Africa Must Unite

KWAME NKRUMAH
FREDERI CK A. PRAEGER, Publisher
New York
BOOKS THAT MATTER
Published in the United States of America in 1963
by Frederick A. Praeger, I nc., Publisher
64 University Place, New Y ork 3, N.Y .
All rights reserved
() K w a me N k r u m a h 1963
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-18462
1
Printed in Great Britain
Dedicated to
G e o r g e P a d m o r e
(1900-1959)
and to
the African Nation
that must be
C O N T E N T S
I ntroduction
page
ix
i The African Background 1
2 The Colonial I mprint
9
3
Colonial Pattern of Economics 20
4
Society Under Colonialism
32
5
The I ntellectual Vanguard
43
6 Freedom First
50
7
Achieving our Sovereignty
57
8 Problems of Government 66
9
Bringing Unity in Ghana 72
10 Our Ghanaian Constitution
79
11 The Administrative I nstrument
87
12 Reconstruction and Development
97
13
Towards Economic I ndependence 107
14 Building Socialism in Ghana 118
15
Towards African Unity 132
16 Some Attempts at Unification 141
Economic and Political I ntegration: Africas Need 150
18 Neo-colonialism in Africa
173
19
Africa in World Affairs
194
20 Examples of Major Unions of States 205
21 Continental Government for Africa 216
I ndex 223
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Freedom! Hedsole! Sawaba! Uhuru!
Men, women and children throughout the length and breadth
of Africa repeat the slogans of African nationalism - the greatest
political phenomenon of the latter part of the twentieth century.
Never before in history has such a sweeping fervour for free
dom expressed itself in great mass movements which are driving
down the bastions of empire. This wind of change blowing
through Africa, as I have said before, is no ordinary wind. I t is a
raging hurricane against which the old order cannot stand.
The great millions of Africa, and of Asia, have grown im
patient of being hewers of wood and drawers of water, and are
rebelling against the false belief that providence created some to
be the menials of others.
I n this century there have already been two world wars fought
on the slogans of the preservation of democracy; on the right of
peoples to determine the form of government under which they
want to live. Statesmen have broadcast the need to respect
fundamental freedoms, the right of men to live free from the
shadow of fears which cramp their dignity when they exist in
servitude, in poverty, in degradation and contempt. They
proclaimed the Atlantic Charter and the Charter of the United
Nations, and then said that all these had no reference to the
enslaved world outside the limits of imperialism and racial
arrogance.
But in the course of fighting for their own freedom, they had,
like Abraham Lincoln in fighting Americas civil war, to enlist
the aid of the enslaved, who began to question the justice of their
being dragged into wars for the freedom of those who intended
to keep them in bondage. The democratic enunciations of the
worlds statesmen came under the critical examination of the
colonized world. Men and women in the colonies began to
X INTRODUCTI ON
regard them as deceptions; clearly they were not to have uni
versal application.
The realization was breaking upon the vast world of subject
peoples that freedom is as much their inalienable right as it is of
those who had set themselves over them on the pretext of bringing
them Christian light and civilization. The ideas of freedom and
democracy, which the Western world was busily propagating to
engage support for their cause, were being eagerly absorbed by
those to whom freedom had been most strenuously denied. A
boomerang to those who broadcast them, and dangerous in
those to whom they were not intended to apply, they were
feeding the will to freedom in the overseas areas of the world
where their meaning was most deeply felt and accepted.
Turned by the nationalist leaders to the interests of the
struggle for political emancipation, they have helped to foment
the revolt of the majority of the worlds inhabitants against their
oppressors. Thus we have witnessed the greatest awakening ever
seen on this earth of suppressed and exploited peoples against the
powers that have kept them in subjection. This, without a doubt,
is the most significant happening of the twentieth century.
Hence the twentieth century has become the century of
colonial emancipation, the century of continuing revolution
which must finally witness the total liberation of Africa from
colonial rule and imperialist exploitation. The independence of
Ghana in 1957 opened wide the floodgates of African freedom.
Within four years, eighteen other African countries achieved
independence. This development is the unique factor in world
affairs today. For it has brought about significant changes in the
composition of the United Nations Organization, and is having a
momentous impact upon the balance of world affairs generally.
I t has resulted in an expanded world of free nations in which the
voice of Africa, and of the reborn states of Asia, L atin America
and the Caribbean will demand more and more careful attention.
This expanding world of free African nations is the climax o f
the conscious and determined struggle of the African peoples to
throw off the yoke of imperialism, and it is transforming the
continent. Not all the ramparts of colonialism have yet fallen.
Some still stand, though showing gaping rents from the stormy
onslaughts that have been made against them. And we who have
I NTRODUCTI ON xi
battled our way to independence shall not stand quiet until the
last stronghold of colonialism has been laid to the ground in
Africa.
For we have dedicated ourselves to the attainment of total
African freedom. Here is one bond of unity that allies free Africa
with unfree Africa, as well as all those independent states
dedicated to this cause. My party, the Convention Peoples
Party, fervently upholds, as an unquestionable right, the burning
aspirations of the still subjected peoples of our continent for
freedom. Since our inception, we have raised as a cardinal
policy, the total emancipation of Africa from colonialism in all
its forms. To this we have added the objective of the political
union of African states as the securest safeguard of our hard-won
freedom and the soundest foundation for our individual, no less
than our common, economic, social and cultural advancement.
I n my Autobiography, and to some extent also in another book
of mine, I Speak of Freedom, I tried to show how, and why, the
struggle for independence developed and succeeded in the then
Gold Coast. My purpose now is to trace briefly the African
background and the effects of centuries of colonialism on the
political, economic and social life of Africa as a whole; to place
developments in Ghana in the broader context of the African
revolution; and to explain my political philosophy based on my
conviction of the need for the freedom and unification of Africa
and its islands.1
1 The following are the islands of Africa: (i) Canary Islands Gran Canaria,
Tenerife, Las Palmas, Ferro, Fuerte-Ventura, Lanzarote, Spanish; (2) Cape
Verde Islands (Sto. Antao, Sao Tiago), Portuguese; (3) Madeira with
Selvagens, Portuguese; (4) Arquipelago dos Bijagos (Caravela, Roxa),
Portuguese', (5) Los I sland, Guinea; (6) Fernando Po, Spanish; (7) Principe,
Portuguese; (8) Sao Tome, Portuguese; (9) Annohon,Spanish; (10) Ascension,
British; (11) St. Helena, British; (12) Tristan da Cunha with Gough, British;
(13) Prince Edward and Marion, South African; (14) Malagasy, Independent;
(15) Bassas da I ndia, French; (16) Europa, French; (17) De la Reunion,
French; (18) Mauritius, British; (19) Rodriguez, British; (20) Archipel des
Comores (Grande Comore, Moheli, Anjouan, Mayotte, Banc du Geyses,
Glorieuses), French; (21) Seychelles (Bird, Denis, Silhouette, Praslin, Mahe,
Platte, Amirante, Desroches, Bijoutier, Alphonse, St. Francois, Coetivy,
Aldabra, Assumption, Cosmoledo, Astove, Providence, St. Pierre, Cerf,
Farquhar, Agalega), British; (22) Socotra, British; (23) Dahalach Chebir,
Ethiopian; (24) Zanzibar, British; (25) Pemba, British; (26) Mafia, British.
Xll I NTRODUCTI ON
Out of this conviction, I am necessarily as much concerned
with the problems of all the different countries which make up
our great continent as I am with those of Ghana. I have, there
fore, drawn for illustration upon all patterns of colonialism. I f
there does at times appear to be an emphasis upon the British
pattern and upon events in Ghana, it is because these are part of
my personal experience. They have been to a considerable
extent the agencies that have moulded my intellectual processes
and political philosophy. But I have also, as an African and a
political being drawn into the vortex of African affairs out of my
dedication to the cause of Africas freedom and unity, sustained
an indelible impression from the experience of my continental
brothers under other colonial rulers.
Their history of colonialist subjection differs from ours only in
detail and degree, not in kind. Some there are who make fine
distinctions between one brand of colonialism and another, who
declare that the British are better masters than the French, or
the French better than the Belgian, or the Portuguese or the
white settlers of South Africa, as though there is virtue in the
degree to which slavery is enforced. Such specious differentia
tions come from those who have never experienced the miseries
and degradation of colonialist suppression and exploitation.
More frequently they are apologists for the colonialism of their
own country, anxious out of jingoistic patriotism to make a case
for it.
The colonial subject, the true bearer of the white mans
burden, can have no such philosophical approach. He is, there
fore, unable to judge the delicate difference between having to
pass through a door marked natives in any part of the world
and one so marked in J ohannesburg, simply because the latter
would often be in a separate, segregated area.
Whatever the means used by the colonialists, the objective
was the same. I t was not that a nasty-minded bunch of men
awoke simultaneously one morning in England, France,
Belgium, Germany, Portugal, or in any other of the colonial
countries, and decided that it would be a good thing to jump
into Africa and grind the peoples noses in the dust so that they
could all of them retire to their homelands in due course, rich
and happy from the Africans hardship. I t was a good deal more
I NTRODUCTI ON Xlll
complex than that, despite the plundering compulsions that
sent the Portuguese and others out as early as the fifteenth
century to pluck Africas gold and ivory, and later its human
treasure, to enrich the coffers of Western monarchs and
merchants.
When the great scramble for Africa began in the last quarter
of the nineteenth century, colonies had become a necessary
appendage for European capitalism, which had by then reached
the stage of industrial and financial monopoly that needed
territorial expansion to provide spheres for capital investment,
sources of raw materials, markets, and strategic points of
imperial defence. Thus all the imperialists, without exception,
evolved the means, their colonial policies, to satisfy the ends, the
exploitation of the subject territories for the aggrandizement of
the metropolitan countries. They were all rapacious; they all
subserved the needs of the subject lands to their own demands;
they all circumscribed human rights and liberties; they all
repressed and despoiled, degraded and oppressed. They took
our lands, our lives, our resources, and our dignity. Without
exception, they left us nothing but our resentment, and later,
our determination to be free and rise once more to the level of
men and women who walk with their heads held high.
When that time came and we showed our resolution to be rid
of them as unbidden and unwelcome foreign intruders, they still
refused to go until we forced the issue. I t was when they had gone
and we were faced with the stark realities, as in Ghana on the
morrow of our independence, that the destitution of the land
after long years of colonial rule was brought sharply home to us.
There were slums and squalor in our towns, superstitions and
ancient rites in our villages. All over the country, great tracts of
open land lay untilled and uninhabited, while nutritional
diseases were rife among our people. Our roads were meagre, our
railways short. There was much ignorance and few skills. Over
eighty per cent of our people were illiterate, and our existing
schools were fed on imperialist pap, completely unrelated to our
background and our needs. Trade and commerce were con
trolled, directed and run almost entirely by Europeans.
Of industries, we had none except those extracting gold and
diamonds. We made not a pin, not a handkerchief, not a match.
xi v I NTRODUCTI ON
The only cloth we produced was hand-woven kente, traditional
and exclusive. We were without most of the raw materials
necessary to industrial production. Though there had been
geological surveys of our sub-soil, we were unaware whether
these materials existed or not, as the reports had been
scrupulously withheld. We were reliant upon the outside
world, and more particularly upon the United Kingdom, for
practically everything we used in our daily life.
Among our roads were those called political roads, the old,
worn and sometimes untarred colonial roads. There were also
the new roads, built since 1951, when my Party entered upon
government. There was Takoradi harbour and the new harbour
and port under construction at Tema. We had a telegraph and
telephone system. We had an efficient administrative machine,
but one adjusted to the needs of colonial rule and decidedly not
the most suitable for the new requirements of independent
statehood.
As a heritage, it was stark and daunting, and seemed to be
summed up in the symbolic bareness which met me and my
colleagues when we officially moved into Ghristiansborg Castle,
formerly the official residence of the British governor. Making
our tour through room after room, we were struck by the general
emptiness. Except for an occasional piece of furniture, there was
absolutely nothing to indicate that only a few days before people
had lived and worked there. Not a rag, not a book was to be
found; not a piece of paper; not a single reminder that for very
many years the colonial administration had had its centre
there.
That complete denudation seemed like a line drawn across
our continuity. I t was as though there had been a definite
intention to cut off all links between the past and present which
could help us in finding our bearings. I t was a covert reminder
that, having ourselves rejected that past, it was for us to make our
future alone. I n a way it hinged with some of our experience
since we had taken office in 1951. From time to time we had
found gaps in the records, connecting links missing here and
there which made it difficult for us to get a full picture of certain
important matters. There were times when we had an inkling of
material withheld, of files that had strayed, of reports that had
I NTRODUCTI ON XV
got mislaid5. We were to find other gaps and interruptions as we
delved deeper into the business of making a going concern of the
run-down estate we had inherited. That, we understood, was
part of the business of dislodging an incumbent who had not been
too willing to leave and was expressing a sense of injury in acts of
petulance. On the other hand, there may have been things to
hide. I t was part of the price, like much else, that we had to pay
for freedom. I t is a price that we are still paying and must
continue to pay for some time to come.
For freedom is not a commodity which is given5to the enslaved
upon demand. I t is a precious reward, the shining trophy of
struggle and sacrifice. Nor do the struggle and sacrifice cease
with the attainment of freedom. The period of servitude leaves
behind tolls beyond what it has already taken. These are the cost
of filling in the emptiness that colonialism has left; the struggle
and the toil to build the foundation, and then the superstructure,
of an economy that will raise up the social levels of our people,
that will provide them with a full and satisfying life, from which
want and stagnation will have been banished. We have to guard
closely our hard-won freedom and keep it safe from the predatory
designs of those who wish to reimpose their will upon us.
New nations like ours are confronted with tasks and problems
that would certainly tax the experience and ingenuity of much
older states. They would be difficult enough if we existed in a
peaceful world, free of contending powers and interested
countries eager to dabble in our internal affairs and manipulate
our domestic and external relations in order to divide us
nationally and internationally. As it is, our problems are made
more vexed by the devices of neo-colonialists. And when we
attempt to deal with them in ways which, having regard to all
the facts that are known to us, seem most appropriate in the
endeavour to maintain the internal unity upon which our
viability and progress depend, we are misrepresented to the
outside world to the point of distortion.
I f that outside world refuses us its sympathy and understand
ing, we have at least the right to ask it to leave us alone to work
out our destiny in ways that seem most apposite to our circum
stances and means, human as well as material. I n any event, we
are determined to overcome the disruptive forces set against us
xvi I NTRODUCTI ON
and to forge in Africa a Ghanaian nation that will stand out as a
shining example before the rest of the world of the Africans
ability to manage his own affairs.
That we shall succeed, I have no doubt. But years of toil and
perseverance, of restraint and even privation, lie ahead. We
have to free ourselves from the grip of economic imperialism, and
protect our freedom. We have at the same time to work cease
lessly for the complete liberation and unity of Africa.
There is, in fact, an interacting relation in these objectives.
I mperialism is still a most powerful force to be reckoned with in
Africa. I t controls our economies. I t operates on a world-wide
scale in combinations of many different kinds: economic,
political, cultural, educational, military; and through in
telligence and information services. I n the context of the new
independence mounting in Africa, it has begun, and will
continue, to assume new forms and subtler disguises. I t is already
making use, and will continue to make use, of the different
cultural and economic associations which colonialism has forced
between erstwhile European masters and African subjects. I t is
creating client states, which it manipulates from the distance. I t
will distort and play upon, as it is already doing, the latent fears
of burgeoning nationalism and independence. I t will, as it is
already doing, fan the fires of sectional interests, of personal
greed and ambition among leaders and contesting aspirants to
power.
These and many others will be the devious ways of the neo
colonialism by which the imperialists hope to keep their strangle
hold on Africas resources for their own continued enrichment.
To ensure their continued hegemony over this continent, they
will use any and every device to halt and disrupt the growing will
among the vast masses of Africas populations for unity. J ust as
our strength lies in a unified policy and action for progress and
development, so the strength of the imperialists lies in our dis
unity. We in Africa can only meet them effectively by presenting
a unified front and a continental purpose.
We have to be constantly on the alert, for we are steadfastly
resolved that our freedom shall never be betrayed. And this
freedom of ours to build our economies, stands open to danger
just as long as a single country on this continent remains fet-
I NTRODUCTI ON xv i i
tered by colonial rule and just as long as there exist on African
soil puppet governments manipulated from afar. Our freedom
stands open to danger just as long as the independent states of
Africa remain apart.
At this very moment, the Union of South Africa is building up
a military machine comparable with those of the foremost
nations of Western Europe. This presents a most ominous
danger, not just to the struggle of those African peoples still
fighting for freedom, but to the very existence of the independent
African states. Unless we meet this obvious and very powerful
threat with a unified African front, based upon a common
economic and defence policy, the strategy will be to pick us off
and destroy us one by one.
Our essential bulwark against such sinister threats and the
other multifarious designs of the neo-colonialists is in our
political union. I f we are to remain free, if we are to enjoy the
full benefits of Africas rich resources, we must unite to plan for
our total defence and the full exploitation of our material and
human means, in the full interests of all our peoples. To go it
alone will limit our horizons, curtail our expectations, and
threaten our liberty.
But since we cannot sit idly by waiting for the consummation
of our hopes for the earliest unification of Africa, we in Ghana
are making our plans and shall strive unremittingly to raise our
people to such higher levels of civilized living as we are able to do
by our own exertions. At the same time, we shall never relax
our efforts to bring total independence and unity to this African
continent, for the greater good of all Africa and of each of us as
component members of African Union.
CHAPTER ONE
T H E A F R I C A N B A C K G R O U N D
C o l o n i a l i s m and its attitudes die hard, like the attitudes of
slavery, whose hangover still dominates behaviour in certain
parts of the Western hemisphere.
Before slavery was practised in the New World, there was no
special denigration of Africans. Travellers to this continent
described the inhabitants in their records with the natural
curiosity and examination to be expected of individuals coming
from other environments. I t was when the slave trade and
slavery began to develop the ghastly proportions that made
them the base of that capital accumulation which assisted the
rise of Western industrialism, that a new attitude towards
Africans emerged. Slavery in the Caribbean has been too
narrowly identified with the man of colour. A racial twist has
thereby been given to what is basically an economic pheno
menon. Slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the
consequence of slavery.1With this racial twist was invented the
myth ofcolour inferiority. This myth supported the subsequent
rape of our continent with its despoliation and continuing
exploitation under the advanced forms of colonialism and
imperialism.
I t was during the period that has come to be called the
opening up of Africa that there began to spring up a school of
what some fervid African nationalists have dubbed imperialist
anthropologists, whose ranks extend down to the present time.
Their works are aimed at proving the inferiority of the African.
Anything of value that has been uncovered in Africa is attributed
by them to the influence of some allegedly superior group within
the continent or to people from outside Africa. The idea that
1 Dr Eric Williams: Capitalism and Slavery, University of North Carolina Press,
Chapel Hill 1944, p. 7.
2 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
Africa can have exerted any civilizing influence over other
people is shunned or denied.
Of late, another school of thought is re-assessing the evidence
and applying more objective standards of judgement. Some
historians and anthropologists think that civilization dawned
contemporaneously in Africa and in China. Very much ex
ploration for further evidence which will determine the early
history of man in Africa remains to be done.
L. S. B. Leakey1, has this to say:
I n every country that one visits and where one is drawn into
conversation about Africa, the question is regularly asked by
people who should know better: But what has Africa contri
buted to world progress? . . . not the wheel, not writing, not
mathematics, not art . . . not this, not that and not the other
thing . . .* These critics of Africa forget that men of science
today are, with few exceptions, satisfied that Africa was the
birth-place of man himself, and that for many hundreds of cen
turies thereafter Africa was in the forefront of all world progress.
I t is certain that the origins of European culture trace their
roots to the ancient civilizations of the Nile valley. Early
geographers and chroniclers speak of well organized African
states and empires on both sides of the continent. North Africa,
before the I slamic invasion inhabited by the Tuareg and
Berber people, maintained flourishing societies and centres of
trade. I t was with the spread of I slam that the mass Arab drive
reached into Africas northern belt as well as Egypt. From the
discovery of written records in Arabic going back as far as the
ninth century, we are learning something of Africas past. They
tell us that Ghana was already a centralized state in A. D. 800.
This kingdom, whose centre lay some 200 miles north of the
watershed between the Senegal and Niger rivers, was one
of the earliest of West African kingdoms. Though Ghana
was seriously weakened by the Almoravid invasion of the
eleventh century, its traditions of government and empire did
not die. They reached even greater heights in its successor state
of Mali, which flourished in the fourteenth century, and which
possessed intellectual centres, such as Djenne and Timbuktu,
1 The Progress and Evolution of Man in Africa (O.U.P. 1961): Lecture 1, The
Progress of Man in Africa, p. 1.
THE AFRI CAN BACKGROUND
3
whose colleges could exchange scholars with Spain and other
parts of the Muslim world. When Mali declined, it was replaced
by the just as splendid Songhay empire of Gao, while farther to
the east lay the great state of K anem, with a monarchy, almost as
ancient as that of Ghana, which continued steadfastly into the
nineteenth century.
Books like the Tarikh es Sudan and the Tarikh el Fettach, written
by the African scholars of Timbuktu in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, give graphic descriptions of still existing
Sudanese states of power and prestige. One of the great writers
of I slam, I bn Battuta, touring through Mali in the middle
of the fourteenth century, observed of its peoples that they
are seldom unjust, and have a greater abhorrence of injustice
than any other people. Their sultan shows no mercy to anyone
who is guilty of the least act of it. There is complete security in
their country. Neither traveller nor inhabitant in it has anything
to fear from robbers or men of violence. They do not confiscate
the property of any white man who dies in their country, even if
it be uncounted wealth. On the contrary, they give it into the
charge of some trustworthy person among the whites, until the
rightful heir takes possession of it.1
Could as much be said for our European contemporaries of
that time ? Europe was then passing into its Renaissance; it was
awakening from the social torpor of medievalism and divided
into petty and quarrelsome kingdoms. Capitalism was on
the uprise and seafaring adventurers were starting out on
their centuries-long search for gold and spices and silks, slaves
and ivory, that they might plunder them for money-hungry
monarchs and traders. These voyages brought them to the coast
of Africa. Originally, the African coastline was explored by
Phoenician and Greek sailors and there is growing knowledge of
Chinese contact with the east coast going back at least to the early
twelfth century. The modern period of exploration may be said
to have begun with the Portuguese voyages during the time of
Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460). Bartholomew Diaz
sailed round the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, and some ten years
1 Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354, translated by H. A. R. Gibb
(Routledge 1929) pp. 329-30.
