new constitution that would allow more African
representation. It was established in 1951.
Nkrumah, who was far more radical than the
African establishment, opposed this development,
which he regarded as a sell-out to the British. He
passionately believed in African power, in pan-
Africanism. Although inspired by Lenin’s writings
on anti-imperialism, he was to be no tool of
Moscow or slavish follower of communism. His
prime objective was Africa for the Africans. In the
Gold Coast he discovered his talent for oratory
and organisation. Objecting to the elitism of the
United Gold Coast Convention, he resigned as
secretary – the Convention leaders were probably
ready to remove him anyway – and organised his
own mass base in June 1949, the Convention
People’s Party, adroitly choosing the platform
‘self-government now’ – not total independence.
He challenged the 1951 constitution, and govern-
ment efforts to suppress his movement prompted
him to respond with ‘positive action’ and a general
strike. The British governor arrested and impris-
oned him and other leaders of his party, but – not
for the first time in colonial history – this coercion
simply rebounded to create a national hero.
Nkrumah’s party won nearly all the seats in the
Legislative Assembly when elections were held
in 1951.
Britain now showed a characteristic sense of
realism, without the least regard for saving face.
Nkrumah was released from prison and, almost
at once, he was invited with his colleagues to
assume ministerial office. From 1951 to 1957, the
Gold Coast administration was Africanised, with
Nkrumah as prime minister, and yet another elec-
tion and constitution in 1954 became the penulti-
mate step to complete independence. If the British
hoped that a strong rival would emerge with the
help of an alliance of parties led by Dr Kofi Busia,
whose strongest backing came from the Asante
region, they were disappointed. Nkrumah’s party
once more enjoyed a clear majority in the 1956
election, and on 5 March 1957 the peaceful trans-
fer of power was ceremonially enacted; the Gold
Coast became Ghana and its red, green and gold
flag replaced the Union Jack.
As an African leader taking his country to inde-
pendence, Nkrumah has a well-deserved place in
history. But, as the first political leader of Ghana,
he exhibited some of the worst features of post-
independence rulers. Political freedoms were
speedily curtailed and abolished. Danquah and
other political opponents were imprisoned with-
out trial. Nkrumah went on to destroy the
parliamentary and independent legal institutions
the British had left behind. Power corrupted
him. His megalomania found outlets in wasteful
public buildings and a personality cult, and –
made redundant by his dictatorial presidency – his
party withered away. His grandeur impressed the
masses, but his inconsistent economic policies,
which passed from capitalist enterprise to state
socialism and massive public spending, speeded
the economy on a downward path. There was
hardship and Nkrumah was deservedly blamed,
but a root cause was the decline in the world price
of cocoa; between 1954 and independence in
1957 it had almost halved, and then between
1957 and 1965 it nearly halved again. A military
coup in 1966, while Nkrumah was abroad, ended
his rule and he died in African exile.
The subsequent political history of Ghana is
one of military coups interspersed by periods of
civilian rule. The military, whose officers were fre-
quently trained by the West, proved more pow-
erful in many independent African states than the
politicians, who also derived their training and
models from Western or Eastern Europe. With-
out secure party bases and electoral legitimacy,
power has been too often concentrated in the
hands of one leader. When the leader is removed
in a coup it becomes relatively easy to change the
power elite and its beneficiaries. The masses
accept the change because they have to, or they
may welcome it optimistically, hoping for better
times. Reliance on one or two commodities has
resulted in violent swings in the fortunes of
African countries. The people suffer when prices
are low and blame the rulers then in power,
whose corruption becomes even more provoking.
General Ankrah led the first Ghanaian military
coup in 1966, but he had little success in solving
the complex economic problems, and his policies
tended to benefit the military. Ankrah did, how-
ever, intend to return Ghana to civilian govern-
ment, and Nkrumah’s political opponents were
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