January 7, 2013; John Dramani Mahama sworn in as President of Ghana

John Dramani Mahama was sworn in as Ghana's president Monday, January 7, 2013, by Chief Justice Theodora Wood, following a disputed presidential and parliamentary polls. However, members of the main opposition party boycotted the ceremony, saying the vote was stolen.

Mahama took the oath of office before regional heads of state, dignitaries and tens of thousands of citizens Monday, promising he would not let his country down.

“There is a torch that is passed from one era of Ghanaians to the next. It is fragile and as irreplaceable as any family treasure," he said. "Ladies and gentlemen, that torch is now in our possession …It is doing our best that we can make Ghana its best… I will do my best, I will give of my best and I will ensure that my actions make a positive difference in the lives of Ghanaians.”

Mahama's election victory was contested by the opposition New Patriotic Party, but Accra’s streets remained peaceful and thousands of Mahama supporters cheered and beat drums in support of their president.

The 54-year-old Mr. Mahama first took office in July following the death of former President John Atta Mills. He won the December 7 poll with an absolute majority of 50.7 percent, beating his main challenger, Nana Akufo-Addo, by three percent, according to the electoral commission.

Mahama's National Democratic Congress party also won a majority of the 275 seats in parliament.

The new president has promised to continue the initiatives of his predecessor to bring better infrastructure, schools and hospitals to the people of Ghana.

The inaugural ceremony was boycotted by the New Patriotic Party, which says the electoral commission counted invalid votes. International observers said the election was free and fair.

January 7, 1955: Gov. Arden-Clarke imposes Peace Preservation Ordinance on Ashanti

The tumultuous years of 1954 through1957 saw a violent political confrontation between the National Liberation Movement (NLM), which was formed on September 19, 1954, and the Convention People’s Party (CPP) government. The causes that gave rise to this movement were rooted in a complex emergence of material and regional interests in the country. The loss of Asante’s historic hegemony over a country it once ruled, in addition to the fact that a large proportion of the country’s major exports (gold, timber, and cocoa) originated in the Ashanti region fueled Asante grievances. Another factor contributing to the conflict in Ashanti was the twenty seats allocated to the region by the Van Lare Commission. Inflaming the discontent among the CPP in Ashanti was Nkrumah’s May 1954 public expulsion of the 81 rebel CPP candidates at a mass rally in Kumasi at the Subin River Valley. The site of the expulsion was significant, for the Central Committee of the CPP were fully aware that the rebellion had come from the CPP Asante candidates and they, therefore, openly sought to teach them a lesson as well as make an example of them. However, the critical factor that galvanized some elements in Ashanti to launch the “Council for Higher Cocoa Prices” was the CPP’s introduction of the Cocoa Duty and Development Funds (amendment) bill in August 1954. Among the organizers of the council was ex- CPP member E. Y. Baffoe.

The chair of the movement was Nana Bafuour Osei Akoto, who was senior linguist to the Asantehene and a major cocoa producer. Akoto read out the “Aims and Objects of the Liberation Movement” to a crowd of over 40,000 people on the inaugural day. In short, the movement demanded that the price of cocoa be increased from 72 shillings to 150 shillings and a federal constitution be introduced to the Gold Coast. It stated that the people and the movement had no confidence in the government of Nkrumah and the CPP.

Nkrumah considered the economic grievances of the Asantes to be unfounded, for in his opinion, such detractors did not consider the new hospital, library, national bank, and other constructions recently built in Kumasi. Furthermore, “the NLM did not seem to realize that the cocoa, which they felt so possessive about, would be worthless without the labor, which came mainly from the Northern Territories, and without the exportation which was carried out in the South.” For Nkrumah, cocoa was a national economic asset that was not the monopoly of one region or one group of people; its economic wealth belonged to the entire nation. This was an uncompromising conviction he advocated throughout his life. Similarly, his concept of government remained wedded to supreme legislative power remaining at the center and “was not broad enough to encompass the demand, within his own country, for Asante autonomy”.

January 7, 1950: The Trade Union Congress (TUC) call a general strike

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) which is the umbrella body of trade unions in Ghana was formally inaugurated in 1945 and was known as the Gold Coast Trade Union Congress (GCTUC). Its operations started in the offices of the Workers Union (RWU -known as ‘Loco’) at Sekondi. The numerical strength of the union was 6,030 at the time of inauguration. The President and the Secretary of the union were C. W. Techie-Menson and Manfred Gaisie respectively.