4
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
later Vasco da Gama touched on the Kenya coast on his way to
I ndia.
What kind of people, what kind of cities did these plunderers
find ? Basil Davidson, adducing evidence from authentic records
of the time, sums up the scene thus:
They anchored in havens that were thick with ocean shipping.
They went ashore to cities as fine as all but a few they could have
known in Europe. They watched a flourishing maritime trade in
gold and iron and ivory and tortoiseshell, beads and copper and
cotton cloth, slaves and porcelain; and saw that they had
stumbled on a world of commerce even larger, and perhaps
wealthier, than anything that Europe knew.
To these European sailors of the last years of the fifteenth
century the coast of eastern Africa could have seemed no less
civilised than their own coast of Portugal. I n the matter of wealth
and knowledge of a wider world it must have seemed a great deal
more civilised. They were repeatedly surprised by the ease and
substance of the ports and towns they saw and sheltered in and
plundered. They found themselves repeatedly disregarded as
strange and uncouth. When we had been two or three days at
this place, says the laconic log-book of da Gamas flagship, the
Sao Gabriel, of an encounter at a port that was probably Queli-
mane [above the Zambesi river], two senhores of the country
came to see us. They were very haughty; and valued nothing
which we gave them. One of them wore a cap with a fringe em
broidered in silk, and the other a cap of green silk. A young man
in their company - so we understood from their signs - had come
from a distant country, and had already seen big ships like
ours.1
This was the Africa these plundering sailors found, an Africa
of fair and thriving cities, whose inhabitants allowed them un
impeded entry, to their own undoing. For the strangers,
schooled in the bitter rivalries of Europe . . . fell upon these
tolerant and easy-going civilizations of the I ndian Ocean with a
ferocity and violence that were like nothing seen there through
many centuries. . . . All this was as easy for the Portuguese, and
for much the same reasons, as it was in India whenever they met
1 Basil Davidson: Old Africa Rediscovered, Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1959, p. 165.
THE AFRI CAN BACKGROUND
5
with resistance to their greed and theft. They were better armed.
They were trained to ruthlessness. They wanted more than a
simple monopoly of trade, ruinous though that would be for the
coastal cities: they wanted loot as well. African warfare, like
I ndian warfare, was designed to minimize casualties, not
maximize them. These invaders had no such care.1
I t is well worth dwelling upon these facts when we recall the
pretexts on which later European colonization of Africa was
justified. Assuming the Christian responsibility of redeeming
Africa from the benightedness of barbarism, the ravages of the
European slave trade were forgotten; the enormities of the
European conquest were ignored. Maps prepared in Europe
which had borne the names of Mali and Songhay were lost.
Records of the African kingdoms were left to gather dust and
crumble away. The achievements of states that had manu
factured in iron and gold and carried on lucrative international
trade were expunged from memory.
They had disappeared as a result of the continuing European
penetration and spoliation. For on the heels of the Portuguese
there quickly followed Dutch, Spanish, Danish and English and
French sailors and traders. Their purposes were the same, their
methods, too. They set up forts and trading posts at various
points along our coasts, and added a living commodity to the
other items of plunder. For over three hundred years the slave
trade dominated Africas history; and, in fact, influences it still
today through our diminished population and its brutalizing
and retarding effects upon our socio-economic order. I t does
not require a very perceptive mind to appreciate the disastrous
consequences it has had upon African development. Whole
villages were frequently left empty of inhabitants either through
capture or flight. The number of inhabitants drawn off the
African continent as slaves has been variously put between
twenty and fifty million.
I n Ghana, there exist many reminders of those days. Chris-
tiansborg Castle, which the Danes built in the seventeenth
century, still stands. So also do forts at Cape Coast, their guns
still facing out to sea, where they once were used to ward off
1 Basil Davidson: op. cit., pp. 168-70.
6 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
attacks by other Europeans who wanted to plunder gold and
ivory, and to share in the rich slave trade.
I t was the Portuguese who, in the fifteenth century, discovered
gold in the area between the Ankobra and Volta rivers and
called the country Mina, the mine, or the Gold Coast*. They
were the first to build fortified warehouses along our shores for
the protection of their trade. But soon Spanish, English and
Dutch ships also began to explore the Guinea Coast, as they
came to call it, and more forts were established. Towards the end
of the sixteenth century the Gold Coast was exporting about ten
thousand slaves a year, and more than half the trade was in
British hands. I n 1808, Britain stopped trading in slaves, and in
1874 the Gold Coast colony was established, thirty years after
the Bond signed by our chiefs gave Britain her first real political
influence in the country.
The notorious scramble for Africa5began in the last quarter
of the nineteenth century. At that time, Great Britain, France,
Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and I taly embarked on a
race for colonies. I n 1881, France extended her colonial sway
over Tunis, and in the following year Britain secured control
over Egypt. I n 1884, the first German colony was established at
Angra Pequena on the coast of South-West Africa. The occupa
tion of Togoland and the Cameroons in West Africa followed. A
French force seized the territory between the Cameroons and
the Portuguese colony of Angola, which became the French
Congo. I n 1894 the tricolour was hoisted over Timbuktu,
Dahomey and the I vory Coast. The whole of the western Sudan
was soon occupied by France. I n 1885 a protectorate was estab
lished over Madagascar.
Then ensued the Anglo-French jealousy which culminated in
a crisis in 1898 when the occupation of the Sudanese post of
Fashoda threatened to upset Britain's colonial position within
that area. War between France and Britain appeared to be
imminent, but the French force withdrew. France then turned
her attention to Morocco. There she came up against German
ambitions. A conference of colonial powers was called in
Algeciras in 1906, with the result that French and Spanish
claims to interfere in Moroccan internal affairs were recognized.
I n 1876 the Congo I nternational Association was formed
THE AFRI CAN BACKGROUND
7
under the direction of Leopold I I of Belgium for the occupation
of the Congo Basin. Among the declared objects of the Associa
tion was the intention cto open to civilization the only part of
our globe where it had not yet penetrated. At the Berlin Con
ference of 1884-85, when the European powers divided most of
Africa up between them, Leopold obtained permission to form
the Belgian settlements into a Congo Free State under his
personal suzerainty.
I taly, coming relatively late into the scramble for colonies,
occupied, among other places, Assab and Massawa (on the
African shore of the Red Sea); and in 1889 the colony of I talian
Somaliland was formed. Thus, by the beginning of the twentieth
century, Africa, apart from South Africa which developed
differently, was largely divided up between the various European
powers. Africas people, mineral resources, harbours, rivers,
forests - all were to be used to build up the economic and
political strength of the colonial powers.
Some of the territories changed hands after the First World
War, when former German colonies were distributed among the
victors as mandated territories under the League of Nations.
Britain received German East Africa, a quarter of Togoland and
a piece of the Cameroons. France took over the remaining three-
quarters of Togoland and the greater part of the Cameroons,
while Belgium got a slice of German East Africa. The Union of
South Africa received German South-West Africa.
J ust as when the colonies were originally seized, the rights of
the indigenous peoples were completely disregarded. Territorial
boundaries were confirmed or freshly delimited in accordance
with the new share out in a quite arbitrary fashion. They had no
relation to ethnic realities. I n many cases boundaries cut across
tribes and even villages. Problems resulting from the cynical
parcelling-out of Africa still remain, and can only be settled by
continental union.
The reasons which led the nations of Europe to seek colonies
have been explained, with differing emphasis, by many his
torians. Most seem to agree that the colonial powers were guided
primarily by economic, political and military considerations,
probably in that order. Although certain individuals may have
come to Africa from purely altruistic motives the general ideas
8 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
of the European civilizing mission and the white mans
burden have at last been largely abandoned, even by the most
rabid of imperialists.
CHAPTER TWO
T H E C OL ON I A L I M P R I N T
T h e t e r m colony originally meant a settlement of immi
grants in a foreign land. I n the political sense, a colony is either
a settlement of the subjects of a nation or state beyond its own
frontiers; or a territorial unit geographically separated from it,
but owing allegiance to it. I n modern colonial history, two types
of colonies have grown up, owing in the main to climatic con
ditions. There is the settlement5colony in which climate and
geographical environment have favoured the establishment of
sizeable European communities; while the others, regarded
formerly, before the discovery of prophylactic drugs and the
clearance of jungles, as inimical to the health of Europeans,
usually gathered relatively small groups of business men,
administrators, soldiers and missionaries, all of whom lived in an
environment quite different from that of the mother country.
These two different forms of colony have been responsible for
the evolution of different systems of government. I n fact, there
has been no uniform system of colonial government in Africa.
The pattern has varied according to the policy and traditions of
the different colonial powers, as well as to the existence and size
of a settler community.
France, the colonial power which ruled over the largest area
of territory in Africa, followed a policy of assimilation aimed at
producing an elite class. She hoped by introducing a favoured
class of Africans to French culture and civilization and raising
them to the status of Frenchmen, to avoid the rise of African
nationalism in the territories under her rule. The class of elites,
however, always remained relatively small, and outside it the
bulk of the Africans remained subjects, to be exploited and
maltreated at the will of on-the-spot Frenchmen, both high and
low.
10 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
What was French administration like in practice? I asked a
Moroccan friend when I visited the country some years ago.
He shrugged his shoulders, and proceeded to tell me how the
French had never allowed a national election in Morocco, or
indeed any form of democratic assembly. No Moroccan sat in
the French Assembly or Senate. There was no question of train
ing Africans to manage their own affairs, even in the field of
government. There was no freedom of the press. Patriotic
organizations, like I stiqlal, were driven underground.
I t was practically impossible for a Moroccan child to get a
decent education, he said. As for economic matters, the wealth
of the country was almost entirely in French hands.
But French policy can perhaps best be studied in Algeria.
There the French really tried to make the country an integral
part of France. The Departments of Algiers, Constantine and
Oran had the same status as Departments inside France itself;
and the African inhabitants of Algeria had, if they renounced
Muslim law, the same rights as citizens of France. Y et the utter
failure of French policy in Algeria is apparent to the world.
The reason is simple. Algeria forms part of the African continent.
I t could never be part of France. I t was just self-deceit to talk of
French Algeria; for there is only one Algeria, and that is Algerian.
I have publicly stated Ghanas position towards Algeria. We
supported the Algerian nationalists publicly. The argument
that the European settlers had made Algeria their home and
regarded themselves as Algerians, is irrelevant. I f they had
been truly patriotic Algerians, they would not have opposed
the Algerian nationalists: they would not have killed and
terrorized, and broken the provisions of the Franco-Algerian
peace agreements. To the African, the European settler,
whether living in South Africa, Kenya, Angola, or anywhere else
in Africa, is an intruder, an alien who has seized African land.
No amount of arguing about the so-called benefits of European
rule can alter the fundamental right of Africans to order their
own affairs.
I n the areas of settlement, the Europeans, in order to buttress
their domination and entrench their economic hold, alienated
the land from the Africans and then raised poll and other taxes
upon them in order to drive them out to work for starvation
THE COLONIAL IMPRINT II
wages. They erected barriers of race to enforce segregation on
grounds of the inferior social development of the indigenous
people, and made this a reason for enforcing their right to rule.
There is no logic except the right of might that can accept the
undemocratic rule of a majority by a minority. The predominant
racial group must, and will, provide the government of a
country. The race that is in the majority is the possessor of the
land it occupies, irrespective of the annexations made by a
minority of settlers. I t is obvious that unhappiness, friction and
fear must prevail when a minority settler group tries to take
possession of a land, or to dictate to a majority, as in the cases of
South Africa, Algeria, Kenya, or the Central African Federation.
The first step towards testing the right of rule in communities
of mixed races and creeds is to give every adult, irrespective of
race and creed, the right to vote. When each citizen thereby
enjoys equality of status with all others, barriers of race and
colour will disappear, and the people will mix freely together
and will work for the common good.
Portugal, like France, has also pursued a colonial policy of
assimilation in its African territories, though of a rather different
kind. Mozambique and Angola are regarded as integral parts
of Portugal, administered by the Ministerio do Ultramar in
Lisbon. The press is censored, and all national movements sup
pressed. Mozambique, where the Portuguese have been for over
450 years, has a Governor-Generals Council, with equal
numbers of official and non-official members, and sends two
deputies to Lisbon. But the Portuguese have never intended to
allow any development towards self-government. Likewise in
Angola, everything is run from Lisbon.
Portugal is at home an old-fashioned despotic oligarchy estab
lished and maintained in the interests of a small group of ex
tremely wealthy families. I t is at the same time one of the poorest
of European countries. There is, therefore, a potentially revolu
tionary situation in Portugal itself. All those who are afraid of
social change in Europe thus become the allies of Portuguese
colonialism, since its maintenance appears to be the only method
by which Portugal itself can be saved from revolution.
Although there is no official colour bar in the Portuguese
colonies, conditions both in Mozambique and Angola are
12 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
among the worst in Africa. I n recent years, the average African
wage in Mozambique was about ninepence a day. Education has
been shamefully neglected. I n 1955, there were only 68 African
high school students in the whole of Angola.
But the system of forced labour, which still operates, is
perhaps the worst blot on the Portuguese record in Africa. I t
amounts to a form of slavery. Men are treated not as men, but as
chattels, to be pushed around from place to place at the whim
of the local Ghefe do Posto, or district officer. The assimilado
or civilizado system, whereby an African may, by process of
law, become in effect a white man, if he comes up to certain
European standards, demonstrates yet another aspect of the
Portuguese brand of colonialism. Quite apart from the arrogant
assumption of racial superiority implied in the idea that every
African would wish to become white, is the insidious effect
of a policy aimed at deliberately trying to turn Africans into
Portuguese. I am reminded of the African from Lourengo
Marques who said: The Portuguese think that it was a mistake
on the part of God to make the African, African. Their assimi-
lado policy is an effort to correct this divine error.
I intend to discuss the social and economic effects of colonial
ism as a whole in a later chapter. I t is sufficient at this point to
state that all the injustice, social degradation and slavery of the
Portuguese regime in Africa reached a climax at the time of the
1961 revolt in Angola. The Angola people have entered the
African nationalist revolution, and the country will never be the
same again.
Doubtless the ending of Belgian rule in the neighbouring
Congo encouraged the rise of nationalism in Angola. The vast
country of the Congo, about 77 times the size of Belgium, was
between 1876 and 1908 the exclusive property of one man, King
Leopold I I of Belgium. He became one of the richest men in the
world by mercilessly exploiting the country. African workers
were mutilated or shot if they failed to bring in the required
amount of rubber or ivory, the two chief objects of value in the
Congo at that time. A reliable source has put the cost of lives of
Leopolds regime at between five and eight million. I n 1908, as
a result of a Commission of Enquiry set up to investigate
atrocities, the Congo Free State became a colony under the
THE COLONI AL I MPRINT
13
Belgian Government. A Governor-General was appointed,
responsible to the Belgian Parliament, but he had no Legislative
Council or Assembly to check his power, and no Congolese sat
in the Brussels Parliament. Nobody in the Congo, white or black,
could vote, and the Congolese had few, if any, civil rights. The
essence of the Belgian colonial system, as later developed, was to
buy off any discontent by giving a certain amount of economic
opportunity.
Belgian district commissioners ruled their various localities in
the same authoritarian manner as the Governor-General in
Leopoldville. The Roman Catholic church and big business
were the other, no less, powerful rulers of the Congo. The
Belgian Government, in fact, shared considerably in the invest
ment holdings of the interlocking combines which monopolized
the Congos economy, often to the extent of as much as fifty per
cent.
The belated attempts of the Belgians to prevent mounting
national feeling in the Congo from expressing itself in violence,
by holding carefully controlled and limited municipal elections,
failed. The Congo became independent in J une i960, and tragic
subsequent events showed that the Belgians never intended that
Congolese independence should, in fact, become effective. There
were practically no experienced Congolese politicians or civil
servants, and no African officers in the force publique. The per
sistent interference of Belgian big business interests in Congolese
politics has further complicated an extremely difficult situation.
I n South Africa a different, though no less dangerous, state of
affairs exists. There, government policy can be summed up in
the one word, apartheid, which involves social, political and
economic segregation on a basis of race. The Union of South
Africa, when it was formed in 1910, was a sovereign, inde
pendent state within the British Empire.
I t is now a Republic, no longer a member of the Common
wealth, and the only independent country in Africa governed by
its white minority. The problem in South Africa is basically the
same as that in other settler territories in Africa. I n these coun
tries there is a European minority, settled over a considerable
period of time, which claims by virtue of race the right to rule
for ever over the majority of the inhabitants.
H
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
The ruling class in South Africa consists of some three million
persons of European descent. This ruling class controls the
armed forces, which are armed and trained specifically to deal
with civil disturbance. The opponents, the remaining twelve
million inhabitants of South Africa, are unarmed and lack the
elaborate political and economic organization which the ruling
class has built up. I t is because of this that the ruling class con
sider that their position is safe and that they can continue in
definitely to pursue their apartheid policy.
History has shown that such a calculation is entirely false, and
if we look below the surface it can, I think, be shown that the
position of the South African Government is fundamentally
weak. There has been a significant repudiation of the regime by
a section of the intellectual class, significant in the context of the
South African situation, where even the slightest liberalism in
race relations brings down the wrath of the Government. I t is
the cloud the size of a mans hand seen by the Prophet Elijah,
the inevitable approach of the storm.
A second sign of trouble to come is the division in the ruling
class itself. The two main political parties in South Africa, the
United Party and the Nationalists, though both dedicated to the
maintenance of racial inequality, differ about how this in
equality should be maintained. The significance of the division
is that it runs deep enough to have split the unity of the wielders
of South Africas intensive racialist policy, and the Government
cannot, therefore, claim undivided loyalty.
Also significant in recent years is the emergence of the Pro
gressive Party, an organization of persons of goodwill allied to
some of the shrewdest financiers in the country. These financiers
are mainly of British stock and represent mining, manufacturing
and commercial interests, concerned with the erection of a wider
internal market and easier international relations than the
Boer-controlled apartheid policy allows. The intellectuals within
the party realize that there is something deeply wrong with
South Africa, and that if the Union is to survive, radical changes
must be made. Ultimately, however, they all fight shy of the
only change which can solve the South African situation, the
establishment of the principle of one man one vote, irrespective
of colour or racial origin. Like most reforming parties which
THE COLONI AL IMPRINT
15
spring up on the eve of revolution, they see an abyss opening up
before them, but are unable to formulate any decisive alter
native.
Against the disrupting tendencies in the Union itself stands the
tremendous unfolding of the African Revolution, which has
spread with remarkable swiftness out towards the east, centre
and south, so that it is now almost at the frontiers of South Africa.
Why are you so certain that there will soon be a change of
regime in South Africa?5 a member of the Ghana National
Assembly asked me shortly after South Africa left the Common
wealth. I replied: Because of the strength of the African Revo
lution which has already transformed most of Africa; and
because the South African regime shows exactly those symptoms
which have invariably preceded revolutions elsewhere.5South
Africa is a country timed for explosion, like Haiti before its
revolt, and for the same reasons: racial tyranny and fear.
Not surprisingly, therefore, discontent mounts in the Union,
as also in the South African administered territory of South
West Africa.
L abour disputes often end in strikes and demonstrations;
sporadic outbreaks of violence increase in size and number.
These in themselves may not be enough to disrupt the South
African economy, but if a sufficient number of countries boycott
South Africa, the total effect is bound to be considerable.
Already the Union government is dangerously isolated politic
ally, cut off from the sympathy of its African neighbours, and
deprived, because of its apartheid policy, of the moral support of
most of the world.
The South African question is one upon which African states
have proved that they have a unity of approach, and it should
not be difficult to devise an appropriate line of policy which
could attain universal African support. Plans must certainly be
made to train Africans from South Africa to be ready to take
over positions of responsibility once the existing government has
been overthrown.
British colonial policy has assumed various forms in different
parts of Africa. A full description would fill several books, and I
can mention only what I consider to be some of the more sig
nificant and characteristic aspects of it. The avowed British
i 6 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
policy has been to guide the colonial territories to responsible
self-government within the Commonwealth. The late Ernest
Bevin defined the reasons for this policy as Give . . . and keep.5
I t seems he meant that by voluntary withdrawal at a suitable
time the British would retain the goodwill of the African,
strengthen the Commonwealth, earn the praise of the rest of the
world, and at the same time keep maximum political and
economic advantages. The British, though liking to pose as
dreamy idealists who, through absence of mind, achieved an
empire, are in my experience the most hard-headed of realists.
They know that Africa must inevitably be ruled by Africans, and
they want to come out of the business in the best possible way.
From early days internal self-government was granted to
colonies of settlement, but in the case of colonies where there was
no strong European settler community to run affairs, political
development was much slower. Unlike France, Britain did not
consider her colonies an extension of the homeland. No colonial
constituencies have at any time been represented in the House of
Commons in London.
Generally, a Governor was placed over each colony. He was
responsible to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who in turn
was responsible to the House of Commons, the Cabinet, and
ultimately to the Crown. He was not responsible to a local
electorate; and here the truly authoritarian nature of the regime
becomes apparent.
