Ghana My Motherland: A Ghanaian Socio-Cultural Lifestyle from the Mid –Seventies

CHAPTER ONE

GOVERNANCE

After Independence

Yen ara y’asaase ni, εyε aboכdenne ma yεn,

Mogya na Nananom hwiegui nya de too hɔ maa yεn;

Aduru me ne wo nso so, sε yεbεyT ebG atoaso:

Nimdeε ntrasoɔ, nkotokranne ne apεsεmenkomenya

Adi yεn bra mu dεmm ama yεn asaase ‘i ho dɔ atom sεε.

ɔman no sε ‘bεyε yie o,

ɔman no, sε erennyε yie o,

εyε sεnnahכ sε:

ɔmanfo bra na εkyerε.

(JJ Amofa)

In the year 1957, Ghana became independent from British rule. The name of the country was changed from Gold Coast to Ghana. The governance of the country was left for Ghanaians to rule amidst the doubts in the minds of many people about whether Ghanaians were capable of ruling their own country. Reflecting on Ghana’s move to independence, J. C. Amamoo wrote: The qualities of the country’s leaders have been put to the test and, judging from the results, they have acquitted themselves well. It is befitting, therefore, the world should accord to them the congratulation they so much deserve…. The subsequent and by far the most acid tests of leadership and statecraft were yet to come. This assertion was later to be proved or disproved in the country, whether or not the Ghanaians would be able to rule their country.

The first president of the republic of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, in his independence speech, urged Ghanaians to ‘work hard and prove that the black man is capable to rule his own country’.

The population of Ghana in 1960 and 1970 was 6.7 million and 8.5 million respectively. Many changes have taken place in the country in the past five decades since the country gained independence from the British. Some of these changes range from the areas of governance, education, and economy, to those of fashion and traditions and many others.

The first ten years after the independence of the country saw military coups d’état one after another. This meant unstable governance with unstable economy for the masses of people.

President Dr Kwame Nkrumah had a very short rule over the country. He was overthrown in a coup d’état on February 24th, 1966 by the military under the leadership of Colonel E.K. Kotoka and Lt-General Ankrah in 1966.

Many people also did not like the policies of Dr Kwame Nkrumah and some literally thought of Nkrumah as running the country at a speed the people could not cope with. According to some writers, Authoritarian rule, combined with a collapse in the national economy, prompted the coup when the President was on a diplomatic visit to China in 1966. Robert Pinkney, a lecturer in government at Isleworth during that period, wrote some of the reasons given by the soldiers as chaotic economic conditions; the concentration of power in the hands of one man, the abuse of the individual rights and liberties, and the capricious exercise of power by the former President who was said to have run the country as if it were his own personal property.

After the ‘coup’ President Nkrumah went to live in exile with his personal friend President Sekou Toure in Guinea. He never had the chance to come back to his country. He died in 1972 in Guinea.

According to historians, many people jubilated over the over- throw of President Kwame Nkrumah; statues of the President in Accra were taken down by the crowds. There were also cartoons of the President all over the country, some depicting him as being with idols which they called ‘Kankan Nyame’. Some of the cartoons again showed the President squeezing the people like a washed cloth and the water coming from them was blood which was poured into a black pot. Some of the cartoons depicted the President as giving bundles of cedi notes to women with big afro wigs. Songs were composed about the president as a ‘show boy’:

Nkrumah eei, Nkrumah Show boy!

Nkrumah eei, Nkrumah show boy!

I want to see you,

Kwame Nkrumah show boy.

In their jubilation, people defaced and destroyed statues of the President. One might have thought that the country would have been satisfied with successive presidents. However we have not seen any president that the electorate have hailed as good for the country or who has escaped political opposition and negative propaganda. The country still clamours for presidents to sit up.

What were the people after? What was the nature of politics at that time? What were the needs of the towns and villages? According to Robert Pinkney, Politics at that level was concerned with applying pressure to obtain local amenities and sometimes employment. Comparing the political situation in Ghana to Britain, Pinckney wrote, Here lies a reason for the major difference between politics in a country like Britain, where these basic amenities are available, and one like Ghana where the question of how easily the citizens of a particular village can market their crops, or how soon water disease-bearing water will be replaced with purer supply, are more important than national issues such as the level of income tax, comprehensive education or the way in which the social services work.