The GCTUC had considerable influence and legitimacy among Ghanaians, most especially the working population. On 11th May, 1948, the Executive Board warned of an organized protest for the release of political leaders of UGCC. These leaders popularly referred to as the Big Six in Ghana’s political history were Akuffo-Addo, Kwame Nkrumah, Ako Adjei, J. B. Danquah, William Ofori-Atta and Obetsebi-Lamptey. On 18th March, the government invited the Executive Board of the TUC led by Mr. Frank Wood to the Castle. Subsequently, the Watson Commission was set up to look into the matter. Upon the recommendation of the Commission, the leaders were released on 11th April, 1948. Consequently, provisions were made by the government to include GCTUC representatives in “the planning and execution of public works.” Furthermore, as noted earlier, GCTUC as a gesture of solidarity embarked on a general strike on 7th January, 1950 to support the Meteorological Department Workers Union who had been dismissed for embarking on a strike. However, on 8th January, 1950, the CPP also declared “Positive Action.” The strike which lasted for about 13 days was “very effective only for about three days, when transportation was paralyzed, shops and markets were closed and the streets were deserted.” Government declared a state of emergency and imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the big towns. When an announcement was made on the Broadcasting Station of the Gold Coast, Radio ZOY, that, people were being recruited into the civil service, some of the striking workers started reporting to work. As a result, the general strike was quelled.

The colonial authorities until 1950 had succeeded in preventing trade unions from aligning themselves with the nationalist movements. The labor unions that existed at the time were largely unsuccessful as collective bargaining agents. There existed several trade unions with limited memberships. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) formed a friendship with the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) through close working relationship. This alliance which ensured the prosperity of the TUC, however, became costly to the union with the change in government.

January 5, 2012: The Progressive Peoples Party applies formally for registration.

The Progressive Peoples Party (In Akan: Kɔ anim ɔmanfo Apontow) was formed following a declaration on 28 December 2011 by Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom for progressive and independent-minded people to rise and cause to be formed an alternative political movement. The interim leadership of the progressive movement began a nationwide campaign to recruit members to form Interim Regional and Constituency Executives. The team visited all the ten regions of Ghana. In January 5, 2012 the party submitted an application to the Electoral Commission for registration in accordance with the Political Parties Act. The party received its provisional certificate on Friday 3 February 2012. The party went to the first National Convention on 25 February 2012 which was held at the Accra Sports Stadium. The Final Certificate was received on Thursday 15 March 2012. The party’s ultra-modern National Head Office Building is located at Asylum Down, Accra. The motto of the party is "Prosperity in Peace" with "Awake" as the slogan.

January 3, 2013: The Opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) filed a lawsuit challenging the results of Ghana's 2012 elections

On January 3, 2013, Ghana's main opposition political party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) filed a petition at the country's highest court, the Supreme Court, challenging the validity of the presidential election.

In papers filed earlier, the NPP says it will call up to 25 witnesses, as it seeks to overturn the 7 December 2012 presidential election, which they say was fraught with irregularities.

The NPP claims there were irregularities in the polls that saw President John Mahama polling 5,574,761 (50.70%), while the party's presidential candidate Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, had 5,248,898 of the valid votes cast, representing 47.74%.

After the results were announced, the NPP staged a number of protests rejecting the Electoral Commission's results, while promising to take legal action.

Nana Addo, his running mate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, the party chairman were fronting the unprecedented lawsuit.

The party claimed, according to its own calculations, Nana Addo won 50.28% of the popular vote, with President Mahama coming second with 48.26%.

The NPP said they had identified diverse and flagrant violations of the statutory provisions and regulations governing the presidential polls, which substantially affected the outcome of the polls.

For instance they claimed the electoral commission permitted voting to take place in many polling stations without letting voters go through biometric verification, some signed documents reportedly had identical serial numbers and some presiding officers did not sign final outcomes of results.

The plaintiffs said when they added up all the voting anomalies countrywide, the number of irregularities amounted to 1,340,018, a figure significant enough to sway the results.

The electoral commission and President Mahama, the two respondents, had 21 days to respond to the petition.

"This case is not a personal one. There is a much more important issue which goes to the very heart of our democracy," Nana Addo told a press conference after lodging the suit.

"A lot of irregularities got to us, which showed that the election results were not satisfactory."