Although most colonies had an Executive Council (Exco),
this was usually appointed by the Governor, and again was not
responsible to any locally-elected assembly. I n some colonies
unofficial members were in due course appointed. European
unofficial members sat on the Executive Council in K enya after
1919; and Africans on the Executive Councils of the Gold Coast
(Ghana) and Nigeria after 1942. These Councils had advisory
power only; and their proceedings were secret.
Under the Executive Council was the Legislative Council
(Legco), which passed the Budget and certain laws. I t could
debate and vote on legislative proposals put before it, and could
question the government. But the government was not bound
to take its advice. Before the Second World War no Africans sat
in Legislative Councils in East Africa. I n 1944 one was nomi
THE COLONIAL IMPRINT
17
nated to the Kenya Legislative Council; the following year three
were appointed in Uganda; and in 1946, two in Tanganyika.
Progress was faster in West Africa. The first African member of
the Legislative Council in the Gold Coast was nominated in
1861.
The power of the Legco varied in different countries accord
ing to the ratio between official, unofficial (i.e. appointed), and
elected members. Where the elected members were out
numbered by the official and unofficial members, the assembly
was controlled, in fact, by the Governor. But, in any case, the
Legco could not cause the government to resign, even if it out
voted it on some Bill. The Governor had certain reserved
powers by which he could invalidate legislation; and he could,
in time of extreme emergency, suspend the constitution and rule
by decree. This was actually done not long ago in British
Guiana.
There have, of course, in recent decades been progressive
revisions of the constitutions of almost all United K ingdom
dependencies, and those which are not already independent
have advanced constitutions which place responsibility for their
own affairs largely in the hands of the local people. The evolu
tion towards parliamentary government on the Westminster
model has been marked by an obstinate refusal to grant, par
ticularly in areas of white settlement, universal adult suffrage,
the keystone, after all, of true democracy.
I n spite of the moralizings of British colonialists who argue
that political reform is granted as and when the colony is ready
for it, change has, in fact, come mostly as a result of pressure
from below. I n the case of Ghana, a vigorous campaign waged
by my party, its slogan Self-Government Now, was needed
before independence could be achieved. As I said in the National
Assembly on 10 J uly 1953, when presenting the historic motion
for independence:
There comes a time in the history of colonial peoples when
they must, because of their will to throw off the hampering
shackles of colonialism, boldly assert their God-given right to
be free of a foreign ruler. . . . I f there is to be a criterion of a
peoples preparedness for self-government, then I say it is their
i 8 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
readiness to assume the responsibility of governing themselves.
For who but a people themselves can say when they are pre
pared ?
I know of no case where self-government has been handed to a
colonial and oppressed people on a silver platter. The dynamic
has had to come from the people themselves. I t is a standing joke
in Africa that when the British start arresting, independence is
just around the corner.
The principle of indirect rule adopted in West Africa, and also
in other parts of the continent, allowed a certain amount of
local self-government in that chiefs could rule their districts
provided they did nothing contrary to the laws of the colonial
power, and on condition they accepted certain orders from the
colonial government. The system of indirect rule was notably
successful for a time in Northern Nigeria, where the Emirs
governed much as they had done before the colonial period. But
the system had obvious dangers. I n some cases, autocratic chiefs,
propped up by the colonial government, became inefficient and
unpopular, as the riots against the chiefs in Eastern Nigeria in
1929, and in Sierra Leone in 1936, showed.
I n wide areas of East Africa, where there was no developed
system of local government which could be used, headmen or
warrant chiefs were appointed, usually from noble families.
They were so closely tied up with the colonial power that many
Africans thought chiefs were an invention of the British.
The alliance of the governing power with the privileged classes
tended to slow up or put a break on social change and progress,
as both had an interest in maintaining the status quo. I n Ghana,
the position of chiefs is entrenched in our Constitution, and they
still play an important part in the life of the country. Chiefs in
some parts of Africa have been, and still are, in the forefront of
nationalist movements. I n Tanganyika, for example, the Tan
ganyika African National Union (TANU) claimed that not a
single chief supported the government; they were all supporters
of TANU. But by and large, the system of indirect rule, where
chiefs were paid to administer their areas under the supervision of
the colonial power, did lead frequently to divided loyalties, as
well as to the slowing down of democratic processes.
THE COLONI AL I MPRI NT
19
The establishment of local councils, like those in K enya in
1924, was an improvement, but their powers were strictly
limited. The District Officer was the ex officio President and
retained all executive power. The Councils had treasuries, but
received no share of the general tax.
When the Councils were reconstructed, in 1950, as African
District Councils, the presidents and members were to be
appointed by the Provincial Commissioners. The latter in
variably appointed District Commissioners as presidents,
though they usually allowed a majority of the members of each
council to be elected by the people.
Dedicated to the complete destruction of colonialism in all its
forms, I can hold no brief for any colonial government, whatever
its pattern. British, French, Portuguese, Belgians, Spanish,
Germans, I talians, all at one time or another ruled parts of Africa
or still continue to do so. Their methods might have varied, but
their purpose was the same: to enrich themselves at the expense
of their colonies.
CHAPTER THREE
C OL ON I A L P A T T E R N OF E C ON OM I C S
Many h a v e argued that the resources of Africa were useless
to the native inhabitants until they were developed, and they
could not have been developed without European capital and
skill. I t has even been said that the European investor, however
J self-interested he may have been, was serving Africa.1This sort
of argument reminds me of the man who, having found buried
treasure in his neighbours garden, took it away and then told
his neighbour that he was doing him no harm, because, until
then, he was unaware of its existence. I n any case, he did not
own a spade. To those who study the facts fairly, it must surely
I be clear that the European occupation of Africa was carried out
* for the benefit of Europeans. Concern for the welfare of the
\ African peoples hardly entered into the matter.
J J ules Ferry, Premier of France in 1885, gave the dominant
(reasons for the European quest for colonies in Africa, when he
spoke in the Chamber of Deputies in defence of the colonial
policy of the French Government.
He said:
Is it not clear that the great states of modern Europe, the
moment their industrial power is founded, are confronted with
an immense and difficult problem, which is the basis of industrial
life, the very condition of existence - the question of markets ?
Have you not seen the great industrial nations one by one arrive
at a colonial policy ? And can we say that this colonial policy is a
luxury for modern nations ? Not at all, gentlemen, this policy is,
for all of us, a necessity, like the market itself.
Today, as you know, the law of supply and demand, freedom
1 A. J . Hanna: European Rule in Africa (1961). Hist. Assoc. Pamphlet G.46,
p. 17.
COLONIAL PATTERN OF ECONOMICS 21
of exchange, the influence of speculations, all these move in a
circle which extends to the ends of the world.
Colonies are for rich countries one of the most lucrative
methods of investing capital. . . . I say that France, which is
glutted with capital, and which has exported considerable
quantities, has an interest in looking at this side of the colonial
question. I t is the same question as that of outlets for our manu
facture.
Colonial policy is the offspring of industrial policy, for rich
states in which capital is abundant and is rapidly accumulating,
in which the manufacturing system is continually growing and
attracting, if not the most numerous, at least the most alert and
energetic part of the population that works with its hands, in
which the countryside is obliged to industrialize itself, in order
to maintain itself, in such states exportation is an essential factor
of public property. . . . The protective system is like a steam
boiler without a safety-valve, unless it has a healthy and serious
colonial policy as a corrective and auxiliary. European con
sumption is saturated ri tk necessary to raise new masses of con
sumers in otherjparts^TlHe globe, eise~we^KalTput modern*
society into bankruptcy and j j repare for the dawn of the!
"twentieth century a cataclysmic social liquidation of which we J
cannot calculate thBnconsequen.ces.,- ^ *
Albert Sarraut, French Colonial Secretary of State in 1923,
spoke in even stronger terms, at the Ecole Coloniale in Paris:
What is the use of painting the truth ? At the start colonization
was not an act of civilization, nor was it a desire to civilize. I t was
an act of force motivated by interests. An episode in the vital
competition which, from man to man, from group to group,
has gone on ever increasing; the people who set out to seize
colonies in distant lands were thinking primarily of themselves, (
and were working for their own profits, and conquering for their
own power.
Sarraut concluded his speech with these words: The origin of
colonization is nothing else than enterprise of individual interests,
a one-sided and egotistical imposition of the strong upon the
weak.5He thus exposed the falsehood of the theory of the white
man's burden5and the mission civilisatrice\
22 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
The Marxist-Leninist view supports the stand of J ules Ferry,
which argues that the most determined imperialists are fre
quently concealed Marxists and abler exponents of Marxist
analysis than many self-styled socialists. TAccording to the
Marxist-Leninist view, imperialism is the development of the
capitalist system to its highest stage. I ts most important feature
is that of monopoly. The concentration of production and capital
has developed to such a degree that it has created monopolies
which play a decisive role in economic life^National monopolies
have linked up internationally to share the world among them
selves, and the territorial division of the globe is completed.!
Banking capital has reached the stage where it dominates pro-'
duction capital; and the export of investment capital has become
as vitally necessary as the export of commodities. I t is true that
excess capital could be invested at home in the improvement of
agriculture, but the profits are not by any means as large as
those obtained from overseas investment in backward coun
tries, where labour and land costs are minimal. The annual
returns on overseas investment (one of the chief hidden benefits
of colonies) are often several times the volume of trade and
shipping with the backward5areas. As a result of intensive pro
duction, there is keen competition for raw materials,/
I t was at the juncture where production was dominated by
industrial combines and the shortage of raw materials was
becoming acute, that the possession of colonies became im
perative, as controlled sources of raw materials and outlets for
manufactured goods and finance capital. On the colonial scene,
the stage opened with the appearance of the missionaries, the
traders and the administrators. While missionaries implored the
colonial subject to lay up his treasures in Heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt5, the traders and administrators
acquired his minerals and land. There was no intention of pro
cessing locally the discovered raw materials. These were in
tended to feed the metropolitan mills and plants, to be exported
back to the colonies later in the form of finished commodities.
The simple two-way traffic is implicit in colonial trade .J I n her
African colonies, Britain controlled the export of raw materials
by preventing their direct shipment to foreign markets. After
satisfying the demands of her home industries, she sold the
surplus to other nations and netted the profits herselfjThe
colonial farmer and worker had no share in those profitsANor
was any part of them used in providing public works and "social
services in the colonies. There is a belief that the British Govern
ment contributed to the costs of administration and public
services in their colonies. This is a fallacy. Each colony raised its
own budget out of taxes and revenue, and the first charge upon
it was the salaries of the European officials of the administration.
The construction of railways, harbours and roads was met out
of loans raised from local sources, and was undertaken largely
to meet the transport and communications requirements of the
colonialists. For example, diamonds and gold lay at the basis of
South Africas railway system. Gold prospecting, the finding of
coal at Wankie, and the opening up of the copper belt fixed the
pattern of Rhodesias first railways. Our own railways in Ghana
were laid down in order to take out minerals and timber from
areas of production to the harbour at Takoradi.
I mmense profits have been, and are still being, taken out of
Africa. I mportant mineral deposits in various parts of Africa
have attracted foreign capital, which has been used mainly to
enrich alien investors. The rich copper mines of Northern
Rhodesia are a case in point. The Anglo-American Corporation
of South Africa with its associated diamond combine, besides
having a practical monopoly of all the diamonds produced in
Africa, and owning many gold and coal mines in South Africa,
has a large stake in the Rhodesian copper belt.
{, Much of the great mineral wealth of Africa, which ought to
have been kept in Africa to develop basic industries here, has
been systematically shipped away^he process is still going on,
even in the independent countries. There are those who argue
that the conditions and resources of Africa are not suited to
industrialization. I n this way they seek to excuse the economic
policy of the colonial powers and support the infiltration of neo
colonialism. The argument falls to the ground when the facts are
examined.
\ We have here, in Africa, everything necessary to become a
powerful, modern, industrialized continent. United Nations
investigators have recently shown that Africa, far from
having inadequate resources, is probably better equipped for
COLONIAL PATTERN OF ECONOMICS 23
24
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
industrialization than almost any other region in the world.
Potential reserves of iron ore, for instance, would last some two
thousand years. Coal deposits are estimated at 4,500 million
tons. The Saharas oil reserves are thought to be as great as
those in the Arabian peninsula. Natural gas abounds in the
bowels of the Sahara. Northern Rhodesia is reported to have
the second largest vanadium deposits in the world. Potential
hydro-electrical power is almost limitless. I n Ghana we have
bauxite reserves estimated at some 200 million tons. I have
mentioned only a few of our natural resources; many other
figures, equally impressive, could be given. When the whole
continent has been geologically surveyed, immense new riches
will undoubtedly be discovered.
The true explanation for the slowness of industrial develop
ment in Africa lies in the policies of the colonial period.
Practically all our natural resources, not to mention trade,
shipping, banking, building, and so on, fell into, and have
remained in, the hands of foreigners seeking to enrich alien/
investors, and to hold back local economic initiative. Out of
148,000,000 allocated between 1946 and 1956 under the U.K .
Colonial Development and Welfare Aid, only 545,000, less than
half per cent, was directly used for industrial development.1
Capital investment from outside is, of course, required in
Africa. But only if there is real political independence can the
profits from the investment of this capital be shared in a way
which is fair both to the outside investor and to the people of the
country where the investment is made.
The way in which many foreign companies obtained their
concessions in Africa was often sordid, to say the least. A Com
mission of Enquiry, set up to investigate the granting of
concessions in the Gold Coast, recently discovered some very
revealing facts.
These concessions were secured by local agents persuading the
chiefs, the custodians of tribal and Stool lands, to sign away the
mineral and timber rights of their people for purely nominal
sums. Some money, a few hundred yards of cloth, a few cases of
whisky and gin, were usually sufficient inducement to secure the
1 Special Study on Economic Conditions in Non-Self-Goveming Territories. United
Nations, 1958.
COLONIAL PATTERN OF ECONOMICS
25
marks of the chiefs to legal documents which they could neither
read nor understand.
One of Ghanas best known chiefs, Nana Sir Ofori Atta I , told
the Legislative Council in 1939 how six of his brother chiefs had
been deceived when they signed away concessions to the largest
of the mining companies. One, he said, got 66, another 133, a
third and a fourth received 50 each, and the fifth and sixth
200 and 100 respectively. These rents, he added, are pay
able to chiefs in respect of the Ashanti Goldfields Limited, and
nothing goes to any of the chiefs on the profits that are earned.1
The chiefs tried to get the then Governor, Sir Arnold Hodson, to
support a Bill which would require the company to pay the
Native Authorities a royalty on their profits. He refused, giving
the reason that it would be shortsighted and extremely harmful
to interfere because capital was very sensitive, and it might have
the effect of driving it away to other parts of the world.
At the end of the Ashanti wars, about 300 British concerns
secured mining and timber concessions which, according to
Lord Hailey,2amounted to about a third of the total land area of
the Gold Coast Colony, and about one-eighth of Ashanti.
With all the wealth drawn from our mineral resources, it may
come as a shock to some to learn that, except for a small annual
tribute from the gold mines, no mining company in the Gold
Coast ever made any contribution by way of direct taxes to the
countrys revenue, until my government introduced its new
taxation measures in 1952, and these made no noticeable im
pression upon the distributed profits of these companies. I often
wonder just how much the Union Mini ere du Haut-K atanga
paid for its concessions in the Belgian Congo!
Commercial exploitation in our country has a long history, as
long, in fact, as European contact with the West African coast.
I n keeping with the imperialist policy of fostering single crop
agriculture in the colonies, our farmers, having found that cocoa
did well in our soil and climate, were encouraged to concentrate
on its production to the neglect of local food crops and a diversity
of cash crops. The encouragement of mono-crop cultivation was
not, however, accompanied by stable prices. The price of our
1 Gold Coast Legislative Council Debates, 1939, No. 1.
2 Lord Hailey: African Survey, Oxford University Press, p. 778.
26 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
cocoa was manipulated by European and American buyers, who
included, besides the large chocolate manufacturers, the big im
porters and distributors of food products, farm implements and
manufactured goods. J oined together in their association, they
forced down the price of cocoa, while the cost of imported com
modities, upon which our people became more and more
dependent, as a result of single-crop farming, remained stable.
During the war, the British Government set up group market
ing boards in the West African colonies as agencies for the bloc
purchase of raw materials by the Ministry of Supply in London
as part of its planned arrangements for satisfying the metro
politan rationing system. Our present Cocoa Marketing Board,
which operates our bulk purchasing and selling of the crop,
developed out of these wartime arrangements. This system of
planned purchase and sale enables us to give the farmers a
guaranteed price fixed to prevent a domestic inflationary spiral.
There has been a steady elimination of the predatory middlemen
who used to act as the agents of the big merchant firms and
chocolate manufacturers, while the foremost of the trading firms
has itself retired from this sphere of activity. But the twin purpose
for which our economy had been geared under imperialist rule,
of providing markets for British products and mercantile
services, and the export of cocoa, and mining commodities, on
the basis of low-paid labour, cannot overnight be replaced by
one more suited to the needs of modern Ghana. The pattern of
its monopolistic control was firmly set in the first quarter of the
present century, w7hen the pioneering firms and our own African
merchant princes, as they were called, were either forced out of
business or absorbed by the giant companies. A substantial
volume of petty trade came to be carried on by thousands of
women street hucksters and market vendors. These women, a
few of whom have accumulated some sizeable capital, play an
important part in our internal trade distribution. But they are
reliant for their supplies on the monopoly firms, for whom they
provide the cheapest kind of retail distributive system it has been
possible to devise.
Under colonial rule, foreign monopoly interests had our whole
economy completely tied up to suit themselves, j I n a country
whose output of cocoa is the largest in the world, there was not a
COLONIAL PATTERN OF ECONOMICS 27
single chocolate factory. While we produce the raw materials for
the manufacture oT soap and edible fats, palm products, the
manufacture of these items was discouraged. A British firm
owning lime plantations here, as it does in the West I ndies,
actually expresses the juice from the fruit before shipping it in
bulk to the United Kingdom and exporting it back to us,
bottled, to retail in stores at a high price. Though we had the
raw materials needed for their manufacture, every bottle used in
this country was imported. These facts have a kind of Alice in
Wonderland craziness about them which many will find hard to
accept. But they are implicit in the whole concept and policy of
colonialism. Native initiative, where it was likely to endanger
the interests of the colonial power, was quickly stifled.
We import a lot of soap and, as I have already said, we have
the raw materials right here. I ndeed, the overseas manu
facturers get their vegetable oils from us. I t seemed quite a sound
idea for a Ghanaian to establish a soap factory here in Ghana.
Not so sound, though, for the British firm which manufactured
soap, or for those who shipped it to us and imported it, especially
when they were tied up together. A Ghanaian factory was
started, but the machinery ordered was of the wrong type,
designed for animal rather than vegetable fat. The automatic
cutter produced bars of laundry soap larger than those imported.
There were constant break-downs with the machinery, and the
larger soap bar could not retail at a price above that charged for
the imported soap. I nevitably the Ghanaian factory was forced
to close down, and soap continued to be imported.
I cannot understand why so many people in the United
Kingdom still refuse to admit that local industry was deliberately
discouraged in many of the colonies. After all, they learn in their
school history books that the Americans complained of the same
sort of thing in the eighteenth century. They, too, were not
allowed to manufacture any commodity which might compete
with industries in the metropolitan country. I f the American
colonists had genuine economic grievances, why not us? Why
not Africa?
I n his book, West Africa, F. J . Pedler admits that the colonial
governments prevented industries from being introduced, but
gives the strange reason that: They have wished to safeguard the
28 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
social system of the African tribes against disintegrating in
fluences of urban conditions.1 And yet so many historians
regard the industrial revolution as one of the best things that ever
happened to Britain.
The view that the African must be spared the dangers of
industrialization and town life used to be very widely held. Many
a district officer under the colonial regime sincerely believed it,
and would have been genuinely hurt if it was suggested that his
belief sprang from an inner conviction that the Africans were an
inferior people, capable only of primitive village life. I t is under
standable that histories of Africa, until recently written almost
entirely by Europeans, should give the European viewpoint.
But it is time that some of the popular and most glaring mis
conceptions about colonialism were cleared up. The system must
be examined in the light of the facts, and from the point of view
of those who suffered under it.
Not least among our worries in planning the economic
development of our country has been the whole question of
communications. Before we took office in 1951, there was no
direct railway between Accra and Takoradi, our capital city and
our main port. Passengers and freight had to travel by way of
Kumasi. This was because Kumasi was the centre of the cocoa,
timber and mining industries. We have now built a railway line
from Achiasi to Kotoku, thus linking Accra to Takoradi by a
direct route. Another line links Accra with the new harbour at
Tema.
Similarly with roads; there were relatively few before 1951.
Farmers found it difficult to get their produce to market, because
of the lack of feeder roads from farm to main highways. Few of
our villages had any regular transport to a main road or station.
I n the towns, one was lucky if one happened to live near a
mammy lorry9route. For the most part our people walked from
place to place.
The colonial administration would, no doubt, have claimed
that they were working to a specific budget, a budget strictly
related to the revenue. But our revenue in no way reflected the
volume of the countrys production, its trade and commerce.
1 Home Study Books, 2nd edition, Methuen, 1959, p. 93.
COLONIAL PATTERN OF ECONOMICS
29
I ncome tax was kept at a deliberately low level, when it was
steadily rising in the United Kingdom. Worse than that, the
British companies operating in the Gold Coast were registered in
England, which received the tax benefits from the enormous
profits made out of our wealth and labour. I t was not our farmers
and workers who shared the profits made, but the British share
holders to whom dividends were exported. I t is estimated that
during the last thirty years of British colonial administration,
British trading and shipping interests took out of our country a
total of 300,000,000. J ust imagine what might have been done
by way of development if only part of these gigantic transfers of
profit had been retained and used for the benefit of our
people.
I have already referred to the grim emptiness that faced us on
our assumption of independence, the gaps and deficiencies.
