Doors to Diplomacy 2006 Project 4234,
Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast, Ghana
WHY PEOPLE PLAY THIS GAME
Just like any other game there are many reasons for which people play the game of politics. Some play the game of politics for genuine purposes whiles others for negative or less important reasons. Some genuine reasons are:
To serve their nation or society in which they live in.
For vengeance. Which is one of the reasons that is encourage now by the world nowadays.
To make sure that bad people are not seen or smelt nearing authority.
HISTORY OF POLITICS
There has never been and I do not think there will ever be a compiled history of politics. Politics is a very broad diverse and huge topic too, History is no different, therefore a combination of these two major topics is like wanting to know what is happening at present and what will happening in the future simultaneously. The history politics is therefore divided into the past politics in the various countries and the world, such that we have the political history of Asia, Africa, Europe and the likes.
Since we move from the near to the far we try to analyze that of Africa first.
Ghana before independence
Most Gold Coast nationalist leaders were educated Africans. A society called the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society was founded around the 1890s to oppose land bills that which was against traditional land tenure. During the early 20th century, nationalists challenged the imaginary nature of the colonial political system, which placed boundless power in the reach of the governor and his chosen Legislative Council. In 1920 Joseph E. Casely-Hayford, a renowned Gold Coast lawyer and nationalist, formed the National Congress of British West Africa. This body was made up of educated from Britain’s other West African colonies sent a representation to the British Colonial Office which is in London to argue for the administration of to be manned by its own people. The British government, liked the contrary, that is neglecting the elite, however the elite continued to hammer their plea through the various forms of their media.
These demands increased even after the world war II. The then governor responded positively by including the elite in the legislative council but left the executive council in the hands of the British whiles the legislative council reported to the executive. This showed that the voices of the elites were being heard.
Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah was an dignified African nationalist personality in the British West African colony of the Gold Coast. When Gold Coast was gained independence from the British in 1957 with the name Ghana, Nkrumah became the country’s first prime minister.
The United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was founded in 1947. It was the first widespread political party to ask for self-government. It had leading members like the Joseph B. Danquah and Kwame Nkrumah. The UGCC had support from educated Ghanaians, most of whom were professionals or chiefs. Financial displeasure among the Gold Coast’s Africans, that is those who fought in World War II, accounted for rioting in 1948. The British accused the elite leaders of masterminding the disturbance and imprisoned Nkrumah and many others. Nkrumah became a popular person because of this.
Nkrumah who wanted self-rule as soon as possible unlike the other members of the UGCC which many were in support spit from the UGCC and later formed CPP(Convention Peoples Party).The CPP drew it support from rural and working class Ghanaians, not from the elite like the UGCC. Nkrumah declared his “Positive Action” campaign, in 1950 which included a boycott of foreign business, non-cooperation with the government, and a general workers’ strike. Rioting occurred, Nkrumah and some CPP leaders were arrested and imprisoned again. The legislative constitution was changed, it was replaced with a Legislative Assembly, designed to provide Africans bigger representation. Nkrumah was then released from prison after he won the election in 1951, he was then made leader of government business. Nkrumah transformed the colonial government into a parliamentary one, in 1952 Nkrumah was elected to the newly created office of prime minister. Nkrumah and the CPP were opposed by all other parties including the UGCC over a preferred federal system of government.
Ghana in independence
The UGCC and several other opposition parties joined together to form the United Party (UP) when Ghana gained independence with the CPP.
Nkrumah’s Reign
Kwame Nkrumah was the first prime minister of Ghana from 1957 to 1960 after helping his country gain independence from the British. He then served as Ghana’s president until 1966, when he was overthrown by the military. Nkrumah fled to Romania where he died in exile in 1972. Nkrumah began his tenure as Africa’s first black national leader with ambitious socialist goals and high hopes. He advocated the rapid modernization of the nation’s economic sectors and pursued several expensive developmental schemes. From 1961 to 1966 Nkrumah spearheaded an ambitious and highly successful hydroelectric project on the Volta. A fervent pan-Africanist, he declared that it was Ghana’s brotherly responsibility to help Africa’s remaining colonies achieve independence. He was instrumental in the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) as an African political forum. He sent Ghanaian soldiers on United Nations (UN) assignments and supported freedom fighters in countries such as South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
At the same time, however, Nkrumah’s rule became increasingly authoritarian. Soon after coming to power, the CPP-controlled Parliament passed laws to increase the power of the prime minister. The Deportation Act of 1957 made it legal for the government to expel all foreigners who were deemed a threat to the nation. The Preventive Detention Act of 1958 allowed the government to detain persons for up to five years without trial. Nkrumah used these laws to silence the opposition, forcing many dissidents into exile. The constitution was revised in 1960 to make Ghana a republic. Nkrumah was named president, and the CPP was declared the only legal political party. Opposition to Nkrumah grew in the early 1960s, and when Ghanaians felt economic hardships at home, many blamed Nkrumah for his ambitious and socialist programs. He was overthrown in a military coup in February 1966.
Ghana Since Nkrumah
Conditions in Ghana worsened rapidly following the overthrow of Nkrumah. The economy was stagnant, and Ghanaians, disillusioned by the downfall of their once-revered founding father, were divided. The National Liberation Council, the cabal behind the coup, put forward a multiparty constitution and handed over power in 1969 to a democratically elected government. Kofi A. Busia, a former UP leader and one of the nation’s leading scholars, was elected prime minister. Busia’s government was economically conservative but failed to improve Ghana’s depressed economic conditions. When a drop in the price of cacao precipitated a financial crisis in 1971, his government raised prices and interest rates while devaluing the currency, causing massive inflation. In January 1972 Busia’s government was ousted by another army coup, ushering in a decade characterized by severe economic decline and acute political instability.
The leader of the 1972 coup, Colonel Ignatius K. Acheampong, banned political activity and established a ruling military council. Military control was relaxed slightly in 1974, and a civilian political affairs advisory council and an economic planning council were set up. In 1978, however, the military council forced Acheampong to resign, giving way to General Frederick W. Akuffo. Akuffo ruled for less than a year before he was overthrown by Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings. Rawlings had both Acheampong and Akuffo executed for corruption. Rawlings also arrested and executed a number of other prominent military officers on charges of compromising the image of the Ghana armed forces. In September 1979, just months after seizing power, Rawlings stepped down in favor of an elected civilian president, Hilla Limann. When economic conditions worsened, however, Limann was deposed in a second coup led by Rawlings, on December 31, 1981.
Enjoying the support of workers and the poor, Rawlings injected a populist, revolutionary spirit into Ghanaian politics. The economy went through a severe decline in the early 1980s, leading hundreds of thousands of people to leave the country, most migrating to Nigeria. In 1983 the Nigerian government forced 1 million Ghanaians to return to their home country. In the same year, Rawlings abandoned his more radical economic strategies and negotiated a structural adjustment plan with the IMF. As the economy recovered, Rawlings moved toward democratic reforms as well. A new multiparty constitution was adopted by public referendum in 1992, and Rawlings was elected president.
In the 1990s many foreign observers praised Ghana for its increasingly open democracy. While visiting the country in 1998, U.S. president Bill Clinton recognized Ghana as a leader in a “new African renaissance.” Rawlings was reelected president in 1996. Limited to two terms by the 1992 constitution, he did not participate in the December 2000 elections, which marked the ascendancy of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP). The NPP edged Rawlings’ party in legislative elections, and NPP candidate John Kufuor defeated Rawlings’ vice president in the vote for president. Kufuor was sworn in as president in January 2001, the first time since Ghana’s independence that power changed hands peacefully and democratically.