He said the NPP had alerted the electoral commission of the irregularities, they were told "you can go to court if you are not satisfied".

"We are strengthening democracy to ensure that the EC (Electoral Commission) knows it is responsible to the people. We are very confident that by the time the Supreme Court makes its pronouncement, democracy in the country would be stronger."

January 2, 2009: JE Atta-Mills wins election to become President of Ghana

Opposition NDC candidate John Evans Atta Mills narrowly won Ghana's presidential election, the Ghana Electoral Commission said on its Web site on January 2, 2009. The chairman of the Ghana Electoral Commission, Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, said Mills had garnered about 4,521,032 votes, or about 50.2 percent of the total votes cast.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, of the incumbent New Patriotic Party, won about 49.77 percent of the total valid votes cast, Afari-Gyan said, according to the commission's Web site.

The two men led a field of eight candidates in the December 7 general election, but neither secured a majority of the votes. Akufo-Addo had held a slight lead in that vote.

The runoff election was so close that it could not be decided until the last of the 230 constituencies, the Tain constituency, voted after all other constituencies had been counted and certified.

"On the basis of the official results given, the results of the run-off election in the Tain constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, which was held on the 2nd January 2009, it is my duty to declare Professor John Evans Atta Mills the President-elect of Ghana," Afari-Gyan said, according to the government's Web site.

Both parties had alleged irregularities in voting in the Ashanti region and Volta regions, but Afari-Gyan said the commission did not find evidence in "purely electoral matters" that invalidated the results.

Mills, 64, will replace John Agyekum Kufuor as Ghana's president on January 7. Kufuor is stepping down after serving two four-year terms, the maximum allowed.

Culled from CNN report on January 2, 2009

January 2nd, 1964: Police Constable Ametewee fails in assassination attempt on Nkrumah

As Ghana entered 1964, at about 1.15 pm on Thursday, January 2nd, President Nkrumah of Ghana left his office at Flagstaff House to return to Christiansborg Castle for lunch. As he moved towards his car, across the courtyard, he was accompanied by two security guards – one Salifu Dagarti, a veteran British-trained police professional, the other an amateur provided by the President’s own party, CPP. A rifle shot rang out. It had been fired from behind some sort of cover – perhaps about 50 yards away – by Constable Ametewee, one of the policemen on guard at Flagstaff House who had been transferred for duty there only a day or two previously. The driver of the President’s car immediately disappeared. The CPP security guard hid for his life behind the car. The President and Salifu dived for cover.

Salifu got up to see what was going on and was instantly shot through the head. Two more shots were fired. One or both of them ripped through the President’s shirt but were apparently deflected by his bullet-proof vest.
Constable Ametewee then attempted to fire his fifth and last round, but the bullet was accidentally ejected. The President, perhaps seeing what had happened, got up and ran. The distance he covered was considerable. And, as he ran, he shouted for help. A number of armed policemen apparently watched with interest to see how the incident would end but did not move.
Senior officials similarly watched from the windows of nearby offices, one of them confining himself to the single comment: ‘They’ve bungled it again’.
As the President approached the kitchen of Flagstaff House, the Constable caught up with him and tried to club him with his rifle butt, but the rifle slipped from his hands. Inside the kitchen, the President and the Constable finally got to grips. The Constable bit the President’s cheek. The President kicked the Constable in the groin and the latter momentarily collapsed. At that stage, other policemen arrived on the scene and decided the time had come to intervene.
Constable Ametewee was quickly knocked out and left lying on the ground. The President, having changed his shirt and had his cheek dressed by a Russian doctor, had his photograph taken crouching over his assailant, as he might have done had he just overpowered him. He then left for the Castle, from which he has not since emerged.
From 1.45pm onwards, it was clear to any casual onlooker that something serious had happened at Flagstaff House around which a cordon of troops had been thrown. It was not till 4pm that a brief announcement was made on Ghana Radio to the effect that an unsuccessful attempt had been made on the President’s life, that he was unhurt and that the assailant was in custody. For over 12 hours, neither press nor radio had any further light to throw on the subject, although the same evening the Russian ambassador was already telling his diplomatic colleagues that the President had ‘overpowered his assailant’.

Salifu Dagarti was venerated as a national hero and given a state burial with full military honours. It was announced that his dependents were to be cared for by the state, going forward.