Behind it all was the refusal to use our wealth for our develop
ment. Not only were our natural resources extracted but the
benefits of their exploitation came, not to us but to the metro
politan country. This is the answer to those economists who
maintain that imperialism should be judged not on what it takes
away but on what it leaves behind, as well as to those who parade
the heritage of the schools and hospitals and roads that the
missionaries and our colonial rulers left to us. They have no case
against the actualities that I am describing.
Under the British there was no poultry farming to speak of;
there was no proper dairy farming, and the ordinary Gold Coast
family never saw a glass of fresh milk in its life. There wras no
raising of beef cattle. There were no industrial crops. Climate,
plant and cattle disease, are the least of the reasons for this
deplorable neglect, for the Ghana Government is going ahead
with precisely these agricultural projects, with considerable
success. The British sent out a few good veterinary doctors and
botanists, who carried out a certain amount of field work and
experiments. These, however, were isolated, and remained
mostly unapplied at the practical level. Somehow or other,
useful and necessary knowledge seldom seemed to percolate
down to the local farmer.
The administrators who should have used their scientific results
as the basis of a thorough-going agricultural development policy
30
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
were either too lethargic or too uninterested to take action. I t
may be that they were reluctant to do anything which might
interfere with the import of agricultural products at monopoly
prices. Whatever the reason, local agriculture was discouraged
and imports swelled.
During the war, British troops were stationed in the Gold
Coast. Everyone knows that potatoes are to the British what
bread is to the French. A meal is not complete without them.
Under wartime conditions, shipping was severely restricted, and
it looked as though the British soldiers would have to go without
their potatoes. I t had always been maintained that our climate
was not suitable for growing them. But the administration,
moved at the thought of British servicemen being deprived of
their staple food, began a grow potatoes campaign. Before long,
our hitherto unsuitable climate was producing magnificent
crops. Once the war was over, however, and normal shipping
facilities were resumed, the Department of Agriculture changed
its tune. Gold Coast potatoes, we were told, were unfit for
human consumption. The result was that potatoes disappeared
from our fields and once more figured among our imports.
We have wide savannahs in the north, ideal with the right
irrigation for the growing of cotton. Y et for many years we spent
millions of pounds importing richly-patterned cloths from
abroad. We have made plans for irrigating these savannahs, and
have projects for cotton-growing and textile-making, and our
experiments are going ahead. We have had to do everything from
scratch, but in spite of this great progress is being made.
Similarly with the fishing industry, we hope in due course to
make up for lost time. Here, too, the colonial regime failed. I n
the absence of cattle farming, fish was the most important source
of animal protein in the country, and there are plenty of good
fishing grounds near our coasts. A comparatively small ex
penditure of money on refrigeration and on motorized boats
would have provided for a sufficient quantity of fish to be caught
and brought home in good condition to cover the local market
and leave some over for export. Throughout the entire period of
British administration, even though malnutrition figured as a
basic cause of a number of the countrys diseases, and was
certainly a contributory factor in low productivity, no attempt
was made to initiate such a project. On the contrary, the Gold
Coast annually imported large quantities of fish.
The failure to promote the interests of our people was due to
the insatiable demands of colonial exploitation. However wise,
enlightened and good-hearted certain individual officers may
have been, their functions and authority fitted into a pattern of
colonial administration which was itself conditioned by the
central and over-all need to extract the riches of the colonies
and transfer them overseas. I f in the process it was necessary to
build some roads, to construct a harbour, or to educate some
Africans, well and good. The point I want to make is that any
welfare activity for the benefit of our people was little more than
incidental. I t was far from being the underlying purpose of
colonial rule. .
COLONI AL PATTERN OF ECONOMICS 31
CHAPTER FOUR
S O C I E T Y U N D E R C O L O N I A L I S M
T h e r e i s growing up in Ghana a generation which has no
first-hand knowledge of colonial rule. These boys and girls, born
since I ndependence, will find it difficult to believe that there was
a time when Africans could not walk in certain parts of every
town, unless they had business there as servants. The limitations
on our freedom, the crimes against our dignity as human beings,
will seem to them remote and unreal. I t is cheering to think that
when they meet a European it will never occur to them to touch
the imaginary forelock, or bow in servility, as some of our older
men still do, so hard is it to break long-established habits.
The social effects of colonialism are more insidious than the
political and economic. This is because they go deep into the
minds of the people and therefore take longer to eradicate. The
Europeans relegated us to the position of inferiors in every aspect
of our everyday life. Many of our people came to accept the view
that we were an inferior people. I t was only when the validity of
that concept was questioned that the stirrings of revolt began
and the whole structure of colonial rule came under attack.
Signs like n o a f r i c a n a l l o w e d , or f o r e u r o p e a n s
o n l y could at one time be seen in practically every part of
Africa. Now they are fast disappearing, though still much in
evidence in the Republic of South Africa and in Southern
Rhodesia. I can well imagine what the reaction of an English
man would be if he came across signs proclaiming n o b r i t o n
a l l o w e d in any part of Europe, or even in one of the newly-
independent African states. Africans, however, were expected to
put up indefinitely with such treatment in the land of their birth.
The colour bar, where it has operated strongly, has been
responsible for much of the bitterness, which has, in some areas,
entered into African nationalism. This is hardly surprising. But
SOCIETY UNDER COLONIALISM
33
what is perhaps more remarkable is the moderation of most
African political leaders. Not a single one has advocated any
kind of policy founded on racial discrimination. All have stressed
the need for co-operation between races, based on the rule of the
majority. We have seen too much of racialism to want to per
petuate the evil in any way.
Of course, it will be some time before all traces of colonialism
will disappear from our society. Problems connected with
health, education, housing and living conditions generally,
continue to remind us of the colonial period. We have much
ground to make up, as a result of long years of being treated as an
inferior people fit only to provide cheap labour for foreign
employers. We were supposed not to be able to appreciate, or to
need, any real measure of social improvement.
I t is true that shelter in a tropical climate is a less urgent
problem than it is in a cold or temperate climate. I t is also true
that Africans do have improvised homes. This, in fact, was the
housing position in the Gold Coast under colonial administration.
But Africans did not live in shacks and mud huts because they
preferred them to proper houses. They had no choice. They had
neither the jobs nor the resources to enable them to build. And it
never occurred to the administration to do what most advanced
countries perform as an automatic service, undertake a popular
housing programme for the people. Nor were there any building
societies to help folk without ready capital to acquire homes.
Thus the people of this country lived as they had always lived,
crowded together in hovels as far removed from the dream of
living in a three-roomed abode with normal conveniences as a
London messenger boy is of owning Buckingham Palace.
There was once in England a similar prevailing upper-class
view of workers who lived in slums. They enjoy it,5was the
sentiment expressed. They like to live crowded together. I f we
did give them up-to-date houses with bathrooms, they wouldn't
know what to do with them. They would use the bath to store
coal.5Strangely enough, this was not merely a justification for the
Conservative Governments of the time to do nothing to meet
general housing needs. Some really believed that only the
educated upper class wanted and knew how to appreciate a
decent house.
34
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
With the close of the Second World War there followed a
change in the official outlook on these matters. Most established
countries brought about tremendous alterations in the social
pattern of their people by clearing slums and launching vast
housing schemes for the working population. These new ideas
of popular housing, however, never reached Africa. We could
go on living as we had always lived. We knew no better. What
had been good enough for our great-grandparents could go on
being good enough for us and our children.
The housing situation when we took office was shocking. I t
reflected what appeared to be a standard European view of the
African attitude towards domestic shelter: anything that keeps
off the rain and offers shade from the sun is good enough. The
white man, living in his stone, brick or concrete house, seemed
to think that the African native5neither wanted nor needed an
elaborate structure in which he and his family could live in
comfort. I t was considered enough for a few palm fronds and
thatch to give shelter to the family living in the village and for an
improvised shack with corrugated iron roof to serve the towns
folk. This assumption was just another facet of the contemptuous
regard of the African as a creature devoid of human sensibility.
I n all the years that the British colonial office administered
this country, hardly any serious rural water development was
carried out. What this means is not easy to convey to readers who
take for granted that they have only to turn on a tap to get an
immediate supply of good drinking water. This, if it had occurred
to our rural communities, would have been their idea of heaven.
They would have been grateful for a single village well or stand
pipe.
As it was, after a hard day's work in the hot and humid fields,
men and women would return to their village and then have to
tramp for as long as two hours with a pail or pot in which, at the
end of their outward journey, they would be lucky to collect
some brackish germ-filled water from what may perhaps have
been little more than a swamp. Then there was the long journey
back. Four hours a day for an inadequate supply of water
for washing and drinking, water for the most part disease-
ridden !
This picture was true for almost the whole country and can be
SOCIETY UNDER COLONIALISM
35
explained by the fact that water development is costly and no
more than a public service for the people being administered. I t
gave no immediate prospect of economic return. Y et a fraction
of the profits taken out of the country by the business and mining
interests would have covered the cost of a first-class water
system.
Under the colonial administration there was, until more
recent times, discrimination in the Gold Coast health services.
For example, there were seven hospitals in the country which
catered for under 3,000 Europeans as against thirty-six for about
4,000,000 Africans. We all remember when the Ridge hospital
in Accra was reserved for whites and when only in very special
cases any of our own people were admitted there. Korle Bu, the
principal Accra hospital, was always over-crowded. Even at
that, it was considered one of the best in Africa. I n fact, as with
education, so the public health and medical services of the Gold
Coast were rated to be well ahead of those in most other colonies.
Y et the services they provided were hopelessly inadequate.
Some attempt had been made by the administration to raise
health standards, and medical men and nurses had been brought
in from Britain to complement the medical services which had
been started by the missions. The budget, however, was terribly
restricted and practically nothing was done by way of preventive
medicine. The greatest scourge of our people is malaria, which is
almost endemic. I t is extremely debilitating and one of its effects
is sterility in women. To get rid of malaria one has to rid the
country of the anopheles mosquito. Other diseases* like tuber
culosis, yaws, and kwashiorkor, take a shocking toll of life and
energy, and are immediately ascribable to poor nutrition, over
crowded living conditions and bad drinking water. I nfant
mortality rates are appallingly high, and many surviving
children are crippled or invalid.
Attempts were being made to bring about some amelioration,
through the health services, but administrative policy did
nothing to eliminate the economic conditions which assisted the
incidence of death-dealing and energy-depriving diseases and
maladies. To some degree lack of education can also be blamed,
because without knowledge superstition persists. Health and
education most certainly go hand in hand, and many of our
36
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
people resisted the white mans medicine, because they
suspected it of being evil rather than good. Acceptance of
twentieth-century medical techniques demands a certain level of
education, and without this many of our people accepted death
and disease as part of an ordained pattern.
J ust as the colonialists failed to develop our countries, they did
little to enlarge our intellectual and social horizons. The reasons
they gave for this were as much resented by us as the denial of the
advantages. The African, it was maintained, would not
appreciate better conditions. He was incapable of education
beyond certain limits; he would not respond to the incentives of
higher standards of life. All these arguments, produced over and
over again in the past, have since been shown to be no more than
slander and calumny.
I n many parts of our continent, Africans were deliberately
barred from attaining necessary skills to raise wages and
standards of living. An industrial colour bar has existed. Africans
and Europeans doing the same job, as in the Copper Belt, are
given very different pay; in most cases Africans are getting about
one-tenth of the European equivalent. Conditions in South
Africa are too well known to need illustration, though it may
come as a surprise to some to learn that in Cato Manor, a suburb
of Durban, about 95 per cent of the inhabitants live permanently
below the bread line. Even on the Reef, the richest part of the
country, 70 per cent have incomes below the essential mini
mum.1
A World Health Organisation report by Dr J . A. Munoz2has
revealed that in Basutoland the already low standard of living
seems to be sinking even lower. The birth-rate which was 30.6
per thousand in 1951, had dropped to 22 per thousand in 1957, it
being thought that infertility was due to lack of food. The infant
mortality rate doubled between 1951 and 1957, when it reached
116 per thousand children.
European colonization has been responsible for much of the
suffering of so many Africans. A recent writer has gone so far as to
say that imperialist rule, far from bringing about progress, has
1 Ronald Segal: The Agony of Apartheid.
2 Patrick Duncan: Contact, 9 J anuary i960. Quoted Africa Digest, February
i960.
SOCIETY UNDER COLONIALISM
37
led to a catastrophic decline in the standard of living of the African
people.1I n many parts native agriculture was discouraged in
favour of cash crops; soil was ruthlessly exploited, sometimes
causing erosion; and millions were turned into low-paid workers.
For example, when Dutch settlers first appeared in South Africa
they found native tribes of strong, healthy people, who lived by
raising cattle, growing corn and hunting wild game. Today the
diet of these tribes is almost exclusively corn. L aboratory rats
fed on a typical Africans diet, according to an article in the New
Scientist,2will eat their own offspring.
I t has been argued that Africans are poor because they do not
produce enough. But their capacity to work must be examined. I t
is now generally agreed that malignant malnutrition is a major
cause of African fatigue. I f African labour is poor it is because
wages and conditions are poor.
There is, too, the question of incentive. What incentive had the
African worker under colonial rule, when his efforts only served
to enrich non-Africans ? During the last twenty years, African
miners have steadily increased the output of copper in Northern
Rhodesia; yet every penny of increased wages had to be bitterly
fought for. African workers, once they are liberated from
colonialism, will soon show the world what they are capable of,
in the same way as workers in Russia and China have done.
Under the old regimes, Russians and Chinese were thought to be
incapable of running a modern industrialized country.
Under colonialism, African workers have no effective
bargaining power. Trade unions are frequently disallowed by
law, and they are largely unorganized. They have either to
accept the pitifully low wages offered to them or suffer the
consequences of being without work, which, in certain regimes,
makes them liable to a variety of punishments. I n South Africa,
under the gruesome regulations of apartheid, the African worker
is hounded and forced into conditions of helotry. Shameful
as these are, conditions for Africans in the Portuguese territories
probably surpass them though they have not so far received such
attention from critics.
For the Portuguese colonies in Africa are slave states, and have
1J ack Woddis: Africa, the Roots o f Revolt, Lawrence & Wishart i960, p. 166.
2 20 August 1959.
38
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
always been slave states. Though theoretically abolished in 1875,
slavery was still continued by various methods which a Portu
guese law of 1899 put into definite legal shape. This law, which is
still in force in Angola, provides that all natives5, that is to say,
all Africans, are subject to a moral and legal obligation* to
acquire by labour the means of subsisting or bettering their
social condition*. Under this law every African male in Angola,
which is in practice interpreted as those above the apparent age
of ten years, may be obliged to show any time either that he has
worked for six months in the year previous or that he is working.
Employers who want forced labour indent to the Governor-
General for a supply5, the term used indiscriminately of goods
and men. The Governor-General then allocates a calculated
number. Local administrators up and down the country are sent
orders to round up the numbers, which is done by threatening
the chiefs and headmen. When the required numbers have been
brought to the collecting centres, the District Officer enforces
a collective contract, which is entered into on behalf of the
workers by the chiefs and headmen who have produced the
specified numbers.
Less than half of the labour employed in Angola is officially
classified by the Portuguese authorities as contract labour, that
is, forced labour. Over half of it is theoretically voluntary labour,
but in practice the position of the voluntary labourer is not better
than that of the forced labourer.
The voluntary labourer cannot leave his job because if he does
he will become liable to be classed as idle5and therefore subject
to forced labour. His only chance of escape is by slipping out of
the Portuguese territory and attempting to obtain work in other
neighbouring states. Portuguese sources have estimated that in
the ten years previous to 1947 over one million people had left
the Portuguese colonies by way of clandestine emigration. But
not all the people can go, and those who are left behind often
bear the brunt for those who have gone. And they have no
medium through which they can make their grief known, their
sorrows heard; nowhere to turn for mitigation of their plight.
When others have been in the same position, there have been
those who have raised their voices for them. All over the world
we have heard cries for people who are reputed to exist in
SOCIETY UNDER COLONIALISM
39
conditions which would be paradise to the Africans of the Portu
guese colonial territories.
I n an attempt to cover up this system of slavery, the forced
workers are, in theory, paid wages. I n fact, however, three-
quarters of these wages are deferred until the end of their contract
period and are not handed over until the Government has
deducted taxation. This is so high that at the end of their period
of employment they are left with scarcely any balance at all. For
example, in one authenticated case, a man employed in the
fishing industry had, after he had worked for four years, a final
balance of 3 2s. 6d.
The indescribable misery of Angolan conditions has con
tinuously been brought to the notice of the Portuguese Govern
ment, but nothing except paper reforms has been carried out.
I n 1947 Captain Henrique Galvao, Deputy for Angola in the
Portuguese National Assembly and Senior I nspector of Overseas
Territories, investigated these conditions on the request of the
Portuguese Government and submitted a comprehensive
report.
Galvao had been appointed because the Portuguese Govern
ment expected from him, as a fervent Government supporter, a
whitewashing report which they could use in the United Nations
and elsewhere. I n fact, Captain Galvao was so shocked by what
he saw in Angola that he changed his political views and sub
mitted an honest and balanced account of what was taking place
in the Portuguese possessions overseas. As might be imagined,
the Portuguese Government did everything possible to suppress
the report and Captain Galvao was thrown into prison for his
presumption in telling the truth. Ultimately he escaped from
Portugal to appear dramatically on the scene in 1961 when he
led a band of seventy brave men to seize the Portuguese liner
Santa Maria.
One of Captain Galvaos chief criticisms of the Portuguese
regime was its deceit. I n theory and on paper it had abolished
forced labour on behalf of private firms and individuals. I n fact
forced labour was being stepped up. Captain Galvao wrote:
I n some ways the situati on is worse than simple slavery. U nder
slavery, after all, the native is bought as an ani mal ; his owner
40 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
prefers him to remain as fit as a horse or an ox. Here the native is
not bought, he is hired from the State, al though he is called a
free man. A nd his employer cares little i f he sickens or dies, once
he is working, because when he sickens or dies his employer will
simply ask for another.
These opinions he backs up with horrifying statistics showing
in some cases a death rate of 40 per cent among the forced
labourers.
The situation has recently been made much worse by the
introduction of a large settler class. The precarious state of the
Portuguese economy at home makes it necessary for Portugal to
export its own poverty and to compensate citizens for the work
which the State cannot provide them with at home, by dis
possessing the African population of the colonies and by provid
ing for Portuguese immigrants land and cheap African labour.
J ust as the farmers of South Africa are even harsher and crueller
employers than are the mine owners and big industrial magnates,
so are the Portuguese settlers, in the main, even more ruthless
and cruel than the international big-business men who have
established themselves in Angola.
The Portuguese consider the continuance of forced labour
essential as it helps to feed the neo-colonial economy of neigh
bouring states and territories. I n 1959, the last year for which we
have statistics, only one-third of the labour force of nearly half a
million workers employed in the South African mines came from
within the borders of South Africa.
At the beginning of the century, in the early days of South
African mining and before pass laws and the policy of repression
of Africans generally had really got under way, it was impossible
to recruit in South Africa free labour to work in the mines. The
Portuguese colony of Mozambique was used, therefore, as a
source of forced labour and in 1903, for example, provided no
less than 89 per cent of the total labour force of the South African
mines. This supply of conscript labour is still an economic
necessity to South Africa if wages are to be kept down and trade
unions prohibited.
Accordingly, the South African Government has entered into
an actual treaty with the Portuguese Government to supply
labour for the mines. The basis of the agreement is that in return
SOCIETY UNDER COLONIALISM 41
for an undertaking by the Portuguese Government that the
South African Chamber of Mines shall be the sole recruiting
agency in Mozambique for mines labour, the South African
Government formally undertakes that 47.5 per cent of the sea
borne import traffic to the mining areas of South Africa shall go
through the Portuguese harbour of Lourengo Marques.
Originally, the maximum figure for labour recruits under the
Convention was 90,000 a year. I n 1940, however, the Portuguese
Government agreed to raise the total to 100,000 a year in return
for an Agreement by the South African Government to export
340,000 cases of citrus fruit a year through Lourengo Marques.
The mines where this contract African labour from the
Portuguese territories works may be situated in South Africa or
in the Rhodesias, but the main shareholders are large financial
and commercial groups in the United States, in the United
Kingdom, in France and in Belgium. There are, therefore,
powerful forces in these and in other countries who are deter
mined to use their political influence to ensure that their
countries support Portugal in maintaining its forced labour
system and all the tragedies that flow from it.
What happens in regard to labour for the mines so far as South
Africa is concerned is merely, of course, an example. The exist
ence of the Portuguese colonies makes cheap labour possible,
not only in South Africa, but in all the neighbouring colonial
territories and is an important element in the profits not only of
mining, but of many other industries, including plantation
farming. All those with a financial interest in such enterprises
cannot therefore allow Portugal to lose her colonial possessions.
Much of the investment in the Portuguese colonies is not
Portuguese at all, but international. The Benguela railway was
built largely by British interests to bring out ores from the mines
of K atanga. Traversing the great Angola plateau, it passes to a
point above Elizabethville in the Congo, and then links up with
the Rhodesian railway system, after which it passes on to Beira.
Ninety per cent of the stock of the Benguela railway is held by the
British holding company of Tanganyika Concessions, domiciled
since 1952 in Southern Rhodesia.
Tanganyika Concessions is linked up with the copper interests
of Northern Rhodesia and with Union Miniere and other
42 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
industrial concerns in the Congo. Through interlocking
directorates, this company is linked with For mini ere and certain
diamond interests which, together with De Beers, the great
South African mining company, control the Angola Diamond
Company with mines in the L uanda province. This company is a
state within a state. I t possesses a prospecting monopoly over
five-sixths of Angola and a labour conscription monopoly over
most of the L uanda province, one-third the size of Ghana. One
half of its profit goes to the state, the other half to the private
shareholders. No wonder it can influence policy whichever way
it likes and holds in its hands the lives of the Africans of the
L uanda province.
For these economic reasons, Portugal can count on heavy
backing from vested financial interests throughout the world.
Her position in maintaining her colonial dictatorship is, in
addition, immensely strengthened by her membership of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (N.A.T.O.).