This shows the country had many challenges to tackle when compared to advanced countries. Amenities like good drinking water for many villages, good accommodation facilities, good roads, employment and essential commodities which the people needed, therefore put more pressure on governments with the result of ‘coups d’état’.

Chairman Rawlings

There was a massive coup d’état on 4th June, 1979 by Flight Lieutenant Rawlings. It lasted for a few months but it was very remarkable because of the incidents which followed. Most of the people in the country, especially the youth, including university students, supported Rawlings’ coup in 1979 because they could not come to terms with the hard and appalling state of the country. The coup came with a house cleaning exercise in which corruption was supposedly, being cleansed from the ‘house of the economy’. People were beaten by soldiers for hoarding goods and selling above the control price. Market women were stripped naked and lashed. People were killed both by firing squad and others unknown.

The whole country was gripped with fear of military men.

Students shouted the slogan: Let the blood flow. People referred to Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings as ‘Junior Jesus’ because he was seen to be the saviour of the country from economic hardship and corruption. Many prominent business men and public figures fled from the country for fear of their lives. Many Government officials, who were afraid of being called for accountability, fled and sought asylum overseas. People were sought to account for their roles and positions in government. The country shook from its roots with the June 4th 1979 coup d’état It was rumoured daily that many people who were called for questioning never returned as the fear and anxiety of their relatives grew.

Those in the rural farming areas who were thought to be smuggling cocoa across the border were sought after and many ran away to the neighbouring countries. Hoarders of goods were beaten publicly as a deterrent for others to stop hoarding goods. Those who were not satisfied with the coup or what was going on in the country had nothing to say or do because all political parties had been dissolved by then.

The law had no constitutional effect because Parliament had also been dissolved. There was no democratic rule but a military rule if not dictatorship. Outspoken people were quietly silenced or pursued and this brought about the culture of silence in the country. University students were called in to cocoa farming areas during the long vacations to upload cocoa for export as a holiday vocation. The Leader of the revolution himself took part in many selfless menial jobs and communal works or communal labour as it was called.

Patriotism was at its highest level. The name of the national newspaper the ‘Daily Graphic’ was changed to "The People’s Daily Graphic’; the interest of the people was supposedly at the heart of the coup, seeking to bridge the gulf between the poor and the rich. There were no private FM stations as we have in the country today, where people could speak freely on air without being answerable in one way or another for whatever was said. Ghana Broadcasting Corporation operated the only Radio and Television stations in the country. The country became silent for loud politicians, and loud for the silent citizens who hailed the coup.

In September 1979 general elections were held for a return to democratic rule. This was because the aim of the coup by flight Lt. J.J Rawlings had been for ‘house cleaning exercise’, to clean the governance of the country from corruption and to hand over power to democratic rule.

His Excellency Dr Hilla Limann

The third republic was under the constitutional rule of Dr Hilla Limann who was voted as the President in the September 1979 general elections. This came about when Flight Lieutenant Rawlings voluntarily handed the governance of the country over for democratic civilian rule. Dr Hilla Limann ruled from 1979-1981. He had good governance but corruption was still in the system. He imported bicycles into the country to help workers to work. The country was beginning to move on democratically when there was another coup d’état during the Christmas festivities, on the 31st December 1981, by the same military man, Flight Lieutenant J.J Rawlings. Dr Limann was deposed. He continued to stay in the country until his death on 23 January 1998.

His Excellency Flight Lieutenant JJ Rawlings

The 31st December Coup by Flight Lieutenant John Jerry Rawlings changed the religious celebration of Christmas into a national political disorder. Christmas suddenly turned Easter for many people and politicians, with fears of being arrested and killed. The beginning of the New Year on 1st January 1982 signalled the end of any prospects for a better life for many people and the beginning of a long military era for the country. This time Chairman Rawlings continued in governance and decided not to hand over to anyone but to rule the country himself. He called his government the People’s National Democratic Congress’ (PNDC), the government for the people.