The most immediate practical effect of the attack, was that the personal protection of the President was taken completely out of the hands of the police and given to the Army. This meant in effect that the Presidential Guard (a battalion, trained and equipped by the Russians) took over, complete as opposed to partial guard duties at the Castle. But other units of the Army were also involved. Two battalions were put on alert and a Brigadier placed under the President’s direct command.
On 5th January, the commissioner of police, two deputy commissioners, six assistant commissioners and one superintendent – over half the higher command of the police force – were dismissed (the first of the ‘purges’) and the whole force began to be disarmed, their armories being taken over by the Army. The Police Force was put under the acting command of the former head of Special Branch – Assistant Commissioner John Har1ley.
As this dispatch issue, the present situation is that the President has still never (not even in the company of Chou en-Lai) publicly emerged from the Castle, where he is closely guarded by heavily armed troops and that the police force, having been stripped of their senior officers and arms, are disorganised and demoralised …
Inevitably, excesses of power and fear have brought with them over the years the attitudes and instruments of repression. It is, of course, true – and one of the mercies for which we must be truly thankful – that Dr Nkrumah does not like killing: he probably does not even like violence in any form. But he shows no compunction at all about locking people up in prison, if necessary without any charges and if necessary for years. It is the fear of the police coming in the night and removing the head of the household without any explanation to disappear into Preventive Detention for goodness knows how many years that is the most powerful instrument of intimidation in Ghana today.
It is not known how many people are in preventive detention in Ghana at present. No names or figures are ever published, but the number is certainly considerable. But, beyond that, hundreds more are taken away from time to time for ‘questioning’ and held incommunicado for weeks or months … There is still laughter and easy talk amongst this inherently happy people, but before they start their conversations, they now tend to take a good look over their shoulders to see who is listening.
Wherever and however it started, President Nkrumah has become entangled with communism to an extent that can no longer be written off as a mere flirtation. This is not to suggest that he is in any sense a ‘satellite’ of the Russians or the Chinese. He is an African first and Kwame Nkrumah above all.
There is little doubt he prefers the Russians: he probably admires their more flexible political approach and their great material advances … To some extent too the Russians seem to have got him under their influence. Their ambassador here is a most effective operator and spends much time with the President …
Though President Nkrumah appears to have largely lost the mass appeal which originally swept him to power, he still has a considerable personal magnetism, conveyed through bright eyes and an infectious smile, which can affect not only individuals but on occasions groups of people like Parliament. He often appears to agree with anyone who is talking to him – thus at least temporarily ingratiating himself – only to adopt or get others to adopt for him a totally different course later on.
Though he still, therefore, deludes the few with ‘charm’, he is, in fact, for this and other reasons a most dangerous man. He is exceptionally vain. He is spiteful, impatient of argument, and deceitful. He gives an impression at times of helplessness and weakness and of being pushed around by his advisers. Part of this is due to muddle in his own mind – he is not a good administrator and does not understand economics: part of it is undoubtedly a pose.
There is in fact an extraordinary consistency in some of his long term objectives, e.g African Unity and an exceptional ruthlessness in pursuing them. It is indeed really he who pushes others around playing one aspirant for influence off against the other. He lives now in a state of acute fear. President Kennedy’s death following his own escape at Kulungugu were bad enough.
But after the latest shooting, he is so frightened that, according to the most reliable sources, he dare not even take a walk in the gardens of Christiansborg Castle. But perhaps his most conspicuous characteristic is that he regards himself as what Hegel described as a world-historical individual’.
Though he passes it off with an easy and almost modest smile, he has become obsessed with a sense of destiny. In this respect, a doctor who has had an opportunity of observing him at close quarters for more than a week, has described him as a paranoiac.
In short, there is very little in the Nkrumah character of today either to attract or to offer hope for the future. Whatever he said to be like, he is now thoroughly corrupted by power.
Source: Culled from report to Foreign Secretary, Rt. Hon Duncan Sandys from the British High Commissioner in Accra.

December Ghana History Moments in Review

January 1, 1835: Rev Joseph Dunwell arrives in the Gold Coast

Joseph Rhodes Dunwell was sent to the Gold Coast in January 1835 as one of nine missionaries sent by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS) to work in Africa and overseas. Unfortunately by June 25, 1835 he was dead from malaria.