I t remains to be seen what the effect will be of the vote in the
United Nations General Assembly urging Portugal to prepare
for self-government in Angola. Experience has led us not to place
too much hope in resolutions and votes, but to rely more on
positive action. The people of Angola themselves must provide
the motive power, and we, the independent African States, must
do all we can to help them.
The struggle for independence in the Portuguese colonies has
come relatively late partly because of the exceptionally poor
state of education there. I n Mozambique, the 1950 census re
vealed 99 per cent illiteracy. I n 1954, out of 6 million Africans
only 5,000 were in primary schools, 73 in secondary schools, and
42 in industrial training classes. Portuguese officials have
boasted that white rule would last longer in their colonial
territories, because education has been deliberately held back.
An official of the Education Ministry in Lourengo Marques has
been quoted as saying: Frankly we do not want many educated
natives, until they have an appropriate social background. They
have no place to go. They become dissatisfied. What we want
here is a stable society, a stable state. So we move very, very
slowly.51
1J ohn Gunther: Inside Africa, Hamish Hamilton 1955, p. 581.
CHAPTER FI VE
T H E I N T E L L E C T U A L V A N G U A R D
T h e h i s t o r y of human achievement illustrates that when an
awakened intelligentsia emerges from a subject people it becomes
the vanguard of the struggle against alien rule. There is a direct
relation between this fact and the neglect of the imperial powers
to provide for the proper growth of educational facilities in their
colonies. I saw this connection quite soon in my career, and it
was one of the main reasons why I became a teacher for a time.
The tremendous enthusiasm for education in Africa never
fails to impress visitors. A schoolboy once wrote: T think the
happiest event in my life was the day when my father told me to
go to school.1Another said: The most unfortunate thing that
could happen to me would be to have had no education, or to be
sent away from school now, for then all my life would be
wasted.2The burning desire for education among both children
and adults received little encouragement from the colonial
powers, and one of the worst legacies of colonialism has been the
absence of a trained body of African technicians and ad
ministrators.
A brief glimpse at the educational position in various parts of
Africa will illustrate my point. I n Northern Rhodesia, in 1960,
only 43 per cent of African children of school age were at school;
and only 1.1 per cent of those who reached the eligible age for
secondary education received it. The 1954 report for Southern
Rhodesia showed only 16.5 per cent of the school potential
actually at school. I n Kenya, the Government provided hardly
any schools for Africans until the 1930s, so the Kikuyus created
their own. They formed the Kikuyu I ndependent Schools
Association. To provide teachers, Peter Koinange founded the
1 J ack Woddis: Africa, the Roots of Revolt, Lawrence & Wishart i960, p. 157.
2 ibid.
44
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
Kenya Teachers College at Githunguri, where J omo K enyatta
later became Principal. Not surprisingly, these Kikuyu schools
turned out keen nationalists, and they were suppressed by the
British after the Mau Mau outbreak in 1952. I n 1955 there were
only 35 high schools in the entire country for 5 J million Africans.
I n the whole of French Equatorial Africa there were about 850
elementary schools, and most of them were badly equipped and
staffed. Of the children of school age, only about 18 per cent
went to school at all.
As for higher education, until the foundation of the University
College at Salisbury incorporated in 1955, Makerere College,
founded in 1922, was the only school with university rank in the
whole immense distance between K hartoum and J ohannesburg.
I n all the British colonies put together, there were only three
other colleges similar to Makerere: Achimota in Ghana, then the
Gold Coast, I badan in Nigeria, and Fourah Bay in Sierra
Leone. I n French Africa, south of the Sahara, there was one; in
Portuguese Africa, none. The Sudan had Gordon College, and
the Belgians opened a small Roman Catholic University outside
Leopoldville, at Lovanium.
I n the Union, where little more than 30 per cent of African
children go to school, there are now very few opportunities for
higher education, because the Afrikaner nationalists fear
African progress. There were once four universities which
accepted Africans, though the total number of graduates every
year probably did not exceed 400. But in December 1953 Dr
Malan, pursuing the policy of apartheid, announced that the
Universities of Capetown and Witwatersrand would no longer
accept Africans. I n May 1955 the all-African College at Fort
Hare was closed down as the result of an alleged secret authority
among the students.
The problem of education was uppermost in my mind and in
the minds of my party when we had our first meeting after taking
office under the colonial administration. The fact that most of my
colleagues had, like me, been trained as teachers reflected their
faith, too, in education as the key to our liberation and advance.
Before we could embark on our plans, we made a review of the
situation as we found it. I t was not heartening. The picture had
changed little since a foremost British authority on colonial
THE I NTELLECTUAL VANGUARD
45
affairs, Mr L eonard Barnes, writing in the nineteen-thirties, had
this to say about education in the Gold Coast:
I n 1913 education there cost 25,000: in 1931, the peak year,
it cost just over a quarter of a million. This is ten times as much,
and there can be no objection to calling it such, or to calling it an
increase of 900 per cent, if you prefer. The same fact can be
stated, though less impressively, by saying that educational
expenditure took eighteen years to rise from 3 per cent to 7 per
cent of Government revenue. Both forms of statement omit
another fact, which is equally relevant, namely, that even in
1931 four Gold-Coast children out of five were receiving no
schooling of any kind, and less than half per cent got past the
primary stage.... Authorities have calculated that at our present
rate of progress it will be 700 years before the natives of even the
Gold Coast can read and write their own language. Note: Or
3,500 years, if the natural increase of population is taken into
account.1
I t is difficult to appreciate from these observations that the
educational system in the Gold Coast was considered to be one
of the most advanced in tropical Africa. Our primary education,
in fact, goes back as far as 1752 and was begun by missionaries
and continued by them for a very long time. After a long period,
they received grants-in-aid from the local government, but a
good part of the money was used for purely religious purposes
and in paying for the salaries of European missionaries. Un
fortunately, too, they paid the local teachers irregularly and
enforced upon them the purely religious duties of lay preachers,
catechists and Sunday school teachers. These faults aside, it must
be admitted that we owe a considerable debt of gratitude to the
missionaries for the contribution they made to such education as
the country received. On their side, however, they did not lose,
for in addition to the grants received from government, they
charged school fees, and some of them set up bookshops for the
sale of religious literature and school text-books. A few, like the
Basel Mission, even branched out into trading and have
developed into not inconsiderable business concerns. Today the
mission bookshops more or less control the importation and
1 Leonard Barnes: Empire or Democracy? Victory Gollancz, Ltd, 1939, p. 141.
46 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
distribution of school books, and my Government is faced with
the task of establishing other means of getting text-books to our
school population which will not be subject to the kind of
manipulation which now creates a scramble for these books and a
too heavy financial burden upon parents.
There did come a time when colonial administrators found
that it was too expensive for the local budget to import British
officers for the lower grades of the service, and when the Euro
pean trading communities discovered a need for African workers
with some degree of literacy. The colonial administration then
took a hand in providing facilities at primary and secondary
levels, though they were niggardly, especially in regard to
secondary schools. Little attention was given to technical
training, and as a result educated Africans have acquired a bias
towards clerical work and a contempt for manual labour.
A fateful consequence of this accent upon a literary education
has been the denial to our country of a skilled labour force. I do
not refer here to highly qualified specialists, but to our general
body of workers. There were no university facilities in the Gold
Coast until the college started at Achimota in 1948 and later
removed to Legon. Those of our young men who could collect
the resources to enable them to pursue higher studies in the
United Kingdom in the main went in for law. Apart from the
fact that they found an attraction in the wig and gown which are
the emblem of this profession, the industrial backwardness of our
country, coupled with the reality that they could not find places
in the administration - the almost sole employer of such skills - as
engineers, doctors, pharmacists, agronomists, accountants,
architects, and the rest, discouraged them from training for these
professions. Other considerations were the higher cost and
increased length of study required for these professions as
compared with those required for training in law.
This lopsided state of affairs has created for us one of the
biggest of our problems: that is, how to create a skilled labour
force and a body of trained technicians in the many fields of
modern agriculture, industry, science and economics in the
quickest possible time.
When my colleagues and I came into office in 1951, we found
some government schools in the principal towns of the country.
THE I NTELLECTUAL VANGUARD
47
But they served only a small part of the urban populations and a
minute section of the rural areas. The villages, where most of our
people live, boasted few schools; such as there were, were
operated mainly by the missions. The number of secondary
schools was limited, being based mainly in Cape Coast. These,
too, were largely the products of missionary endeavour. There
was the large semi-governmental institution at Achimota.
When we confronted the colonial administration with this
appalling situation on taking office at the beginning of 1951, they
told us that the budget was limited and time was needed. Time,
they said, was required to train the army of teachers needed for
the education of all the children. They did not look very happy
when we pointed out that they seemed to have had time enough
to allow the traders and shippers and mining companies to
amass huge fortunes. As for the budget, we made the point that it
did not seem inequitable to use part of those fortunes to educate
the children of the land from which they had been drawn. We
were determined, we said, to press for increased expenditure on
social services.
I cannot say that in the six years in which we formed a token
government under British administration, we were able to
register unqualified success with our educational plan. We
certainly did go some way towards laying the foundations of a
country-wide educational system. The plan which we proposed
in the Legislative Assembly in August 1951 provided for the
abolition of school fees in the primary schools as an initial step
towards a more comprehensive policy of free education. The
Roman Catholic hierarchy strongly resented our decision to dis
continue the subsidizing out of public funds of new schools owned
and managed by religious bodies. I t was not our aim, as we
pointed out, to prevent the establishment and maintenance of
new schools by denominational bodies through voluntary
contributions, but they could not look to government for
financial support.
At the beginning of 1951, primary school enrolments stood at
125,000. At the beginning of 1952, there were 270,000 children
enrolled in our primary institutions and we estimated that this
number would reach 400,000 by the beginning of 1957. Actually,
at the time of independence in March 1957, the figure had
48 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
expanded far beyond half a million. We had hoped that by that
time our educational programme of teacher training and the
erection of buildings and equipment would be able to cater for
the anticipated increase. But the increase was greater than we
had expected and our output of trained teachers and buildings
had not, unfortunately, kept pace with it, even though the
training college enrolment had more than doubled over the
period.
We had established a system of scholarships and had planned
for additional secondary schools. We established the College of
Arts, Science and Technology at Kumasi, now the Kwame
Nkrumah University, which will provide accommodation for
2,000 students and offer courses in building, engineering,
accountancy, agriculture, science and commerce, among other
subjects. Teacher training institutions in 1951 produced some
700 new teachers annually, a far too inadequate figure. We
managed to establish twelve new training colleges and to double
the capacity of four. By 1957, we were turning out some 4,000
new teachers each year, but this left us far behind the 70,000
teachers required to serve the national needs of elementary
education.
We achieved some headway in trade and technical education,
increasing the annual enrolment in six years from 600 to some
2,000, a considerable gain, but woefully short of need. With
secondary school education we could do very little. Ad
ministrative budget for these needs was minimal, and we just did
not have the time to train teachers to the standard required for
secondary school instruction. The two institutions of learning,
the University College at Legon and the College of Technology
at Kumasi, continued to take in more students each year and we
were able to improve and expand their services.
There was enough material in these records from which
attractive brochures could be compiled by the Colonial Office to
present to the United Nations showing how much was being
done to introduce education to the primitive peoples of West
Africa. They were often accompanied by pretty pictures of
schools and happy children at play in the grounds. They may
well have impressed the outsider. They were of small comfort to
us, when we sat down in March 1957 to consider, not what we
THE I NTELLECTUAL VANGUARD
49
had done, but what remained to be done to give every child in
Ghana his real birthright of independence - a basic education.
Over and beyond this, we needed to plan an educational
system that will be more in keeping with the requirements of the
economic and social progress for which our new development
plans are aiming. Our pattern of education has been aligned
hitherto to the demands of British examination councils. Above
all, it was formulated and administered by an alien ad
ministration desirous of extending its dominant ideas and
thought processes to us. We were trained to be inferior copies of
Englishmen, caricatures to be laughed at with our pretensions
to British bourgeois gentility, our grammatical faultiness and
distorted standards betraying us at every turn. We were neither
fish nor fowl. We were denied the knowledge of our African past
and informed that we had no present. What future could there
be for us ? We were taught to regard our culture and traditions as
barbarous and primitive. Our text-books were English text
books, telling us about English history, English geography,
English ways of living, English customs, English ideas, English
weather. Many of these manuals had not been altered since 1895.
All this has to be changed. And it is a stupendous task. Even
the ordering of text-books is an involved matter that makes the
introduction of new ones with a Ghanaian character a prolonged
affair. This is something that we are, however, getting on with, as
it is vital that we should nurture our own culture and history if
we are to develop that African personality which must provide
the educational and intellectual foundations of our Pan-African
future.
CHAPTER SIX
F R E E D O M F I R S T
I t is my deep conviction that all peoples wish to be free, and
that the desire for freedom is rooted in the soul of every one of us.
A people long subjected to foreign domination, however, does
not always find it easy to translate that wish into action. Under
arbitrary rule, people are apt to become lethargic; their senses
are dulled. Fear becomes the dominant force in their lives; fear
of breaking the law, fear of the punitive measures which might
result from an unsuccessful attempt to break loose from their
shackles. Those who lead the struggle for freedom must break
through this apathy and fear. They must give active expression
to the universal longing to be free. They must strengthen the
peoples faith in themselves, and encourage them to take part in
the freedom struggle. Above all, they must declare their aims
openly and unmistakably, and organize the people towards the
achievement of their goal of self-government.
The essential forger of the political revolution is a strong, well-
organized, broadly based political party, knit together by a
programme that is accepted by all the members, who also submit
themselves to the partys discipline. I ts programme should aim
for Freedom first. Seek ye first the political kingdom, became
the principal slogan of the Convention Peoples Party, for with
out political independence none of our plans for social and
economic development could be put into effect.
There has been a good deal of talk about dependent territories
making themselves viable before attempting to take upon them
selves the responsibilities of self-government. That is precisely
what they cannot do. As long as the government of less de
veloped countries remains in the hands of colonial adminis
trators, their economies are set to a pattern determined by
the interests, not of the indigenous inhabitants but of the national
FREEDOM FIRST
51
beneficiaries of the ruling country. I mprovement in living
conditions for the bulk of the people will not come until political
power passes into their hands.
Thus, every movement for independence in a colonial
situation contains two elements: the demand for political
freedom and the revolt against poverty and exploitation.
Resolute leadership is required to subordinate the understand
able desire of the people for better living conditions to the
achievement of the primary aim of the abolition of colonial
rule.
Before the Second World War, a number of political demon
strations and strikes took place in various parts of colonial Africa.
The most common demands were for reforms; few people
envisaged at that time the emergence of national political parties
demanding independence.
During the 1940s, however, many African national organiz
ations were formed. For example, in 1944, the National Council
of Nigeria and the Cameroons was founded, and, in the same
year, the Nyasaland National Congress.1Two years later, the
K enya African Union was formed; and the Rassemblement
Democratique Africain, a federation of the various organizations
which had developed throughout the French colonies in West
and Equatorial Africa. There followed, in 1947, the formation of
the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress;2and, in
our country the United Gold Coast Convention, with its aim:
self-government in the shortest possible time. On 12 J une 1949,
came the split with the U.G.C.C. when I founded the Con
vention Peoples Party with the declared aim of achieving Self
Government Now.
The 1950s saw the emergence of the Uganda National
Congress (1952), the Tanganyika African National Union
(: 953)3 and the African National Congress in Southern
Rhodesia.3There were also national organizations formed in the
1 This was banned in 1958 and the Malawi Congress Party set up in its
place.
2 When the Central African Federation was formed in 1953, this party split
up, and others emerged, e.g. The United National I ndependence Party
under K enneth K aunda in 1958.
3 This was originally founded in 1920. I t was banned in 1959, and the
National Democratic Party was formed.
52
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
Congo. I n Portuguese Africa, the Uniao dos Populacaos de
Angola and the Movemento Popular de Libertacao de Angola
were formed. Eventually, in 1959, they merged to form the
African Revolutionary Front Against Portuguese Colonialism.
This organization includes supporters in Mozambique and
Portuguese Guinea.
I have mentioned only a few of the many African political
organizations formed during and after the Second World War.
There are many others. Their structure, organization, and the
quality of their leadership, have varied, but all have had in
common the determination to struggle for the abolition of
colonial rule and the improvement of economic and social
conditions.
On the eve of the Second World War, only Liberia, Ethiopia
and Egypt were independent. But by the end of 1959, that is,
twenty years later, there were nine independent African States:
Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Liberia, Ethiopia,
Ghana and Guinea. I n i960, Nigeria, the Congo, French
Togoland, French Cameroons and Somalia achieved independ
ence. They were followed, in 1961, by Sierra Leone,
Tanganyika, Uganda and Nyasaland. The independence of
Kenya, Northern Rhodesia and Zanzibar cannot long be
delayed.
This fundamental change in the African situation has been
brought about by the struggles and sacrifices of the African
peoples themselves, and nothing can now stop the rushing tide of
nationalism. As long as a single foot of African soil remains under
foreign domination, the battle must continue.
I t may be that the time has come to have a common political
party with a common aim and programme. For instance, instead
of the Convention Peoples Party in Ghana, there might be the
Ghana Peoples Party. I n Kenya, the progressive party could be
the K enya Peoples Party; in Guinea, the Guinea Peoples Party,
and so on; each party having one common aim and objective,
the freedom and unity of Africa.
The various Peoples Parties, with their common aim, would
co-operate with each other. A central organization would un
doubtedly be necessary, and also a highly-trained headquarters
staff. I f this kind of solidarity on the party political level could be
FREEDOM FIRST
53
achieved, it would surely strengthen African continental
freedom and unity.
Party leaders in countries which are still not free would be able
to derive strength and inspiration from close association with
their opposite numbers in independent countries. Though beset
by difficulties, they would gain confidence from being part of a
strong continental organization with immense resources, which
they could draw upon in time of need. From its inception, the
Convention Peoples Party declared in its constitution that it
would seek to establish fraternal relations with, and offer
guidance and support to all nationalist, democratic and socialist
movements, in Africa and elsewhere, which are fighting for
national independence and self-determination!
Among independent countries the common party would act
as a unifying force. Also, if a common domestic policy could be
worked out it would help immeasurably in the planning and
development of the African continent as a whole, in the economic
and social spheres.
The unevenness of development in Africa, both political and
economic, is a major problem. Some countries are poor in natural
resources; others rich. Some achieved independence com
paratively easily, and peacefully; others are still struggling. The
obvious solution is unity, so that development can be properly
and cohesively planned.
Countries under alien rule achieve independence in different
ways. I ndia was promised freedom by steady evolution towards
self-government in ordered constitutional stages. I n fact it took
twenty-seven years of civil commotion and passive disobedience
for I ndia to achieve her aim. Libya was granted independence
by the United Nations Organization as a direct result of I talys
defeat in the Second World War. The Portuguese colony of Goa
was liberated by I ndia. Several countries in the Middle East owe
their existence as separate states to the Western powers, when
they carved up the Ottoman Empire after the First World
War.
I n Africa, the nature of the freedom struggle has varied
according to the background conditions against which it has had
to operate and the position of the international scene at a given
time.
54
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
Generally, in territories where there is a settler problem, the
struggle has been more prolonged and sometimes violent, as in
K enya during the Mau Mau period. Where there is no settler
problem, as in West Africa, the struggle has been hard, though
on the whole peaceful and constitutional. I have already told
how independence was achieved in Ghana.1
Looking back, and trying to determine the reasons for the
successful outcome of our struggle for freedom, one factor stands
out above all others, namely, the strength of a well-organized
political party, representative of the broad mass of the people.
The Convention Peoples Party represented the ordinary,
common folk who wanted social justice and a higher standard of
living. I t kept in daily, living touch with the ordinary mass of
people it represented, unlike the opposition, which was supported
by a galaxy of lawyers and members of other conservative pro
fessions, the self-styled aristocracy5of the Gold Coast. They did
not understand the new mood of the people, the growing
nationalism and the revolt against economic hardship. Thinking
that their lofty assertions were enough to win adherents to their
ranks, they made little effort to come into close contact with the
masses in the way that I had done in my early days as secretary of
the U.G.C.C., and continued through my years of leadership of
the C.P.P. As a matter of fact, when the leaders of the U.G.C.C.
discovered that I had spearheaded a mass movement, they
recoiled in fright. That was something they had not bargained
for. They had wanted me to build up a movement whose ranks
would not question their self-assumed right to political leader
ship, but would nevertheless provide a solid enough base for them
to pose as the national champions in pressing for constitutional
change. I t was when the leaders of the U.G.C.C. demanded I
get rid of the mass following I had built up, that I withdrew from
their secretariat, and formed the Convention People's Party.
Unwilling to come down to the masses, whom they scorned as
flotsam and jetsam5, it was not surprising that those leaders
failed to make headway with the ordinary people, and were
constantly rejected by them.
I n the early years of the C.P.P., and frequently since, I urged
members to follow the advice of the Chinese:
1 I n my autobiography, Ghana. Thomas Nelson & Sons 1957.
FREEDOM FIRST
55
Go to the people
Live among them
Learn from them
Love them
Serve them
Plan with them
Start with what they know
Build on what they have.
This would be my advice to members of any nationalist and
progressive Party.
The campaign of the Convention Peoples Party was helped
by the press. On the very day I left the U.G.C.C. the first issue of
my paper The Accra Evening News was published, with its
challenging motto: We prefer self-government with danger to
servitude in tranquillity. I reached a wide circle of readers
through the columns of this paper, and hammered home the
message of full self-government and the need to organize for
victory: The strength of the organized masses is invincible. . . .
We must organize as never before, for organization decides
everything.1
The whole question of publicity, the spreading of information
about the aims and achievements of any political party, is of
supreme importance. I n the struggle for independence, where
the colonial government controls the major avenues of in
formation and gives its blessing to the reactionary press, the
mechanics of propaganda employed by the freedom movement
are vital. The reach of the press is, of course, narrower in areas
where there is a high degree of illiteracy; but even in those areas
the people can always be reached by the spoken word. And
frequently the written word becomes the spoken word.
