Politics (Ghana)

The formal incorporation of (Gold Coast) Ghana into the British Empire occurred after the 1902 battle in which the Asante Empire was thorougly defeated and its royalty banished into exile first in Sierra Leone and later to teh Sechyelles. However, even prior to this defeat, there were diverse social and political movements that agitated for some sort of social, economic and political rights. Among these were the association of states which came to be known as the Fante Confederacy and the Aborrigines Rights Protection Society. Real struggles for political freedome started in the late 1940s when the United Coast Convention (UGCC) formed by some of the established educated elite. The Secretary-General of the party, Kwame Nkrumah, who had horned his political skills in the United Kingdom during the 1945 Pan African Congress in Machester formed a more radical socialist oriented party called the Convention People’s Party (CPP).
As a result of this formation, an inchoate two-party system developed in Ghanaian politics which is still apparent in Ghanain politics. Several referenda were held in which the CPP under Nkrumah’s leadership consistently won. Finally, in 1951 the country was granted self rule under which the CPP administration could rule with the exception of the Finance, Defence and Foreign Ministries. Further agitation led to the declaration of independence on 6 March 1957 with Kwame Nkrumah as Prime Minister and the Queen of England as the ceremonial Head of State.

(ghana nation)