Before his death, Dunwell had led the few educated men later to become the pillars of the church into a deeper understanding of the Christian faith. He also reconciled the two factions of Smith and de-Graft and on March 26, 1835, he issued to fifty adherents, the first Methodist Church membership cards ever given in Ghana. This act marked the formal establishment of the Methodist Church in Ghana. These first formal adherents of the Methodist faith were so nurtured that the untimely death of their Reverend Minister would not permanently shake their faith. Before him, a number of missionaries of other denominations – Anglican, Dutch Reformed Church, French and Portuguese Catholic priests, and Presbyterians had worked in the Gold Coast with similar intentions of propagating the Gospel resulting in the creation of pockets of Christian communities prior to 1835.

In the first eight years of the Church’s life, 11 out of 21 Missionaries who worked in the Gold Coast died. Thomas Birch Freeman, who arrived at the Gold Coast in 1838 was a great pioneer of Missionary expansion. Between 1838 and 1857 he carried Methodism from the Coastal areas to Kumasi in the Asante hinterland of the Gold Coast. He also established Methodist Societies in Badagry and AbeoKuta in Nigeria with the assistance of William De-Graft.

December 31, 1981: Rawlings overthrows Limann's government in a coup d'etat

The 1979 constitution was modeled on those of Western democracies. It provided for the separation of powers between an elected president and a unicameral Parliament, an independent judiciary headed by a Supreme Court, which protected individual rights, and other autonomous institutions, such as the Electoral Commissioner and the Ombudsman. The new President, Dr. Hilla Limann, was a career diplomat from the north and the candidate of the People’s National Party (PNP), the political heir of Nkrumah’s CPP. Of the 140 members of Parliament, 71 were PNP. The PNP government established the constitutional institutions and generally respected democracy and individual human rights. It failed, however, to halt the continuing decline in the economy; corruption flourished, and the gap between rich and poor widened. On December 31, 1981, Flight Lt. Rawlings and a small group of enlisted and former soldiers launched a coup that succeeded against little opposition in toppling President Limann.

On December 31, 1963: Kwame Nkrumah announces a referendum for a one party state

On December 31, 1963 Kwame Nkrumah announced that a constitutional referendum would be held which would formally make Ghana a one party state and give the president the right to dismiss judges of the Supreme Court and High Court at anytime. This news followed in the wake of the trial in which Ako Adjei and Tawia Adamafio were acquitted of charges of conspiring to commit treason.

In explaining the dismissal in groomer said: “the judges of the special court by their failure to take me into confidence meant to create discontent and terror throughout the country. You, the people of Ghana, has made me the conscience of the nation. My duty is not only to govern but is the conscience of the people by giving them peace of mind and tranquility. The nation cannot tolerate a dishonest and corrupt judiciary. I want to assure you know that there is the possibility of a retrial of the persons involved in this particular case, depending on the results of certain investigations now in progress”.

Further reading: Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa

edited by James Smoot Coleman, Carl Gustav Rosber

On December 30, 1950, the Colonial Government Published the new Gold Coast Constitution

Between February 14 and 22nd 1950 Kwame Nkrumah was tried and sentenced to three 1 year terms in prison. In April 1950, the Convention People’s Party (CPP) won all 7 seats in the Accra Municipal Council elections. In November of the same year, the CPP won all seats in the Kumasi Town Council Elections and as a result, on December 30th, 1950 the colonial government published the new Gold Coast constitution.

On December 29, 1992: The NPP led an opposition boycott of parliamentary elections in Ghana

On the December 29th 1992, the New Patriotic Party (NPP)  and other opposition parties boycotted the parliamentary elections. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) won 189 of the 200 parliamentary seats. According to the Interim National Election Commission (INEC) reports, 29 percent of registered voters turned out to vote in the parliamentary election, which gave the NDC the mandate to governor for the next four years.

December 24, 1960: Mali joins the Ghana-Guinea Union

On December 24, 1960 Mali formally joined the Union of Independent African States (UIAS), which then became the Union of African States (UAS). The union planned to develop a common currency and unified foreign policy amongst members; however, none of these proposals were implemented by the countries. The union was the first organization in Africa to bring together former colonies of the British and the French. Although the union was open to all independent states in Africa, no other states joined. The union had a limited impact on politics as there was never any administration or permanent meetings to support the goals of unity. Its legacy was largely limited to longstanding political relationships between Kwame Nkrumah (President and Prime Minister of Ghana 1957–1966), Ahmed Sékou Touré (President of Guinea 1958–1984), and Modibo Keïta (President of Mali 1960–1968). The union again came into the news when Nkrumah was named as the co-president of Guinea, on the basis of a provision in the original Ghana-Guinea Union agreement, after he was deposed as President of Ghana by a military coup in 1966.