A popular anti-colonial press developed in Africa during the
1930s. I n 1932, Habib Bourguiba founded the Action Tunisienne.
I n Morocco, the Action du Peuple edited by Muhammad Hasan el-
Ouezzani appeared in August, 1938; the editorial committee
contained the nucleus of the leadership of Moroccos Comity
dAction Marocaine. I n the I vory Coast UEclaireur de la Cote
dIvoire began in 1935. Three years later, in 1938, Dr Nnamdi
1The Accra Evening News, 14 J anuary 1949.
5^
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
Azikiwes West African Pilot prepared the ground for the in
dependence movement in Nigeria.
These, and other newspapers, have undoubtedly helped in
the spread of African nationalism. They have emphasized the
need for freedom first5and then development. I f we are to
banish colonialism utterly from our continent, every African
must be made aware of his part in the struggle. Freedom
involves the untiring efforts of every one engaged in the struggle
for it. The vast African majority must be accepted as the basis of
government in Africa.
CHAPTER SEVEN
A C H I E V I N G O U R S O V E R E I G N T Y
I t i s becoming axiomatic that colonial powers do not willingly
retire from political control over any given land. Before they go
they make superhuman efforts to create schisms and rivalries
which they hope to exploit after they have gone. I ndia, with its
division into two separate parts, leaving its sad legacy of com-
munalism and religious feuding, is the most glaring example. But
the rifts in Burma, Ceylon, The Cameroons, Viet-Nam, the
breaking down of the two federations of French West Africa and
French Equatorial Africa into separate states of the French Com
munity, all stand as eloquent witnesses to this extended policy of
divide and rule. So also does the federal division of Nigeria into
three regions, where the British administration had previously
most carefully built up a unitary form of government out of a vast
conglomeration of different peoples.
Looked at superficially, it is difficult to understand the ways of
the colonial powers. They will not leave Africa alone, even when
they realize full well that they are clutching at a straw in trying
to prevent the total and final liquidation of the colonial system.
They act as if the right to meddle in the internal affairs of newly-
emergent states is still theirs, and even presume to dictate which
things are right and which are wrong among the acts performed
by us. Examined closely, these manoeuvres are seen to be part of
the strategy of divide and rule, wielded from afar.
During our struggle for independence, and even after, all the
armoury of the British press was brought into play against me
and against the Convention Peoples Party. Special corre
spondents were sent to discover that we were not only Com
munist, but deep in bribery and corruption. They came to
interpret the tussle between the C.P.P. and the National
L iberation Movement over the issue of our Constitution as one of
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
dictatorial ambition on our part against the disinterested effort
of our opponents to secure a democratic form of government.
The raising by the N.L .M. of the demand for federation was
eagerly seized upon as a hopeful means of fragmenting our small
and largely homogeneous country.
I n April 1955, 1 had put the issue of a federal form of govern
ment before a Select Committee, after having allowed the
Opposition the privilege of five seats in our Constituent
Assembly when they were legally entitled to two. The Com
mittees report decided against a federated government. I n
order to ensure the widest democratic acceptance of a con
stitution for independence, I sought a Constitutional Adviser
through the British Government and in September, Sir Frederick
Bourne came to advise on the devolution of powers and functions
to the regions. We agreed that there should be decentralization of
certain powers to the regions and, on the basis of Sir Fredericks
work, we felt confident of majority support for our proposals
when we put themforward. The Secretary of State had laid down
two conditions as the prerequisite for the grant of independence:
that a substantial majority of the people should show their
desire for independence in the very near future and that they
should agree upon a constitution that would meet their needs
and be workable. Sir Frederick Bourne came back again as
Constitutional Adviser to the conference which opened at
Achimota on 16 February 1956 to examine his recommenda
tions. All political parties, traditional councils and other
appropriate bodies were invited to attend. The conference
report agreed upon almost all of Sir Fredericks recommen
dations and made the proposal that there should be a House of
Chiefs in each region of the country to discuss social and cultural
legislation.
However, the N.L .M., in spite of the untiring efforts I made to
secure their co-operation, had refused to take part in the
deliberations and absented themselves from the proceedings.
The terms of the Secretary of State, therefore, had not been fully
met, which had been the oppositions purpose. Hence we were
made to submit to the general election of 1956, which confirmed
the C.P.P. ascendancy and the desire of the overwhelming
majority of the people for independence and a unitary form of
ACHI EVI NG OUR SOVEREI GNTY
59
government, which was the platform on which we went to the
country.
People who are independent, free and sovereign make their
own constitution. Although Ghana achieved what is called Tull
independence on 6 March 1957, there were certain provisions
in the constitution imposed on us which limited the full employ
ment of our freedom, which were an affront to our sovereignty, a
fetter upon our free development. These were the entrenched
clauses which the British Government insisted upon writing into
the constitution as a condition of our accession to independence.
We raised our arguments against their inclusion, but the concern
in British official quarters for the protection of minority rights and
the welfare of British civil servants in Ghanaian employ out
weighed consideration for the prerogatives of our independence
and the expressed will of our people. Our resentment at being
forced to accept what was partially a dictated constitution in
order to keep the time-table of independence that we had
given to our people, was made quite plain by me and my
Government, as was our determination to divest ourselves of the
objectionable clauses as soon as we were in a position to do so
constitutionally.
When it was found in 1956 that it would be impossible to delay
full independence much longer, negotiations were started to
frame the constitution by which an independent Ghana would
be governed. My Government was then a Government largely
in name, ultimate power residing in the Governor of the Gold
Coast, who really represented the Colonial Office on the spot.
Until the moment when the instrument of independence was
actually placed in our hands, freedom could be denied us. Our
stand that independence involved the right of the local
population alone to determine the nature of the laws, regulations
and procedures of their State through their parliamentary
institutions, was discountenanced. The British argument was
that they held in sacred trust the rights of all the people in the
Gold Coast, and it was incumbent upon them to safeguard the
position of a section of the population, albeit a minority, which
might be opposed to the existing Government. This we con
sidered a somewhat grotesque premise and sought in vain for a
precedent in special protection of minority opposition to the
6o AFRI CA MUST UNITE
reigning Government of Britain. We protested our ability to
safeguard the rights of our own people and were resentful of
the doubts cast on our intentions. I posed the suggestion that if
my Government could be suspected of ulterior intentions towards
our political opponents, we were equally open to the suspicion
that we might abrogate the imposed constitution on the morrow
of British departure. Where, then, was the purpose of negotiating
a constitution ? Why not let us frame our own Constitution ?
The British Government was adamant. They made it un
equivocally clear that unless we entered into constitutional
negotiations they would take no further steps towards the grant
of independence. This was the atmosphere in which we met and
the mood in which the constitution emerged that was to tie the
future of Ghana. I t saw the light of day, indeed, not as a legal
instrument from our own Ghanaian Assembly, but as a British
Order in Council. I ts official title was The Ghana (Constitution)
Order in Council, 1957 of the British Government. I t was
published by the British Government on 22 February 1957.
Some might charge that there was a good deal of emotionalism
involved in our attitude to the manner of the framing of our
constitution for independence. Reviewing it with the dis
passionate objectiveness of three years of government under its
provisions, we are reinforced in our conviction that only im
perialist arrogance could have decided that entrenched clauses
are irremovable, even under such constitutional stringencies as
those by which the British sought to tie us down. Perhaps we
were regarded as too stupid to be able to extricate ourselves by
constitutional means from the strait-jacket of the Special
procedure for passing Bills relating to the Constitution and other
important matters, in which the British strapped us with the
freedom that they gave. The British Government had decided
that constitutional change should be made as difficult as possible
for us, indeed almost impossible.
Clause 32 of our independence constitution allowed that
No Bill for the amendment, modification, repeal or re-enact
ment of the constitutional provisions of Ghana . . . shall be
presented for Royal Assent unless it has endorsed on it a certi
ficate under the hand of the Speaker that the number of votes
ACHI EVI NG OUR SOVEREI GNTY 6l
cast in favour thereof at the third meeting of the Assembly
amounted to not less than two-thirds of the whole number of
Members of Parliament.
I n short, a simple parliamentary majority could not change
any part of the constitution, nor even a two-thirds majority of
members present and voting. There had to be a supporting vote
from two-thirds of the total membership of the Assembly. Our
opposition was not even obliged to be present at the debate on a
Bill for constitutional change. Merely by the fact of being an
opposition it could, if its numbers were large enough, destroy any
likelihood of constitutional change. This is surely giving an odd
twist to the democratic principle.
As a matter of fact, the popularity of the Government in the
country, and the strength of the C.P.P. in the National Assembly,
were such that we could have changed its terms absolutely in
accord with the constitution, shortly after becoming free in 1957.
The C.P.P. enjoyed a parliamentary majority which would have
given us the required over-all two-thirds vote; and that majority
increased as time went on. We would have been well within our
rights to present a Bill to the Assembly scrapping The Ghana
(Constitution) Order in Council, 1957. This, however, I was
reluctant to do. Public opinion, both at home and abroad, is not
normally so well-informed and so equipped with detailed in
formation on constitutional matters that it would have under
stood the absolute legality of our action. The issue would at once
have become controversial and the idea spread that we were
guilty of a breach of faith. I t was no part of my purpose to start
our existence as an independent country clouded by the suspicion
that we had broken a contract, irrespective of the moral duress
under which we had signed it. Knowledge of this duress, in any
event, was not public. Having consideration for all the factors
involved, we decided that we would let the constitution stand
and respect all its clauses. We would proceed to procure its
alteration when the appropriate occasion presented itself, in
conformity with its terms.
Meantime, our first duty was to ensure the unity of the nation
and its tranquillity, in order to go forward with our tasks of
development.
62 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
The unrest which prevailed in certain parts of the country at
the launching of our independence was not made any less by the
provisions relating to the setting up of Regional Assemblies and
the powers to be invested in them. The British negotiators of our
constitution were more amenable to the federal aspirations of the
Opposition than to the C.P.P. which represented the wishes of
the majority of the people. The Opposition view was prompted
by motives of political separatism, and these were reflected in the
constitutional clauses relating to the establishment of Regional
Assemblies.
I n the same way, every opportunity was provided by the con
stitution for cramping our development endeavours. I n com
munications, for instance, the Government might decide on a
trunk road that would pass through several Regions. Opposition
by the Regional Assembly of one affected Region could hold up
the project indefinitely. As part of its national health scheme, the
Government might determine the sites on which hospitals and
clinics should be built. The Regional Assemblies could object to
and obstruct these plans, in keeping with their constitutional
authority over the regional health and medical services.
I t was laid down that in each Region there shall be a Head of
the Region, who, except in the case of the Ashanti Region, shall
be chosen by the House of Chiefs in the Region. No democratic
principle was to be employed but use made instead of the out
moded procedure current under the colonial system of I ndirect
Rule which gave authority to compliant chiefs. I f the chiefs of a
certain Region happened to be opposed to modern health
methods and medical practices, they could effectively block any
Government programmes involving up-to-date treatment of
disease in their area, for the restrictions of the constitution would
safeguard them. Extend this to education, public works, housing,
agricultural and industrial development, and it can be accepted
that the central Government would have been in the position of
possessing merely token sovereignty. Our hands and feet would
be virtually bound the moment we attempted to govern.
The ground, it can be seen, was well laid for the promotion of
disunity and fragmentation. The clue to the British purpose was
really contained in the phrase, except in the case of the Ashanti
Region*. Throughout the provisions relating to Regional
Assemblies, Ashanti was omitted and special regulations were
introduced giving it powers superior to those of the other Regions.
Everywhere else the head of the Region was to be chosen by the
House of Chiefs. I n Ashanti, the constitution specifically stated
that the Asantehene shall be the Head of the Ashanti Region.
What kind of democracy were the British laying down on the eve
of their departure, in designating the person who was to be the
effective governor of a particular Region? Where was the
respect for our sovereignty ? Our independence was supposed to
give us sovereignty over our own affairs. But there we were, a
democratic Government, limited by constitutional provisions,
designed by the retiring power, to a designated individual to
conduct the highest executive post in the most delicate national
territory. I t was so openly a device to concede to the opposition
party the opportunities they had been deprived of by their
defeat at the polls that it was difficult to believe the British
could have been so deceitful to their much-vaunted respect for
democracy.
The choice of the Asantehene for this special elevation was
deliberate. He was known to share the views of the National
L iberation Movement, whose politics of violence had made our
final steps to independence so immensely difficult. Considerable
suspicion as to his original connections with the Movement had
been current since its inception, because his chief linguist, the
man closest to him in the affairs of the Ashanti state, was a
founder member and its Chairman. The Asantehene had
worked well with the British, even though his uncle Prempeh I
had fought them in the Ashanti wars earlier in the century and
had been exiled to the Seychelles islands for his African
patriotism. For his services to the British in carrying out their
colonial rule, the Asantehene had been knighted. His position as
the spiritual and temporal head of Ashanti gave him the in
fluence of a feudal lord over all the chiefs of the Region and over
the local people, and made him extremely powerful. By seeking
to safeguard his continued authority in the new Ghana through
specific clauses in the constitution, the British were not only
repaying him for services rendered and making good in part the
promise of the N.L .M. to crown him King of Ghana, but were
entrenching the greatest focal point of disintegration within our
ACHI EVI NG OUR SOVEREIGNTY 63
64
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
new state. This was a most dangerous situation and a limitation
upon our power as a fully independent Government that we
could not accept. I t would have amounted to the exclusion of
Ashanti from the sphere of Ghanas sovereignty. I t was un
thinkable we should lay ourselves open to this possibility and so
endanger the future of the country.
Observing the provisions of the constitution, which set out that
Regional Assemblies shall be established by act of Parliament in
and for each Region, I named a commission of inquiry to
examine the means by which they should be set up and the most
efficient methods for their conduct. The commission took some
time making its considerations and reporting back, and mean
time we proceeded in Parliament with other, more urgent
matters. Among these, regional needs were well to the forefront,
and I am certain that the development schemes we have
introduced so far in each of the Regions go far beyond anything
that would have been accomplished if left solely to local
initiative.
Old-established democracies are equipped for wide de
centralization. They possess skilled and experienced local bodies
to carry out urgent development tasks that would otherwise be
the concern of the central Government. A new country, where
there is strong national but limited local leadership and vigour,
cannot afford to gamble on the ability or incompetence of a
regional body to develop its Region. A new country needs to
initiate central nation-wide planning fitting the required
activities of each Region into the over-all programme. I t cannot
allow the programme to be held up by a dilatory or backward or
obstructive Regional Assembly. Provision must naturally be
made for local authorities with powers to carry out local develop
ment projects in co-operation with or under the guidance of the
central Government. We suggested this to the British during our
constitutional negotiations, but they insisted on the creation of
Regional Assemblies with powers wide enough to impinge on
those of the central Government, and with tight safeguards
making modification virtually impossible. The only thing they
failed to do was to include a date by which the Assemblies were
to be established, and this was the loophole that we used to allay
the tensions in the country and prepare the ground for the
removal of what we regarded as an obstructive mechanism in the
way of our development.
By the time the commission of inquiry into the setting up of
Regional Assemblies had made its report and the Assemblies
were established, the strides which the country was making in all
directions and the mood of the people had brought most of the
chiefs to a recognition of the sincerity of the Government and
its development aims. Even the Asantehene began to show
a startling change in attitude, and I know that he is now
completely identified with our independence and shares the
hopes and aspirations of the new Ghana. I n this atmosphere of
national unity, the newly-created Regional Assemblies met and
voted themselves out of existence. Through the constitutional
procedure, which we faithfully followed, the instruments were
eliminated which the British had devised to keep us divided and
backward. The establishment and dissolution of the Regional
Assemblies opened the way to constitutional changes in other
directions.
ACHI EVI NG OUR SOVEREI GNTY 65
CHAPTER EI GHT
PR OB L E M S OF GOV E R N M E N T
I n o u r struggle for freedom, parliamentary democracy was as
vital an aim as independence. The two were inseparable. I t was
not our purpose to rid the country of the colonial regime in order
to substitute an African tyranny. We wanted to free our people
from arbitrary rule, and to give them the freedom to choose the
kind of government they felt would best serve their interests and
enhance their welfare. Our struggle was fought to make our
people free to practise the religion they chose, to give them the
liberty to associate in whatever groups they wished, to create an
atmosphere in which they could say, write and think freely,
without harming their neighbour or jeopardizing the state.
We introduced principles basic to the settled and established
democracies of the world, such as the separation of powers
between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. As the
repository of the peoples will, the legislature is supreme. I t is
sovereign and unlimited in its enactment of laws, which are
binding upon the people and the government. Election to the
legislature is by universal adult suffrage, and men and women
enjoy equality of rights and duties. That all persons in the state
are equal before the law is another principle well enshrined in
our constitution.
The government on the other hand has the responsibility of
directing the affairs of the state and of initiating and executing
policy. I t is, however, at all times answerable to the legislature
and could not rule unless it commanded a majority in parlia
ment. For all legislation it initiates becomes the law of the land
only if approved by parliament, and parliament can at any time
it wishes throw out the government.
All of this is the recognized machinery of parliamentary rule
in the old-established democracies. I n our conditions, as an ex
PROBLEMS OF GOVERNMENT 67
colonial country, with our existing pattern of tribal loyalties and
traditional customs strained by the superimposition of other
loyalties and practices, it could not be regarded as extraordinary
if the pattern proved too tight here and there, or too loose in
other places. Members of the maturer democracies will tend
naturally to equate our conditions with those current in their
own country, forgetting the time it took their nation to evolve
to its present standard, and forgetting, too, the economic and
social conditions of our people. I t is natural for people to look at
another country through their own telescope and quite human
to judge anothers achievements or failings by their own
experience.
There is a tendency to forget that Britains evolution into
democracy was not altogether peaceful. I t was a little over three
hundred years ago that they chopped off the head of a king,
made their middle-class revolution and installed Cromwell as
their dictator. The feudal ties were not completely broken and it
required another revolution more than two centuries later, with
its accompanying social jolts, to secure the base of that parlia
mentary democracy which the British people today mistakenly
assume as a merit inherent in their national character. The
states of America fought a bitter civil war, whose memories still
condition attitudes and thinking, to impose their union. I ts con
stitution, based upon the affirmation of the equality of all men,
took several years to find full acceptance, and even today its
tenets are disregarded in many parts of the country. There is
still strife in America over the application of the essence of
democracy to all of its members.
Conditions in Ghana today are comparable with those pre
vailing in Britain or France or America at the time when they
were struggling to establish a free form of government, rather
than those which currently obtain in those countries. I t would be
fairer, therefore, to ask what was the nature of the regime in those
countries then and make the appropriate adjustments for the
development of liberal ideas in the world since those days. The
economic position of our people is no better than that of the
workers in Britain at the same stage of their social and political
development, perhaps a little w7orse in some aspects. Their social
services were just as primitive, their country-wide educational
68 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
standards just as low. I think no one would deny that the main
tenance of a democracy by the people of Europe and America
at the parallel stage would have been a massive task. Y et it is the
task we faced in Ghana on our assumption of independence.
This task might have been eased a little had we been blessed
with a reasonable and not violently destructive opposition. A
serious, well-intentioned opposition keeps a government alive
to its responsibilities, guarantees extreme care in the pre
paration and formulation of programmes, and underlines the
need for sponsors of legislation to be able to justify their proposals.
The essence of such discussion, if it is to be of benefit, is that it
must be constructive. This is the strength of the opposition in the
established democracies of the world. They recognize that they,
together with the government of the day, proceed from the
major premise that they have a joint aim, to advance the welfare
of the people. Both have a vital part to play in the building of
their country and the speeding of its development. The govern
ment initiates; the opposition is constructively critical.
Unfortunately this has not been the case in Ghana. The
narrowest interpretation of the term opposition5has been the
guiding principle for the opposition party both inside and out
side Parliament. Their repeated rejection by the electorate con
vinced them that the possibility of gaining office by constitu
tional means was remote. They therefore embarked on a policy of
obstructing the government, without devising a programme on
which they would base an alternative one. Their politics have
been narrowly regional in concept, and often violent, abusive and
terroristic in action. Within Parliament, the castigation of the
cabinet has been, to them, an end in itself rather than an instru
ment for securing better conditions for the people. The measure
of their intent is that they seek to add to the difficulties of govern
ment and heighten the obstacles which need to be overcome so
that, with a breakdown in administration, they may get a chance
of grasping the reins of office.
I t may be argued that some of these characteristics are present
in any opposition party. This is true, but not to the same extent
as in Ghana. Elsewhere they are set in the context of an alter
native over-all programme of government. The L abour Party
in Britain, for example, follows a political doctrine opposed to
PROBLEMS OF GOVERNMENT
69
that of the Conservative Party. I deologically they are widely
removed. There are clashes over such concepts as nationaliza
tion. There remain, however, broad areas of internal and foreign
affairs where there is a community of view. The opposition will
make helpful suggestions but will not irresponsibly oppose.
Therein lies the strength of that democracy.
The opposition in Ghana cannot boast this same sense of
responsibility and maturity. So far it has been mostly destruc
tive. We have seen the historic reasons for this in the revulsion of
the United Gold Coast Convention leaders from the mass move
ment I had achieved as their secretary, and the subsequent
formation of the Convention Peoples Party to embrace that
mass movement as the instrument for the achievement of
freedom. The U.G.C.C. leaders never forgave me and my asso
ciates for proving the rightness of our policy of Self-Govern
ment Now in the results of the 1951 election. Thereafter their
opposition amounted to a virtual denial of independence and a
reluctance for the British to leave. They were prepared to
sacrifice our national liberation if that would keep me and my
colleagues out of government.