This time again, people in government were pursued but no public killings took place, unlike the first coup. The first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings supported the governance with the 31st December Women Movement which sought to place women in their places in society. The movement brought Nursery and kindergarten schools in many places to assist working mothers. This provided work for women as well, though it was on a voluntary basis initially in many places.

The house cleaning continued gradually, this time with fast track courts to quickly deal with culprits of corruption in support of the magistrate courts.

Interstate law

There was a change in the constitution with the interstate law cap 112 of the constitution after a referendum which allowed wives and children to inherit a bigger percentage of their husbands’ properties than the extended family. The matrimonial form of inheritance at that time did not help women and children. The matrimonial inheritance at that time was traditional and allowed relatives of the deceased to take a larger share of the dead person’s assets than his children or wife. Women and children were moved out from their matrimonial homes after the death of their husband and father by the extended family. Some had nowhere to stay and this brought hardship and suffering on to many women and children after the death of their fathers and husbands. This very interstate law of Chairman Rawlings under the PNDC was a gift for married women though the extended families tried to kick it but because of legalities they could not and the courts made the law work. Today no one can be evicted from their matrimonial homes after the death of a spouse. The law also applied to men, but women who were the most victimised benefited. This was because when a man died it was his sisters or family members who championed ousting the wife and children of the deceased from their marital home, supported by the men. When a woman died it was traditionally shameful for a sister or a brother to fight for the property of a woman for a man. It was the culture for men to find property for the women and children and not a woman for a man. Moreover most men were in employment whilst the women were unemployed and many of them were illiterates as well. Widowers normally stayed in their marital homes and remarried. All these made Chairman Rawlings to be liked by many in the country except for the killings of the first coup and the beatings which made others dislike him. His government brought about many good changes into the country.

Currency

There was the change of currency and the introduction of a new denomination of fifty cedi notes within a limited time. This change of currency became another issue. People who kept their monies in their homes had to bring them out to the banks for new currencies. The rich people who had their monies in their homes and not in banks carried monies in sacks to the banks for exchange of new currencies. It was not even a matter of not saving in the bank but some people were not used to saving at the bank. Those were the days when people did their saving in their homes and other places like their farms where they kept their monies. These monies sometimes went missing after they died and could be found luckily by anyone farming on the land. The change in currency was exhausting for people. There were long queues at the banks every day to beat the time limit for the change until the new currency came to effect. This change affected people’s money and those who initially did not know how to use the new currency mistook the new for the old because of the colour of the cedi notes.

Developments

The electricity voltage was upgraded with a new power plant at Aboadze in Sekondi; bore holes were constructed for water and road improvements were made. Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) was introduced, but this did not materialise universally. Many other economic changes were introduced to help the developments in the country at the time. These economic developments were welcomed because many places were without water and the roads to many towns and villages were bad. The country’s textile plants came back to life and textile fabric became available in the markets. Chairman Rawlings as he was called, ruled as head of state and the Chairman of the Provisional National Democratic Congress (PNDC) until 1992, when the governance of the country was changed into democratic civilian rule. Initially when Chairman Rawlings was asked to hand over the governance for a democratic rule, he replied, Handing over to whom? because he could not trust anyone in the country with true democratic governance. Chairman Rawlings won the general election over the main opposition party the New Patriotic Party (NPP) with the late Professor Adu Boahen as their flag bearer and the founder of the party. Chairman John Jerry Rawlings became the democratic President of the Country under civilian rule. His vice president was the late Mr Kow Ackaah Nkansan.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC)

The ruling party under the democratic rule was changed from The Provincial National Democratic Congress, (PNDC) to the National Democratic Congress (NDC). The Vice President Mr Kow Ackaah Nkansan later resigned his post and Professor John Evans Attah-Mills became the Vice President of Ghana in 1995. After being in power for two terms, President John Jerry Rawlings ended his term of office after ruling the country for nineteen years. He had won the heart of the country for a long time but still the opposition had their views and challenged for a change of government. The opposition won the general elections in 2000 and this time the flag bearer, Mr John Agyekum Kuffour became the President of the fourth republic of Ghana. He chose for his Vice President, Aliu Mahama. President Kuffour won the following elections to run for the second term in office because his governance was also a challenge for the opposition. Democracy was becoming a challenge for the political parties. It was a