Factors which made Ghana to get her indepence earlier than Other Countries in Africa.

Decolonization through Constitutional Means in Ghana


Ghana mass nationalism began in 1940’s with the formation of political parties which demanded political independence through peacefully means, the political parties which were formed include;

· The United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC)

This was formed by J.B Ndaguah in 1947 and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah becomes the general secretary. The party was formed as the result of “Burns Constitution” which was introduced by Sir Allan Burns who was a governor by the time. In this constitution, it provided that the majority of members in the Legislative would be the Africans but the result was vice versa. This is because the Africans were not given the chances to make law and decisions matter in the Legislative council. For example, out of 18 seats were chiefs elected by their fellow chiefs (the support of British). Therefore the formation of UGCC was to oppose it and demand for independence.

· Convection People’s Party (CPP)

This was formed by radical group which broke away from UGCC under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah in 1948. CPP become a popular party which was supported by people found in rural areas and town dwellers. Its struggle for independence was done through the following methods;

a. The use of youth as its political base to conduct a national wide strike against the constitution and the government.

b. The party had a newspaper called “The Accra Evening News” which spread the message that demanded independence of Ghana immediately.

c. It conducted mass rallies were by CPP use two powerful slogans such as “Seek first the political kingdom and all things shall be ended into it” and “Self-government Now”. However the Britain were threatened by the party hence they later imprison many of its leaders and burned its activities including the party news (Accra Evening News).

· The Northern People’s Party (NPP)

This was formed in 1954 but it was a work party among all the parties which were formed.


Generally, the struggle between these political parties led to holding elections for independence, e.g. the Election took place in 1951 and CPP won 33 seats against 3 seats of UGCC. At this period Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was released from the jail to form a government in 1952, in the Gold Coast, in 1956 there were more election where CPP won 71 seats and 33 seats were won by the opposition. On 6th march 1957, Gold Coast became independent taking the name of the ancient Ghana Empire in 1960 Ghana became republic with Kwame Nkrumah being the president.


Reasons for the success of CPP

1. Good leadership of Kwame Nkrumah as he managed to unite all people to struggle for independence.

2. The party received much support from the peasants who comprised the big number of the population (The oppressed or exploited group)

3. The use of slogan like “Self Government Now”. This was understood for all people as they knew that CPP was struggling for African government.

Why Ghana achieved independence earlier.

1. Good leadership. It had strong leadership such as CPP under Kwame Nkrumah.

2. There was no tribalism from the CPP united all people in their struggle for independence.

3. There were no settler in Ghana; therefore Ghana had no strong opposition from the white population hence it successfully gained her full independence in earlier 1957, thus being the first country in African to attain independence.

4. The use of youth in nationalistic struggles of CPP, the youth were employed because had ability to walk for long time and distances in the process of spreading nationalistic ideas.

5. The use of good slogan example “Self Government Now” and “Seek first the political kingdom and all things shall be ended into it”

6. The CPP had clear policies and elaborative programs that promised to serve the people from the bitter price of cocoa, higher payment to workers and getting rid of colonialism.

Contribution of Ghana in Nationalistic Struggle in other African countries.

1. The independence of Ghana was an inspiration to other African countries, example. Other African countries like Tanganyika and others nationalist used Kwame Nkrumah as their model to fight for independence.

2. Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah strengthened Pan-Africanism movement which opposed colonialism. Example. In April 1958 all independent states like Libya, Ethiopia, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia etc. were invited to meet Accra to pay down plans which could be used to help other countries get their independence.

3. Kwame Nkrumah was a person who advocated for the united states of Africa and African unity. These ideas led to the formation of OAU which later became an organization which opposed colonialism in many countries.

4. Sometimes Ghana gave moral and material support to other non-independent states Ghana gave money to Malawi (Nyasaland) and Belgium Congo to fight for independence.

Decolonization through Constitutional Means in Nigeria


Decolonization process in Nigeria went together with the formation of political parties by Africans after the WWII. These political parties replaced the social and welfare Associations such the peoples union of 1908 which had protested against the water rate in Lagos and the Nigerian used movement which had earlier campaigned for bitter representation on the LEGCO, improved Africans living conditions and higher salaries for workers in 1934.


Mass Nationalism after WWII in Nigeria aimed at political independence through the use of peaceful method in which political parties held decisions with the colonialist and pressed the British government to provide independence to the Nigerians. There were a number of political parties that were formed almost after the WWII this included the following;


i. The National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC)


This was formed in 1944 by Dr Nandi Azikiwe and Herbert Maculay. It was supported by the workers mainly from the Igbo in Eastern Nigeria since 1951 when the leaders of Igbo had quarrels with the Yoruba.


ii. The Northern People’s Party (NPP)


This was formed in 1951 by the Hausa-Fulani living on the north; many of its supporters were the Muslims who struggled for the domination of the well-developed Christians in the south. Its leader was Al-haji Sir Abubakar Tajawa Balewa.


iii. The Action Group (AG)


This was mainly supported by the Yoruba and represented the interests of the western Nigeria. The political party struggled for independence in order to liberate the westerners from colonial exploitation. The movement of all these political parties against the British led to the making of constructions which prepared Nigeria for independence.


The constitutions that led to independence of Nigeria.


Generally, when Nigeria showed that it was struggling for independence on the basis of tribal misunderstanding, to bring unity between political parties there were the constitutional which were made;


a. THE RICHARD’S CONSTITUTION


It was made in 1946 by the British government after NCNC organized a strike against social hardship after the WWII. The constitution provided the following;

· Election of central legislative for the North and South which were ruled separately before 1946.

· Bringing changes to the majority of the members who were not in the government to be in the legislative council.

· The legislative council to be able to make a law for the whole country which was divided in four regions, such as the North, South, West and East.

· The executive council in the constitution which had effort to strive for total independence.

b. MACPHERSON’S CONSTITUTION

It was made by the new governor in 1951. This constitution brought about some changes on the former constitution.

c. LYTTELTON CONSTITUTION

It was made in 1954 following the conference held in London where the conference created a federal constitution which gave more powers to regional governments and their legislature.


Elections which led to the independence in Nigeria.


1. The first Federal Election on 1954


In this election NCNC made a coalition government where by Al-haji Sir Abubakar Tajawa Balewa, a leader of NPP became the prime minister of Federal Government of Nigeria. In 1957 he provided a chance to the Action Group (AG) in order to get the government of national unity.


2. The second Election of 1959


In this election ethnic division were much higher. NPP won in the North, Action Group (AG) in the west and NCNC in the east. This trend made Nigeria achieve her independence under ethnic division which led to violence and civil wars in the first ten years after independence. On 1st October 1960 Nigeria got full independence from British where by Dr. Nandi Azikiwe of NCNC became the first president while Tajawa Balewa of NPP was the first Prime minister.


Problems that faced Nigerian’s nationalist struggle.

1. Tribalism. The political parties which were formed, struggled for independence along the tribal lines, Example. NPP struggled for the Northerners while AG struggled for the westerners on the Yoruba.

2. Vastness of the country. Nigeria was big in size and had diverse settlements of its people. It was not easy for the nationalist to move around the country.

3. Religious conflicts. The people of the north were mainly Muslims who did not like to join with the south Christians who developed more than Muslims.

4. Opposition from the colonial government. Since the British wanted to exploit raw materials, markets, cheap labour etc. they obviously put obstacles which would provide long time for Nigerians to achieve independence.

5. Shortage of money, the nationalists had no enough money because they came from a poor class of people e.g. They could not be able to afford payments for the transport to the rallies against colonial government.