I n colonial countries endeavouring to throw off the yoke of
imperialism, the upsurge of nationalism finds expression in a
major movement embracing the popular aspirations for freedom
and a better way of life. Even where there is some disagreement
among different local groups over the means to be employed in
the attainment of freedom, the force which is brought into
operation by the presiding power frequently secures their union
on a broad national front. Thus the nationalist movement
represents the majority of the population. Those dissident groups
pursuing individual or particularist aims opposed to the nationa
list objectives are doomed to frustration. I t is inevitable, there
fore, that on a free franchise of universal adult suffrage, the
nationalist party gets elected with a majority that makes it
appear to those accustomed to the more evenly balanced bi
partisan politics of, for instance, Britain and America, that
intimidation has been used.
I am reminded of the words of J ulius Nyerere when he spoke
of the overwhelming support of the nationalist movement by the
people of Tanganyika: The Nationalist movement which fights
70 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
for and achieves independence inevitably forms the govern
ment of the new state. I t would surely be ridiculous to expect
that a country should voluntarily divide itself for the sake of con
forming to a particular expression of democracy, and to do so
during a struggle which calls for the complete unity of its people.
No one should jump to the conclusion that such a country is not
democratic or does not intend to be democratic.1
The popularity of the party that brings freedom continues
into the period of full independence and is even enhanced where
improvements in economic and social conditions are obtained
under its government, and its majority grows. Since this over
whelming majority in parliament carries through the govern
ments policy almost without exception, it gives the appearance
of a one-party regime. This is the pattern which has resulted in
the states emerging from colonialism, a pattern which I have
termed a Peoples Parliamentary Democracy and which the
people of Ghana have accepted.
However, to level against us, as a result of this situation, the
criticism of authoritarianism, as has been done, would seem to
suggest a contradiction in the Western idea of what constitutes
democracy. Democracy, if we are to accept the Aristotelian
description, is the law of the state that directs that our poor
shall be in no greater subjection than the rich; nor that the
supreme power shall be lodged with either of these, but that both
shall share it. For if liberty and equality, as some persons sup
pose, are chiefly to be found in a democracy, it must be so by
every department of government being alike open to all; but
as the people are a majority, and what they vote is law, it follows
that such a state must be a democracy. This description has not
been invalidated because our modern world has outgrown the
city state and all the people can no longer conveniently partici
pate in government but delegate their right to their parlia
mentary representatives. The description has, indeed, been re
validated and enlarged to its widest extremity in Lincolns con
cept of government of the people by the people for the people.
The impression that my Party and I drew from much of the
criticism levelled against us was that we should have divided up
the mandate given to us by the people and handed over part of
1J ames Cameron: The African Revolution, Thames & Hudson 1961, p. 186.
PROBLEMS OF GOVERNMENT
71
it to an opposition. I f the will of the people is democratically
expressed in an overwhelming majority for the governing party,
and thereby creates a weakening of the accepted two-party
pattern, as, for instance, in Ghana, we, the government, are
obliged to respect the will of the people so expressed. We have
no right to divide our mandate in defiance of the popular will.
The opposition, deprived of popular support, looked around
for a means to undermine our authority. They found it in
separatism. They demanded the virtual secession of Ashanti,
the Northern Region, and what was formerly British Togoland,
from the sphere of central Ghanaian authority. I t was not their
first attempt to cut off the nose and ears of the Motherland in
order to spite the face of the C.P.P. I n 1956, when there was a
plebiscite in British Togoland to determine whether it was to
continue as a British Trust territory or to join with the Gold
Coast and soon become a part of independent Ghana, the
opposition party proclaimed its support for Togolands continu
ance as a British Trust territory. The people of Togoland proved
to be more freedom-minded than our opposition and the
plebiscite result was union with us. When we gained full in
dependence, British Togoland became a part of free Ghana.
There followed after the plebiscite the general election of
1956, to which I had reluctantly agreed in order not to prejudice
the early grant of independence. This election brought the
C.P.P. back for the third time with an overwhelming majority.
The opposition had not done as well as they maintained they
would do in Ashanti and the Northern Territories, even though
these were their major strongholds, where they had the backing
of the Asantehene and other leading chiefs. The C.P.P. gained
more than a third of the seats in Ashanti and almost half in the
Northern Territories. I n the rest of the country we had a land
slide. We had proved indisputably that we were the only party
qualified to speak in a national sense. The British Government
could not deny this proof, and independence followed.
CHAPTER NI NE
B R I N GI NG U N I T Y I N GHA NA
T h e r e s o u n d i n g victory of the C.P.P. at the 1956 polls so
weakened the opposition that they decided to assert themselves
outside the democratic framework. Their agitation in Ashanti,
in the Northern Region and in Togoland, had already led to
serious clashes, often developing into armed violence, in which
some C.P.P. workers were actually murdered. As our inde
pendence dawned, we were placed in the anomalous position of
having to send the forces of law into now free Togoland to quell
armed disturbances. These outbreaks were fomented with the
purpose of discrediting me and my government. They gave the
impression that we were not in control of the country, that we
were not a popular government, that there was widespread dis
content.
I n a country just emerging from colonial rule, there are many
ills to right, many problems to solve. Time and money and expert
knowledge are required to deal with them. The end of the
colonial administration in Ghana left us, moreover, with a low
level of education among the bulk of our people, and no system
of universal education. Such a public is easy prey for un
scrupulous politicians. I t is amenable to demagogic appeals and
readily exploitable by eloquence that arouses the emotions rather
than reason. I t was not difficult for the opposition in these con
ditions to discover grounds of dissatisfaction in which to plant
and water the seeds of resentment and grievance. I n Accra,
they worked upon the tribal feelings of the Ga people and
related them to the shortage of housing. They encouraged the
formation of the Ga Shifimo Kpee, a strictly tribal organization,
in our capital that was fast becoming cosmopolitan; they
fomented separatism in Ashanti and dissension in the North.
They tried to demonstrate to the world that they, the opposition,
BRI NGI NG UNI TY IN GHANA
73
had been right in insisting that we were not ripe for indepen
dence.
Ghana was the cynosure of all eyes, friendly and unfriendly.
The worlds press was represented in our capital, and what they
missed the opposition filled in for them with their own explana
tions. No occasion, no event, was too small to exploit in order
to discredit both Ghana and the government before the world
and reduce the high prestige which our struggle and attainment
of freedom had won for Ghana. Not often, surely, has an opposi
tion been so active in sacrificing the interests of its country
to serve its own ends in disrupting the essential national
unity.
I saw the state being undermined, its independence in danger
of destruction, all in the name of democracy and freedom of
expression. Our opposition used the press as a forum in a way
that it had not been used in Europe, to vilify and attack us as a
means of destroying our young state. To have served writs upon
them for libel would have kept us busy in the courts to the ex
clusion of our proper duties. Though under extreme pressure
from my party, I was still hesitant to take action. Having placed
our faith in the working of a liberal democracy, I ardently
desired to give it every chance, even at the risk of some abuse to
which I knew it was open, especially in the absence of a legal
code such as operated in the United Kingdom but had not been
applied to the archaic laws of the Gold Coast. We were finding
that an administrative and legal pattern under which a colonial
regime could contrive to maintain itself required constant piece
meal adaptation to deal with the very different problems of our
need to bring order and unity within a democratic framework
and to establish a firm base for our national development.
Our toleration of the disruptive excesses of the opposition was
accepted not as an expression of good faith in the democratic
process but as a mark of weakness, and stimulated them to ever
bolder action. The disinclination to take salutary measures was
also being misunderstood abroad, where it was being regarded
as a trial of strength between us, the lawfully constituted govern
ment, and the subversive non-governmental elements. We
watched the antics of the foreign press with misgiving. I t seemed
as though our overseas critics were intent upon destroying us
74
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
before we ever got started. Nothing was too small to be twisted
as evidence in misrepresenting the strength and quality of my
government or to support the fiction of the growing strength of
the opposition.
I n times of national emergency, the Western democracies
have been compelled to limit their citizens freedom. We were
facing a time of national emergency. We were engaged in a kind
of war, a war against poverty and disease, against ignorance,
against tribalism and disunity. We were fighting to construct, not
to destroy. We needed to secure the conditions which would
allow us to pursue our policy of reconstruction and develop
ment.
My government brought in the Avoidance of Discrimination
Bill to deal with the control of political parties based on tribal or
religious affiliations. I ts full title was An Act to prohibit organi
zations using or engaging in racial or religious propaganda to
the detriment of any other racial or religious community, or
securing the election of persons on account of their racial or
religious affiliations, and for other purposes in connection there
with. The effect was to bring the formation of the various
opposition parties into a United Party. Oddly enough, our show
of firmness wras reflected in a temporary change in the tone of
the foreign press.
The Economist, for instance, summed up the negative position
of the opposition in a leading article:
The criticism that has always been levelled against the
N.L.M., and which is much more applicable to the present
assorted bunch of critics (the United Party), is that while accus
ing the government of corruption, totalitarianism, destructive
ness and inefficiency, it has offered no alternative policies of its
own. The opposition has two rather contradictory answers to
this: first, that the United Party is soon to announce a con
structive policy (which has never come) and, second, that its
programme has to be vague or the government will appropriate,
and spoil, its ideas. I n Ghana this fear is not altogether base
less. The only fundamental difference of opinion between the
government and the opposition is over the relative power of the
centre and the regions. Since there is no basic difference in their
approach to, say, employment, education and housing, the
BRINGI NG UNI TY IN GHANA
75
opposition can only criticize in a rather woolly way, saying, in
effect, that they would do the same things, only better and more
honestly.1
Unfortunately, the fundamental difference over the relative
power of the centre and the regions went deeper than The
Economist's passing reference to it would suggest. I t was the core
of dissension between the Government and the opposition. I t
involved the whole question of our continuance as a unitary
state exercising the democratic principle of majority rule. The
opposition was employing the lever given to it by the constitu
tionally entrenched clauses enthroning the special position of
Ashanti, to force by disruptive measures the secession of the
region.
Here was the root cause of the bitter feuding that had gripped
our beloved country on the eve of independence and continued
to mar and harass our days of freedom. The N.L .M. had based
its support on the Asantehene and other autocratic chiefs
anxious to retain the special privileges and powers which the
British colonial practice of I ndirect Rule had conferred upon
them. Their confidence in the success of their coercive methods
was sustained by the willing allies they found among imperialist
groups. I t has been the unfortunate experience in all colonial
countries where the national awakening has crystallized into a
popular movement seeking the fundamental democratic right
to the rule of the majority, that vested interests have come to the
aid of minority separatist groups.
These governments have often shown a touching concern for
the rights of these minorities. I n fact, their concern has in some
cases been so great that it has overlooked entirely the rights of
the majority. Examples of this attitude may be seen in the
exercise of apartheid in South Africa and the enforcement, for
many years, of the Central African Federation against the
wishes of the Africans of Northern and Southern Rhodesia and
Nyasaland. I t was the operative principle in Kenya, which sup
ported the supremacy of the European minority over the African
majority and was implicit in the view that the rights of that alien
1 The Economist, 16 November 1957.
76 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
minority needed armed protection against the indigenous
majority. In fledgeling states, imperialist interests flourish where there is
an atmosphere of dissension. They are endangered in an atmosphere of
national unity and stability.
For two and a half years of difficult state-building my govern
ment took no action to limit the freedom of the press. The
opposition was quick to exploit this freedom and soon debased
it into licence. Each day, its newspapers came out with screaming
headlines about the perfidy of the government. They heaped
abuse and libel upon my colleagues and me. They wrote and
preached, they called press conferences with local and foreign
correspondents, they addressed public meetings all over the
country, stigmatizing the government and singling out me and
my immediate associates for special attack, abuse and ridicule.
During the struggle for independence we had emphasized the
need for national unity for the attainment of freedom, and for
the enormous responsibilities of statehood that wrould follow.
These call for a supreme effort on the part of every citizen. How
could our people pull their weight with zeal and dedication when
it was ceaselessly being drummed into them that their govern
ment was unscrupulous, inept and corrupt; that their leaders
were venal and power-thirsty, and that the national effort was
invoked, not for the greater glory of Ghana but for the personal
glory of Kwame Nkrumah? This was not freedom of expression.
This was irresponsible licence, and if allowed to continue un
bridled, it could have undermined our state, our independence
and the peoples faith in themselves and their capacities.
This was the internal picture. The impact on the movements
for liberation in the rest of Africa could be just as unfortunate.
I t was likely to cause despondency in their ranks and friction
between us and their leaders, who might have no means of
recognizing the falsity of opposition attacks upon us. The colonial
powers would also not be unmindful of these happenings and
possibly use them as a pretext for delaying their departure from
trust and colonial territories by citing the magnified political
battle in Ghana as a frightening example of premature
independence.
We came to the point where it was obvious that the govern
ment must take action if we were to avert the dangers inherent
BRINGI NG UNITY IN GHANA
77
in a false situation. The imposition of any form of press censor
ship was an idea most repugnant to me, since it ran counter to
everything I had always believed in, everything for which I had
struggled in my life. Freedom of expression had been one of the
essential rights for which I had fought. I had gone to prison for
daring to say things the colonial administration had not liked.
Our fight had been the fight for the freedom of our people, and
the native inhabitants of the land, against an alien regime that
denied freedom. Now that we had won our emancipation and
launched our national existence, were we to allow our independ
ence to be endangered by the very people whose speech and
action had abetted the colonial regime ? We had embarked upon
a course that aimed to push forward the clock of progress. Were
others to be given the freedom to push it back ? We had to face
up squarely to the question whether a seedling less developed
state, eager to modernize itself in the interests of the community,
threatened by the unpatriotic deeds of a minority opposition,
could permit itself all the forms which established democracies
have taken generations to evolve. A young state has to work
doubly hard, has to deny itself many of the trimmings that have
become the accepted norm in the older nations.
Our experience is proving that democracy as a functioning
system in newly emergent states must inevitably undergo many
stresses. I ts machinery and pattern of government are being
superimposed upon social structures different from those in
which they originally developed. Democracy has undergone
development to its present accepted forms in the advanced
countries in circumstances of compulsion that have yet to be
reached in the young nations now attempting to throw them
selves apace out of a stagnating economic backwardness into
modern industrialized settings able to provide wide material and
social benefits for all the people. I t is not at all accidental that
the great exponents of democracy are precisely those countries
where industrial growth has achieved its highest levels within
free development. That growth, accompanied at periods by
social distress and discontent, was based upon vast private
accumulations of capital and proceeded at a pace which was
slower in the countries that embarked earlier upon the industrial
road and faster in those that started later.
78
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
Recently emergent states like Ghana are having to tackle the
task of industrialization at the period of its highest development
in the old-established democracies, in conditions which have
precluded the amassing of large capital reserves in the hands of
private citizens. Upon the government, therefore, devolves the
task of planning and establishing the main base of economic
development and of pushing it through at a speedy rate against
the formidable odds of an uneducated population devoid of
technical and scientific knowledge, and the lack of even the most
primitive industrial foundations. Time is the essence of our
problem, and we are in duty bound to use the overwhelming
mandate given to us by our people to advance their standards
of life, to employ time for the purpose of securing the quickest
possible economic and social development for our country. This
duty resolves itself into the obligation to use the power bestowed
upon us by the majority decision of the people to the limit of the
task it imposes. To abdicate any part of that power to an
opposition that has been repeatedly rejected by the people and
engages itself in activities prejudicial to the independence, safety
and forward growth of the State, would, I submit, be a betrayal
of the popular will and trust. I t would be completely incompre
hensible to our people, and in the present state of their educa
tional development would place our whole future in jeopardy.
We intend to preserve the rights and freedom of our people, so
long as these are exercised within the limits of the law, and with
out threat to the security of the nation. We welcome criticism,
but we will not tolerate subversive and terroristic activities
against the State, and illegal acts designed to promote the selfish
greed of a dissident minority, supported by alien interests.
CHAPTER TEN
OU R GHA NA I A N C ON ST I T U T I ON
E v e r y s o v e r e i g n people undoubtedly possesses the sovereign
right to introduce changes in the regulations by which they are
governed, to keep pace with the dynamic changes wrought by
social, political, economic and technological progress. Such
changes should not be arbitrary, nor should they be effected
except through the chosen instrument of the people, Parlia
ment, or, in matters of vital moment, through the direct ex
pression of the peoples will by plebiscite, or referendum. No one
would dream of justifying Ghanaian subservience for eternity to
regulations passed by a British Parliament before we achieved
independence.
I n the three years that we worked under the constitution
arranged for us by the retiring imperialist power, we found that
change was necessary. We were not concerned with change for
the sake of change, simply because distasteful clauses had been
imposed upon us against our will, or because the constitution as
a whole had not been of our making. Our basic consideration
was that certain parts of the constitution were found to be
hampering our free development. We even found that some of
its provisions with which we had fully agreed at the time of
negotiation, and which we might well have introduced ourselves
without imposition from others, were now outdated arid no
longer suited to the realities of Ghana.
The year 1960, after three years of independence, seemed an
appropriate time to introduce the necessary changes in our con
stitution, suited to the mood of the times, the temper of the
people, the political and cultural patterns of the country, the
urgent need to develop our land and advance the liberation of
the African continent. These factors were reflected in the funda
mental articles of the new constitution. The most important
8o AFRI CA MUST UNITE
change was the conversion of Ghana from a monarchy to a
republic. Since people have an essentially personal attitude
towards the monarchy, I decided that in addition to introducing
a Bill to parliament for its abolition and securing the necessary
two-thirds majority, I would also submit the issue to the nation
in a referendum. The National Assembly passed the Bill with an
overwhelming majority. The referendum was held in three
stages over the country during an eight-day period and resulted
in an equally heavy majority for the republican constitution and
the continuance of the C.P.P. government under my presidency.
I well knew what a hornets nest I would be stirring up when
I decided that it was incompatible with full independence for
Ghana to continue to pay allegiance to the British Cnnvn as
Head of State. I knew that my action would be understood by
all the republics of the world, and they form the bulk of the
United Nations members. I also knew that this action would
find little sympathy in Britain and in the other countries of the
Commonwealth.
I t cannot be claimed that the people in those countries have
always shown sympathetic understanding of every major act of
policy which Ghana has followed since it became independent.
There are of course among them many men of goodwill, but
quite a lot seem still to resent the fact that we are no longer
governed from Whitehall. We have the impression that sub
consciously they would like us to fail. At all events, they are
quick to ascribe uncharitable motives to any of our actions
which they feel touch them on a tender spot. And the monarchy
in Britain is a very tender spot. There is a certain mystique about
the British monarchy, whose influence is intangible but very
real. I would venture the thought that there is hardly a serious
anti-royalist in Britain. There appears to be no conscious
ness of anything paradoxical in a highly advanced democracy
maintaining an hereditary monarchy. I f I were a Briton living
in the United Kingdom, I might feel the same.
However, I am an African, a member of a country which has
but recently broken the shackles linking it to Britain. We had,
however, retained the link with the monarchy, but our orienta
tion towards the continent of Africa made it an anachronism. I t
was out of keeping with the full meaning of our independence:
OUR GHANAI AN CONSTITUTI ON 8l
it symbolized an hierarchical pinnacle that no longer had
reality in the Ghana-Britain relationship. I t injected a falsity
into our relationship with the states on our continent. We are
committed to the pursuance of an African Union. We are
obliged in our affiliations to consider their effects upon our
progress towards this cardinal goal. Numbers of our people,
moreover, believe it to be the height of incongruity for the in
habitants of the Ghanaian town of Tamale, for instance, to find
the Head of their State living in Buckingham Palace, London.
The Head of the West African State of Ghana should be a
Ghanaian having his residence in Ghana.
I t seemed tendentious, therefore, to find myself dubbed a
dictator by some and an enfant terrible by others when rumours
of my intention began to appear in the British press. A dis
interested consideration of the facts would have produced a more
sober reaction. However, as I mentioned earlier, people in other
countries tend to interpret the actions of foreigners in terms of
their own experience. Hence the irresistible temptation of
Britishers to say that what is good for Britain is good for Ghana.
But how could a Queen resident abroad, or her representative
who was a national of a foreign State, seek to symbolize the people
of Ghana ? They were such obvious strangers to our country, to
our way of life, to the spirit of our people. The very presence of
a Governor-General in the official position which he occupied
was an affront to the sovereignty which we had fought for and
achieved. I t would have been equally an affront had the
Governor-General been an African.
I t is no discourtesy to Queen Elizabeth I I if I and my people
harbour the same conscientious objection to taking an oath to
her as we would to swearing allegiance to the President of the
United States, or the President of the Soviet Union.
Nor should anything I have said be taken as reflecting the
slightest disrespect to our two Governors-General. I t was largely
due to their tact and understanding allied to their broad liberal
views that our relationship was so free from friction.
The President, according to our Republican Constitution, is
not only the Head of State but also the chief executive and head
of government. This formula was not reached by us without
keen examination and comparative study of the many different
82 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
republican systems of the world. We pondered for many months
whether we should establish the system followed in such countries
as I ndia and the Soviet Union, whereby the titular Head of
State is the holder of an honorary position without power; or
whether to combine the Premiership with the Presidency and
give the highest position in the land to the effective leader of the
nation, as in the United States. We decided upon the latter
formula, making our necessary adaptations.
Our decision took account of what seemed to us the most
logical, the most democratic and the most straightforward
formula. I n a democracy, the real leader of the country is the
man who has been democratically elected as leader of the party
which commands a majority in Parliament, which has been
democratically elected by the people. He is in fact the peoples
choice. Why, then, should he not combine the governmental
powers with the ceremonials attaching to the headship of the
State ? I n our present environment and circumstances our people
associate primacy with power. The position of a titular Pre
sident, merely signing acts of Parliament upon which he makes
no impact, would not have been easy for them to grasp. I t is
not easy indeed for the student of democracy to grasp, for it is a
meaningless fiction, without content.