View the declassified CIA assessment:

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000746173.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEAkGnXy9dQ

By Dec 23 1997, 110 state owned enterprises had been divested in Ghana

On December 23rd 1997, the Ghana government announced that 110 former state enterprises had been divested as part of the economic restructuring policy. State-owned enterprises in Ghana date to the colonial period and especially to the post-World War II era. For example, the British organized a number of public utilities, such as water, electricity, postal and telegraph services, rail and road networks, and bus services. To foster exports of coffee, palm kernels, and cocoa, the Agricultural Produce Marketing Board was founded in 1949. In addition, the colonial government established the Industrial Development Corporation and the Agricultural Development Corporation to promote industries and agriculture. 

Between 1966 and 1972, subsequent governments pursued, more or less consistently, a policy of shifting the emphasis in development to the private sector. Even so, the public enterprise sector continued to grow. A feature of this period was the separation of a number of government departments from the main civil service and their establishment as statutory corporations. Examples include the Post and Telecommunications Corporation and the Electricity Corporation of Ghana.

By the 1980s, state enterprises were suffering along with most businesses in Ghana, but they were also held to blame for the economy's general condition. In particular, many were heavily subsidized and were draining much of the country's domestic loan capital. Under pressure from the World Bank and in accordance with the principles of the ERP, in 1984 the government began to sell state enterprises to private investors, and it initiated the State Owned Enterprise Reform Program in 1988.

In 1984 there were 235 state enterprises in Ghana. The government announced that twenty-two sensitive enterprises would not be sold, including major utilities as well as transport, cocoa, and mining enterprises. In 1988 thirty-two were put up for sale, followed by a further forty-four in 1990 under what was termed the Divestiture Implementation Committee. By December 1990, thirty-four enterprises had been either partially or totally divested. Four were sold outright, a further eight were partially sold through share issues, and twenty-two were liquidated. Divestiture of fifteen additional enterprises was also underway, and by 1992 plans were afoot to privatize some of the nation's banks.

Joint ventures were set up for four enterprises, including two state mining companies, Prestea Goldfields and Ghana Consolidated Diamonds. In 1992 the Divestiture Implementation Committee considered resource-pooling programs to enable smaller domestic investors to buy up state enterprises. Such pooling would accelerate the program, but more importantly, it would enable the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) to deflect charges that it was auctioning off the nation's assets to foreigners.

By 1993, the first round of the programme had seen some 55 SOEs privatised. Then came the second round which was implemented by another government agency, the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC). The DIC was established by the Divestiture of State Interests (Implementation) Act, 1993. Just into the second year of work, the DIC saw some 195 more SOEs privatised”.

The role of SOEs and how their role in the economy continue to be an emotive political issue with ramifications affecting employment, domestic debt and the health of the banking sector.

On Dec 19, 1870: Kobena Gyan, King of Elmina, formally protested the planned British takeover of Elmina Castle.

The British were putting pressure on the Dutch to expel the King of Ashanti’s envoy in an effort to rid Elmina of Ashanti influence and make it “Fanti territory.” Kofi Karikari challenged the British claim to Elmina on the basis of annual payments he received from the Dutch in the form of kostgeld. For the first time, an African leader was questioning the presumed right of Europeans to hand over and exchange African territory between themselves. Elmina stood to lose its independence to forthcoming British taxes, a new language, and a new culture. The Europeans wanted to ascribe this resistance simply to the presence of Akyeampon Yaw. For all the years that the Dutch had been in Elmina, the King of Elmina had kept a significant portion of the economy out of Dutch reach. These included the trade in palm oil, fishing, and cattle. No cases ruled on in the king’s palace could be appealed to the Dutch. In the British “protectorates,” the local chiefs had diminished authority in legal matters. British civil law prevailed. Elmina’s centuries-long careful diplomacy in the service of its independence as a state was coming to a frightening end. Kobena Gyan had been thrust into the limelight in 1869 after his father Kobena Condua had been deemed pro-British. He was more likely closely aligned with the Elmina elite of businessmen and freeburghers (Dutch descendants). The impending arrival of the British emerged as a serious class issue in Elmina. Politically, Kobena Gyan had no choice but to represent the popular sentiment in Elmina against the British after he succeeded his father. Elmina had become a political beehive of activity with many disparate parties playing for extremely high stakes. The Ashanti envoy, the Great Ensign of the King of Ashanti to Elmina, Akyeampon Yaw, had a garrison of over 400 troops in Elmina in support of the young king. The British were determined to eliminate the Ashanti presence in Elmina and the other grandes of Elmina, namely, the rich businessmen like George Emil Emisang, David Mills Graves, Hendrik Vroom; and the Asafo leaders were divided among themselves. They all recognized the great risk that resistance would bring on their people. By this time, the Dutch had been forced by English pressure to detain Akyeampon Yaw at the castle to pave the way for the transfer. The young King Kobena Gyan continued to take a very hard line, informing the newly installed Governor Ferguson on December 19, 1870, “that there was a rumour that the Dutch government intends to sell us to the English. We are not slaves and we do not want to see any other flag on the fort, not even on its ruins.” He showed his total displeasure that his deputation to Holland had not been acknowledged with an official response and added that Elmina would oppose the transfer with arms and that whites would be among the dead. He added that known British sympathizers in Elmina would be beheaded. Furthermore, he wanted to know how much the Dutch were being paid for the transfer of a castle, which did not belong to them.

