anglo-Ashanti wars but eventually lost with the War of the Golden Stool in 1900.
INDEPENDENCE
In 1947, the newly formed United Gold Coast Convention led by “The Big Six” called for “self-government within the shortest possible time” following the 1946 Gold Coast legislative election. Kwame Nkrumah, a Ghanaian nationalist who led Ghana from 1957 to 1966 as the country’s first prime minister and president, formed the Convention People’s Party in 1949 with the motto “self-government now”. The party initiated a “positive action” campaign involving non-violent protests, strikes and non-cooperation with the British authorities. Nkrumah was arrested and sentenced to one year imprisonment during this time. In the Gold Coast’s 1951 general election, he was elected to Parliament and released from prison to become leader of government business. He became prime minister in 1952. He improved the infrastructure of the country, and his Africanization policies created better career opportunities for Ghanaians. On 6 March 1957 at midnight, the Gold Coast, Ashanti, the Northern Territories and British Togoland were unified as one single independent dominion within the British Commonwealth under the name Ghana. This was done under the Ghana Independence Act 1957. The current flag of Ghana, consisting of the colours red, gold, green, and a black star, dates back to this unification. It was designed by Theodosia Okoh; the red represents the blood that was shed towards independence, the gold represents the industrial minerals wealth of Ghana, the green symbolizes the rich grasslands of Ghana, and the black star is the symbol of the Ghanaian people and African emancipation. On 1 July 1960, following the Ghanaian constitutional referendum and Ghanaian presidential election, Nkrumah declared Ghana a republic and assumed the presidency. 6 March is the nation’s Independence Day, and 1 July is celebrated as Republic Day. At the time of independence Nkrumah declared, “My first objective is to abolish from Ghana poverty, ignorance, and disease. We shall measure our progress by the improvement in the health of our people; by the number of children in school, and by the quality of their education; by the availability of water and electricity in our towns and villages; and by the happiness which our people take in being able to manage their own affairs. The welfare of our people is our chief pride, and it is by this that my government will ask to be judged.”. Nkrumah was the first African head of state to promote the concept of Pan-Africanism, which he had been introduced to during his studies at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania in the United States, at the time when Marcus Garvey was popular for his “Back to Africa Movement”. Nkrumah merged the teachings of Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr. and the naturalized Ghanaian scholar W. E. B. Du Bois into the formation of 1960s Ghana. Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, as he became known, played an instrumental part in the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement, and in establishing the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute to teach his ideologies of communism and socialism. His life achievements were recognized by Ghanaians during his centenary birthday celebration, and the day was instituted as a public holiday in Ghana (Founders’ Day). In 1966–1979 the government of Nkrumah was subsequently overthrown by a coup by the Ghana Armed Forces codenamed “Operation Cold Chop”. This occurred while Nkrumah was abroad with Zhou Enlai in the People’s Republic of China, on a fruitless mission to Hanoi in Vietnam to help end the Vietnam War. The coup took place on 24 February 1966, led by Colonel Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka and Brigadier Akwasi Afrifa. The National Liberation Council was formed, chaired by Lieutenant General Joseph A. Ankrah. A series of alternating military and civilian governments, often affected by economic instabilities, ruled Ghana from 1966 to 1981, ending with the ascension to power of Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings of the Provisional National Defense Council in 1981. These changes resulted in the suspension of the Constitution of Ghana in 1981 and the banning of political parties. The economy soon declined, so Rawlings negotiated a structural adjustment plan changing many old economic policies, and economic growth recovered during the mid-1980s. A new constitution restoring multi-party system politics was promulgated in the presidential election of 1992; Rawlings was elected as president of Ghana then, and again in the general election of 1996. At least 1,000 and as many as 2,000 people were killed during the conflict between the Konkomba and other ethnic groups such as the Nanumba, Dagomba and Gonja, while 150,000 people were displaced as part of the tribal war in Northern Ghana in 1994.
GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
Ghana is located on the Gulf of Guinea, only a few degrees north of the Equator, therefore giving it a warm climate. Ghana spans an area of 238,535 km2 (92,099 sq mi) and has an Atlantic coastline that stretches 560 kilometres (350 miles) on the Gulf of Guinea in Atlantic Ocean to its south. Dodi Island and Bobowasi Island are near the south coast. It lies between latitudes 4°45’N and 11°N, and longitudes 1°15’E and 3°15’W. The prime meridian passes through Ghana, specifically through Tema. Ghana is geographically closer to the “centre” of the Earth than any other country, since the notional centre, (0°, 0°) is located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 614 km (382 mi) off the south-east coast of Ghana. Grasslands mixed with south coastal shrublands and forests dominate Ghana, with forest extending northward from the coast 320 kilometres (200 miles) and eastward for a maximum of about 270 kilometres (170 miles) with several locations for mining of industrial minerals and timber. Ghana is home to five terrestrial ecoregions: Eastern Guinean forests, Guinean forest–savanna mosaic, West Sudanian savanna, Central African mangroves, and Guinean mangroves. It had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.53/10, ranking it 112th globally out of 172 countries. The White Volta River and its tributary Black Volta, flow south through Ghana to Lake Volta, the world’s third-largest reservoir by volume and largest by surface area, formed by the hydroelectric Akosombo Dam, completed in 1965. The Volta flows out of Lake Volta into the Gulf of Guinea. The northernmost part of Ghana is Pulmakong and the southernmost part of Ghana is Cape Three Points. The climate of Ghana is tropical, and there are two main seasons: the wet season and the dry season. Ghana sits at the intersection of three hydro-climatic zones. Changes in rainfall, weather conditions and sea-level rise will affect the salinity of coastal waters. This is expected to negatively affect both farming and fisheries. The national economy stands to suffer from the impacts of climate change because of its dependence on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, energy, and forestry. Moreover, access to fresh water is expected to become more challenging, and reduced water supply will have a negative impact on hydropower, which provides 54% of the country’s electricity capacity. Additionally, Ghana will likely see more cases of malaria and cholera, since both are impacted by changes in water conditions. In 2015, the government produced a document titled “Ghana’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution.” Following that, Ghana signed the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016.
POLITICS.
Ghana is a unitary presidential constitutional democracy with a parliamentary multi-party system that is dominated by two parties—the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Ghana alternated between civilian and military governments until January 1993, when the military government gave way to the Fourth Republic of Ghana after presidential and parliamentary elections in late 1992. The 1992 constitution of Ghana divides powers among a commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces (President of Ghana), parliament (Parliament of Ghana), cabinet (Cabinet of Ghana), council of state (Ghanaian Council of State), and an independent judiciary (Judiciary of Ghana). The government is elected by universal suffrage after every four years. Nana Akufo-Addo won the presidency in the general election in 2016, defeating incumbent John Mahama. He also won the 2020 election. Presidents are limited to two four-year terms in office. The president can serve a second term only upon re-election. The 2012 Fragile States Index indicated that Ghana is ranked the 67th-least fragile state in the world and the fifth-least fragile state in Africa. Ghana ranked 112th out of 177 countries on the index. Ghana ranked as the 64th-least corrupt and politically corrupt country in the world out of all 174 countries ranked and ranked as the fifth-least corrupt and politically corrupt country in Africa out of 53 countries in the 2012 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. Ghana was ranked 7th in Africa out of 53 countries in the 2012 Ibrahim Index of African Governance. The Ibrahim Index is a comprehensive measure of African government, based on variables which reflect the success with which governments deliver essential political goods to its citizens.