released. The fourth coup in May 1979 brought
into the limelight a charismatic leader who
promised to rid Ghana of corruption and to return
the government to civilians. Flight-Lieutenant
Jerry Rawlings was of mixed Ghanaian and
Scottish parentage and enjoyed widespread popu-
larity. After a grisly period of punishment and a
bloodbath of executions of prominent Ghanaians,
including three former heads of state, Rawlings did
hand over to civilian government in September
1979, but this lasted only until December 1981,
when Rawlings once more seized power.
Rawlings ruled Ghana throughout the 1980s, a
decade of great economic difficulty for the people.
In 1984 he declared his intention of working
towards a representative system of government,
but he insisted that in the meantime the failures of
economic development would have to be reme-
died. The economy improved slowly, but hardly
any progress towards representative government
was made in the 1980s at all. The reality was a
country ruled by a military regime, whose political
opponents were arrested and detained. Rawlings
increasingly associated civilians with the gov-
ernment, while making sure that he retained
control, but the lack of accountability inevitably
bred corruption. By the close of the decade the
demands for democracy were growing louder,
even though opposition leaders had been detain-
ed. Internationally, there was more confidence
in the economic policies of the regime than there
was in its claim to be leading the country back
to representative democratic government. But in
1991 there was at last some progress. Opposi-
tion groups combined and Rawlings called on a
constituent assembly to draft a new constitution.
He promised to lift the bans on political parties
and to hold national and presidential elections
in 1992. But a new constitution was approved by
a referendum in April 1992 with a multi-party
legislature and a president directly elected. The
president’s and legislature’s terms are for four
years and the president may only serve two terms,
thus breaking the common post-colonial era of
long lasting authoritarian leaders relying on the
support of the army. Jerry Rawlings was elected
president again in 1992 and 1996. The real test
was whether or not he would quietly go in 2000
or organise another coup. After the elections of
December 2000 the first peaceful democratic
change of power took place when John Kufuor,
an educated lawyer and Christian was elected
president and his New Patriotic Party narrowly
beat Rawlings’ National Democratic Congress.
Rawlings has since respected the constitution.
Ghaniaians now enjoy civic freedoms, there is a
free press and media. Rawlings’ biggest contribu-
tion to Ghana was the manner of his going. The
history of his eighteen-year rule is chequered.
Corruption here too became widespread, there
was human-rights abuse and, despite its resources,
Ghana has remained trapped in poverty. On the
positive side though, apart from the ethnic vio-
lence in the north in 1994 and 1995, there has
been relatively little ethnic conflict compared to
other African countries. In the new millennium
the 21 million Ghaniaians have a happier future to
look forward to.The same unstable military–political rivalry for
power is evident in the history of Nigeria, by far
the most populous of African nations. It reached
independence in 1960, soon after Ghana. In
addition to the problems of underdevelopment
common to the rest of British West Africa, Nigeria
presented a post-colonial dilemma rooted in its
territorial conquest and administration under the
British. In the Muslim north, the ethnic Hausa-
Fulani ruled indirectly through their own emirs,
while the Yoruba inhabited the Western region
and the Ibo the eastern. Each region overwhelm-
ingly supported its own political leader and party.
In the 1950s and 1960s Nigeria produced some
outstanding political leaders, who transcended
tribal and regional outlooks even though their
electoral bases were largely regional and ethnic.
Among the earliest Nigerians to fight colonial
status was the American-educated Dr Nnamdi
Azikiwe, who started a chain of newspapers,
the first in 1937, to spread his ideas about racial
injustice, opposition to British rule and the
need for positive action. His papers clashed with
the British authorities when in 1945 they back-
ed strikes by workers in government service.
Azikiwe’s electoral power base was in the eastern,
Ibo-dominated region, which supported the party