Dec 17, 1956: The opposition NLM and NPP boycott constitutional talks at Achimota

Following years of violence since the inception of the National Liberation Movement (NLM), every effort to find a mediated solution to the constitutional impasse was resisted by the secessionists. Three times the N.L.M. refused to attend a meeting with the Governor and Nkrumah to discuss their grievances. The government set up a parliamentary select committee to discuss the N.LM.’s grievances – the opposition (NLM/NPP) in the Assembly, led by Mr. S.D. Dombo walked out and N.L.M. boycotted the hearings of the select committee. The Governor went to Kumasi but he was stoned and humiliated.

Dr. K.A. Busia travelled to London to see the Minister of State Alex Lennox-Boyd and requested that a constitutional expert be sent to mediate and yet, the N.L.M. refused to co-operate with Sir Frederick Bourne when he arrived in Ghana. Although his recommendations were not favorable to the C.P.P. by any means Sir Frederick described the N.L.M.’s demands as “an extreme form of federation” which “would introduce an intolerable handicap to the administration of the country”.

On December 17, 1956, the N.L.M. was invited to the Achimota conference to discuss Sir Frederick Bourne’s recommendations but refused to attend and instead insisted on a constituent assembly to draft a new federal constitution.

On Dec 16, 1947: Kwame Nkrumah becomes General Secretary of the UGCC

The fog-filtered African sun on 10 December, 1947, witnessed Kwame Nkrumah's return to the Gold Coast, disembarking at Takoradi after an absence of 12 years. He found a country still very much under British colonial domination, but was soon aware that demand for major political change was fermenting just beneath the surface. Wallace Johnson's communist West African Youth League had infiltrated from Nigeria in 1937 and had stirred the political pot throughout the Gold Coast. Johnson's star waned when he was convicted of sedition and deported in 1938. However, he left behind the residue of discontent with colonialism and a growing but leaderless demand for self-rule. The colonial government moved quickly and decisively to suppress every contentious political movement. Chiefs who showed any inclination towards independence were quickly destooled. Anti-tax movements were rapidly suppressed. Suspect civil servants were sacked and, in some cases, detained. Any challenge to British rule was abruptly terminated. It was into this period of suppression that Kwame Nkrumah arrived home. Within days, he returned to his home at Nkroful for a brief family reunion. Word spread quickly that Nkrumah was home and after a fortnight, he began a series of speaking engagements and meetings in order to sense the level of unrest that lay just beneath the surface throughout the country. A series of meetings with the leadership of the United Gold Coast Convention, (UGCC), founded on 4 August, 1947, and lead by Dr. J. B. Danquah, resulted, on 16 December, 1947, in the appointment of Nkrumah as General Secretary of the Party. From that moment at Saltpond, the die was cast. The Gold Coast had its' leader and was on a fixed and determined course towards independence from Great Britain. Nkrumah began an intense speaking tour throughout the country, and with his unique, impassioned rhetoric, soon had the entire country seething with Pan-African enthusiasm and demands for self-rule. Boycotts of European goods were initiated, labor strikes became common place and work slowdowns began in all areas of the Gold Coast's commerce and industry.