I t is our hope that the system we have adopted, which com
bines the Premiership with the Presidency, will give stability
and resolute leadership in the building of our country. I n our
opinion, it responds to the mood of our people and meets the
exigencies of our actual situation. The reservation of certain
powers to the President was felt to be necessary in order to allow
opportunity for decisive action in pushing forward our develop
ment.
Ghana has established a democratic structure employing the
normal paraphernalia associated with such a governmental
form, which is really ahead of our pre-industrial status. To have
effective control over the rate of our development, we had to hold
something in reserve. We had to trim our political coat to suit
our social and economic cloth.
The increased authority given to the President is to enable
him to exercise the positive leadership that is so vital to a country
seeking to pull itself up by its bootstraps. I f I may change the
OUR GHANAI AN CONSTITUTI ON
83
metaphor, it is in some ways the work of Sisyphus, except that
instead of a stone our task is to roll a whole people uphill. There
are some jobs in the world that can be best done by a com
mittee, others need a managing director.
I will not hide the fact that I am impatient when it comes to
building Ghana. We have to get on with the job resolutely. Each
minister must regard himself as a managing director and get his
particular job done in the allotted time, and properly done. He
must know that inexplicable failure can result in his giving
place to another to prove his capacities. Real difficulties lead
ing to legitimate delay always receive understanding considera
tion. But the driving urge to succeed must permeate every branch
of government, stemming from the ministerial fountain-head,
who must combine a high sense of responsibility with a high
sense of urgency. Each minister must show himself an example
to the people by his devotion to his work, by simple living, by
leading in service. Ghana faces immense difficulties in her tasks
of reconstruction. I t is by no means a simple business to raise
educational levels, to train skilled workers and to impart a sense
of responsibility speedily, especially in circumstances of restricted
availability of local qualified personnel and material resources.
Nevertheless, there is much that can be done quickly if everyone
puts every ounce of ability and strength into the building of the
nation. I t is a prime task of leadership in Ghana to make the
people aware of the compelling need to put forth their most
intense effort on behalf of the progress of the country and of
themselves.
Within a society poising itself for the leap from pre-industrial
retardation to modern development, there are traditional forces
that can impede progress. Some of these must be firmly cut at
their roots, others can be retained and adapted to the changing
need. The place of chiefs is so interwoven with Ghanaian society
that their forcible eradication would tear gaps in the social
fabric which might prove as painful as the retention of other
more unadaptable traditions. The constitution takes careful
account of these factors, and the Declaration of Fundamental
Principles states that the office of Chiefs in Ghana, as existing
by customary law and usage, should be guaranteed. I am fully
aware of the body of opinion that regards chieftaincy as an
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anachronism, but when it is possible for the Asantehene to advise
the chiefs within the Kumasi State Council to change according
to the times, I think we are fully justified in our decision to
maintain the tradition. Addressing the Council on 24 May i960,
the Asantehene was reported to have said that
it was impossible at this stage of the countrys development to
forecast that the former privileges, coupled with a large number
of attendants, would ever be enjoyed by any modem Ghanaian
chief. The Asantehene observed that with the increased number
of new schools in every hamlet of Ghana, chiefs would not find it
easy to have attendants such as umbrella bearers.1
I n Ghana, a chief without his umbrella bearer is an unthink
able phenomenon. For the most powerful paramount chief in
this country to warn that chiefs will, by reason of wider educa
tional facilities, in due course be denied one of the main symbols
of their office, is tantamount to warning of the natural attenua
tion of chieftaincy under the impact of social progress. If, in the
interregnum, chieftaincy can be used to encourage popular
effort, there would seem to be little sense in arousing the anta
gonism which its legal dissolution would stimulate. The adapta
tion of our chiefs to what must, for them, be distressing exigencies
created by the changing relations in the national polity, has been
remarkable. We could wish that other forces with vested interests
might have proved as adaptable.
More obstructive than chieftaincy were the entrenched clauses
in our independence constitution concerning the appointment,
promotion, transfer and termination of appointment of civil
servants. Disagreeable to us in the extreme, they had the effect of
surrounding each civil servant with a barricade which the
government was allowed to scale only with the greatest difficulty.
The new constitution retains the status and financial pro
visions of the earlier one. Powers of appointment and dismissal,
however, have been transferred to the President, who exercises
them through a Civil Service Commission. Only those who are
disloyal or incompetent need fear this change, all the rest will be
strengthened by it. For promotion, which formerly came from
1 Daily Graphic, Accra, 25 May i960.
OUR GHANAI AN CONSTITUTI ON
85
time-servingj will now be the reward of merit. The new consti
tution contains a high challenge to our civil servants. Their
response will be recorded in the accelerated rate of our national
development.
The changes in our constitution which I have so far described
and explained, have been designed to create an environment in
which Ghana can proceed more positively with national recon
struction. But even as I have always been concerned with the
independence and development of Ghana as part of the total
liberation and reconstruction of Africa, and have made this a
guiding principle in the foreign policy of my government, so I
felt that our constitution should make a positive demonstration
of Ghanas willingness to surrender her individual sovereignty
to the total sovereignty of Africa, if this should ever be required.
Our relations with the rest of Africa did indeed have more than
a little bearing on our decision to sever the link with the British
Crown and transform our state into a republic. But we con
sidered that some more revolutionary illustration of our attach
ment to the cause of African Union should be embedded in the
instrument that governs the countrys policy. Hence, in the pre
amble to our new constitution, there is to be found the statement
that:
We the people of Ghana . . . in the hope that we may by our
actions this day help to further the development of a Union of
African States . . . do hereby enact and give to ourselves this
constitution. . . .
While the Declaration of Fundamental Principles includes these
specific conditions:
That the Union of Africa should be striven for by every lawful
means, and, when attained, should be faithfully preserved; and
That the independence of Ghana should not be surrendered
or diminished on any grounds other than the furtherance of African
Unity.
This, I believe, is the first time that an independent, sovereign
state has voluntarily offered to surrender its sovereignty for the
86 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
sake of unity.1I t is our contribution, made freely, openly and
sincerely by the government and people of Ghana, towards the
linking together of neighbouring brother states as the best means
of promoting the welfare of the people throughout the whole
continent. I t is our fervent hope that other states in Africa will
follow suit, and that we need not wait until the entire continent
has seen the light of brotherhood. A start can be made with as
little as two, three or four states willing to submit themselves to a
sovereign union.
Ghana, Guinea, Mali and some other newly emergent
African states have made a start by inscribing this ideal in their
constitutions. I t is for others to water this seed of destiny until it
flourishes into a glorious tree of union and brotherhood among
the peoples of Africa.
1 The constitutions of Guinea, Tunisia, Mali and U.A.R. also contain a
similar provision.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
T H E A DM I N I ST R A T I V E I N ST R U M E N T
A n e w s o c i a l structure does not automatically follow the
attainment of political freedom. That, like the battle for in
dependence, has to be fought for and won by an army of stal
warts as determined in purpose as those who waged the struggle
for freedom.
This second stage of the revolutionary process, when reviewed
soberly, appears if anything, harder than the first. More than
once, during the pre-independence days, I was assailed by doubts
whether we would have the forces to carry it through. There was
my party, the Convention Peoples Party, and the overwhelming
mass support behind us. These, however, did not sit in the seat
of administration from where policies for achieving our second
important objective of raising ourselves out of our socio
economic backwardness are put into action. They were, in
reality, an extra-administrative army, on whose co-operation
we could rely for the carrying out of our programmes at the more
intimate level of village, hamlet and township. But there would
have to be a fully manned force at the central point of adminis
tration capable of carrying through from top to bottom the
necessary directives for fulfilling the governments policies.
For all the protestations of the British that the aim of their
colonial policy was to prepare the people of the subject territories
for self-government, it was only when the nationalist movements
took the reins that any real move was made to implement its
When we took over, our civil service was definitely and abso
lutely British in substance and nature; it was certainly not
African. I t was the realization of this fact that caused me, some
times with dismay, to recognize that when we did take firmly
into our hands the reins of government, there would be the
danger of finding ourselves in possession of an administrative
88 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
machine that had a general staff and other ranks but was devoid
of officers.
My cabinet, my general staff, would come from among the
Party, and down below was the rank and file of our army - the
people. These were our own. But what of the group in between,
the officers and the N.C.O.s, who would be responsible for the
execution of policy laid down from above ? Where were our tried
and loyal African commanders? Where were the African
directors of our campaign for clearing away the debris of
colonialism and erecting our own Ghanaian edifice more in keep
ing with our wider, progressive perspective ? The finest plans we
could conceive for our country would never leave the blue-print
stage unless we had first-class civil servants whose outlook was
attuned to our African aspirations and upon whose loyalty we
could depend unquestioningly.
The civil service, being the administrative arm of government,
is the instrument for putting into effect the economic and social
programme of the government. I t is through its machinery that
the political platform of the party in power is given effective
implementation. Our civil service, the one which we inherited
during our spell of internal self-government between 1951 and
March 1957, was the machine that had been formed by the
imperial power to carry out its colonial policy. Though we had
joint control, it was as a junior partner. We were, it is true, the
ruling party, but the imperial government still reigned supreme,
and we were subordinate to its colonial pro-consul, the Governor.
Two courses of action lay open to me and my party. We could
boycott the existing colonial government machinery, the civil
service, the police, the judiciary. Or we could co-operate with it,
meanwhile strengthening the position of myself and my col
leagues in the cabinet and so advance the date for full inde
pendence.
I n choosing the second, we did not forget, but tried to bury,
past differences and sought co-operation writh the existing exe
cutive machinery of government. Two major aims impelled
this decision: the speeding up of Africanization, and the pre
vention of a breakdown in administration through a wholesale
exodus of British officials. There was no regret for the departure
of those officials who were so opposed to our aims as to render
them quite unfit and unreliable co-workers. We felt equally well
rid of those who were likely to resent taking orders from an
African. My keenest anxiety was to avoid any dislocation of
government. We had at all costs to hold off any possibility of a
situation of instability which would enable Britain and other
colonial powers to point at us the finger of scorn and gloat over
the disastrous effects of handing over self-government pre
maturely5to Africans.
I t was of prime importance to us, therefore, and the freedom
movements in other parts of Africa, that we should be able to
effect a smooth and gradual take-over of power, free from
serious administrative shocks. Therefore, we decided in favour
of maintaining the services of those British officials who were
civil servants in the best sense of the word, non-partisan in the
fulfilment of their duties and prepared to carry out orders given
by an African. I t called for what I termed at the time tactical
action5, but what an American friend jokingly suggested might
be more appropriately named tactful5action.
I n countries like Britain, where the civil service does not
change with a change in the governing party, as it does, for
instance, in the United States, the administration is expected to
remain as loyal to the new government as it had been to the
ousted one. Here you get the insistence upon the fiction that civil
servants are non-political. This fiction, if carried to its logical
conclusion, would in fact deprive the civil servant of his basic
democratic right to vote. For in casting his vote, he exercises a
choice in favour of one political party and thereby demonstrates
a bias.
That his vote is secret does not alter the fact of selection. I n
order to make a selection he must have his personal views,
whether private or openly expressed, upon the alternative pro
grammes or objectives of the parties contending for power. As a
good civil servant, however, he is required, should the party
returned to power not be the one of his choice, nonetheless to
give it his absolute loyalty and unswerving integrity. This in
most instances he does, for he has been trained to understand
that it is only his patriotic duty to serve faithfully the existing
government of his country. I t is in the rare, extreme cases, where
the servants of government find the pull between government
THE ADMI NI STRATIVE INSTRUMENT 89
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policy in certain respects and their conscience too great, that
they abandon their loyalty in submission to their conscience.
I n the case of our civil service, we were reliant not upon our
own nationals but almost entirely upon nationals of a power
which had been ruling us and who had been trained to conduct
the policy of that power. Bound to the interests of their own
country for so long, it could hardly be expected, apart from a few
exceptional cases, that they would change their attitude towards
us overnight. What we needed was our own African civil service.
I f the colonial power had been sincere in its claim of preparing
the Gold Coast for self-government, one of its primary contri
butions would have been to speed up Africanization of the civil
service and to offer access to the top posts to Africans. An excuse
frequently offered for the putting off of self-government was that
the country did not have a sufficiency of administrators and
personnel trained in other respects for the hard responsibilities
of running a state. But nothing was done to make good the
deficiency. At no time throughout the period of British adminis
tration was any African allowed to fill the highest posts of the
civil service. Africans who were employed were allowed into the
junior grades and denied the prospect of rising to the higher
ranks. The British justification for holding them down was that
they lacked the appropriate academic qualifications and the
necessary administrative experience. The sophistry of imperialist
reasoning is studded with these truths of the vicious circle.
Educational facilities were inadequate to provide academic
standards for Africans, and experience can only be gained by
experience. The logic of the British argument and its laggard
approach to the problem would have kept us waiting a hundred
years and more before we had a trained civil service to implement
self-government.
We were not prepared to wait, and I turned my attention to
the problems as soon as I became L eader of Government Busi
ness in 1951. Eighty per cent of the Gold Coast senior civil
servants were British. The twenty per cent African government
employees were mainly in the lower ranks of the senior service.
Hence I had to retain the most essential of the eighty per cent,
move up the best of the twenty per cent to take over from the
British who would leave, and introduce more Africans into the
senior grades of the service. This would ensure an ample nucleus
of African civil servants ready to take over the highest positions
of trust when we gained full independence.
This programme would, I knew, have the effect of reducing
the incentive of British officials to stay. I made no secret about my
ultimate intentions and aims, and they knew that their days
were numbered. I n the subsequent bargaining I would have
had, if I had not already been sceptical of the claim, to revise
the self-asserted claim that British civil servants entered the
colonial service from a sense of altruistic concern for the better
ment of the backward, primitive peoples. J ohn Stuart Mills
description of the colonial civil service as a form of outdoor relief
for the sons of the British middle class is more apposite.
For their point of view I had full understanding. I knew they
had careers to consider and had joined the colonial service under
certain conditions of security. They would be unable in the new
regime of independence to retain the status they had enjoyed
under the old colonial regime. They had the choice of leaving
or of surrendering their existing terms of appointment and join
ing the Gold Coast service under full local control. I therefore
offered inducement in the form of a compensation programme
for loss of career. There was a good deal of haggling and I was
rather saddened at the open explosion of the myth of the British
colonial civil servants disinterestedness in financial rewards, his
missionary purpose of carrying the white mans burden. One
hundred and forty decided to leave immediately and another
eighty-three left shortly after. The Africanization programme
therefore had to be stepped up. On the surface, some of the
British officials appeared to adjust themselves to the new con
ditions and seemed to adapt their minds to working under, or
side by side with, their African colleagues.
After 1957, when Ghana achieved independence, the position
of our civil service became better than it had been in 1951. But it
was still far from satisfactory. For though the British had ceased
to rule, they had hedged us in with the detailed safeguards, set out
in the constitution, of the position, salary, pension rights and
tenure of office of the civil servant. Reading these, one might
be forgiven for imagining that this charter had been specially
framed to guarantee the security of the civil servant rather than to
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afford the opportunity for the free, democratic evolution of a
whole society. I nsistence on the insertion of these clauses by the
British delegation to the negotiations on the constitution
stemmed from two purposes: to safeguard the interest of the
British expatriate who would be continuing his service with the
Ghana government; to give the Ghanaian civil servant the same
status and security enjoyed by the British colonial civil
servant.
The first purpose we considered unnecessary. All along it had
been made clear by us that there was room in the new Ghana
for experienced service from men and women who worked here
in the Gold Coast civil service and desired to help the new state.
I expressed our willingness to welcome the continued stay of
those who were prepared to be loyal to the new government and
faithfully carry out the policies initiated by their political chiefs.
I guaranteed their salaries and pension rights and compensation
for loss of Colonial Office career. I considered it an imposition,
however, for the Ghana Government to be forced to retain the
services of those who had elected to stay and were later found to
be incompetent, obstructive or disloyal. Let me say at this point
that many expatriates have given excellent service to Ghana and
have discharged their duties faithfully. Others have proved less
than competent and have failed to pull their weight. Some, we
know, continued in the service with the set purpose either of
hindering our efforts or of holding a watching brief for British
interests. I t is certainly not just that the rights of such civil
service members should be safeguarded by clauses entrenched in
the constitution. As an independent government, the power to
appoint and dismiss civil servants must surely rest with the
government of the state, and this should hold whether the civil
servant is a British expatriate or a Ghanaian. For they play a
delicate, sometimes a key, part in carrying out government
policy.
The second British purpose is understandable: the desire to
bequeath to Ghana the pattern of civil service obtaining in Great
Britain. The purpose, however, is dictatorial and unrealistic,
and ignores the totally different needs of a less developed
state. I agree that the British civil service enjoys a high reputa
tion for integrity, for probity, for loyalty to whatever govern
THE ADMI NI STRATI VE INSTRUMENT
93
ment comes to power, for abstention from political interference.
I t also has the reputation of being cautious, conservative, staid,
static, often corollaries of personal security. These are decidedly
not the qualities required by a new state about to launch its
people on a vast new programme of dynamic development.
Government and civil service are inter-related. Government
determines policy, the body of civil servants carries it out. The
finest programmes will get bogged down if the civil servants who
direct their practical execution are incompetent and without
dedication. Our desired rate of development must not be im
peded because we are obliged to carry white-collar government
employees who will put in a standard stint of office hours and
then forget all about the job; who will never put a foot wrong
but who will never have an original idea; who will think the
task performed with the writing of a competent letter; who will
be more concerned with status and prestige than with helping
the public; whose fear of responsibility will always prompt the
passing on of decisions and action; who will model themselves
on the Homburg-hatted umbrella-carrying civil servant of an
established state rather than on the pioneer worker of a new
and developing country.
Security of employment is a fine principle and one which I
endorse, but I do not think a civil servant in Ghana today has
greater right to security than the fisherman, the cocoa-grower,
the driver, the port worker, the teacher, the road labourer or
market woman. I am averse to our civil servants being lodged in
the State apparatus like a nail without a head: once you drive
it in, you cannot pull it out. Government must retain the right
of dismissal, and the civil servant must be made to realize that
he can be dismissed if he does not perform the job required of
him. He must be grappling with his work all the time, thinking
twenty-four hours a day how best he can serve his country by his
performance for the ministry in which he works. The Ghanaian
civil servant must be utterly devoted and dedicated to the ideal
of reconstructing our country. He must show leadership, he
must, like his Minister, set an example to the people he serves.
He must be a pioneer.
These are the demands which we make of our civil service.
They are high, for the task of the civil servant in the building up
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of Ghana is crucial. Our best laid plans will go awry if they are
not handled with heart as well as head.
At the moment of independence, we had several first-class
African officials who could assume the highest positions of trust
in several ministries, but there still remained many ministries
whose permanent secretary was an expatriate. Expatriates also
continued to fill many of the high-grade key positions in the
execution of policy. Nor can I say that every African civil servant
was suited to his job. Some were good and experienced. Some
were good, but lacked training. Some were second-rate. When
ever I and my cabinet colleagues sat down to formulate policy,
we always had to keep in mind the capability limits of our civil
service in the implementation of our programmes in the time
we had set.
I have come to appreciate, however, that even some of the
African staff who, to put it conservatively, were lukewarm in
their support of my government and its programme, given
responsibility, have risen to the demands made upon them. My
ministerial colleagues and I work a very full day and the pace
we set is quite gruelling. I t has warmed me to see how many
members of my staff, accustomed as they were to the meander
ing methods of the colonial administration, have stiffened their
rate of work to meet the new and urgent demands made upon
them.
I nnumerable exasperations and difficulties remain, and the
more I think about this problem of the civil service in less
developed countries planning for development, the more I feel
that the leaders of freedom movements and of emergent states
must pay added attention to the need to start early in the selec
tion and training of their future executive officers. Some coun
tries, like I ndia, Pakistan and Ceylon, were able to send their
sons to overseas universities to train for future leadership, and
were given the opportunity of introducing them into certain
branches of their colonial administration. They too experienced
difficulties, in spite of having a core of civil servants of their own
nationals. Other countries, like I srael, spent the immediate years
before they achieved independence in training up a corps of
high-level officials who never actually worked in the British
administration but who studied the problems of organization
THE ADMI NI STRATI VE INSTRUMENT
95
arid administration, and were ready to take over the duties of
government the moment the British departed.
For most countries emerging into independence, this has not
been done. Nor have they been able, as Ghana was not able, to
speed the Africanization of their civil service at the necessary
rate. We know colonialism and we know that we cannot look
to the colonial power for help in this matter. I t is something we
Africans have to do ourselves. Our chief difficulty during the
revolutionary struggle is that our main activity is political and
not administrative. Because of this, our best men and women
cannot be spared for civil service training, as they are needed to
advance the political battle. With independence they become
ministers, members of parliament, regional party leaders,
regional officers, ambassadors. Y et top civil servants, gifted with
administrative skill and imbued with the fervour of independence
and the hope of development, are vital to the reconstruction of
a state. To rely on expatriates is to endanger the revolution. For
the men and women who carry out our policy must be as devoted
and dedicated to the idea of freedom and national growth as the
leaders of the country. They must be free of patriotic and in
tellectual attachments to outside forces. With our own nationals
of integrity we get a civil service concerned only with the public
welfare. Theirs is a twenty-four hours a day job, just like that of
their political leaders. Upon them, to a large extent, depends the
quality of the countrys development and the speed with which
it can be fulfilled.
I n 1952 there was only one Ghanaian head of department. By
1957 the figure had risen to twenty-two. Now all the permanent
and pensionable posts are held by Ghanaians.
An I nstitute of Public Administration has been established,
where post-graduate students take a years diploma course in
the theory and practice of public administration. There are also
special short courses and seminars for senior civil servants: and
research is being carried out to find new techniques in public
administration specially appropriate for Africa. Degree courses
in administration are being offered.
The country needs expert civil servants, aware of, and in
tegrated into, the society around them, and with interests
directed particularly towards the problems of Africa. Hitherto,
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many civil servants entered the service with little or no training.
A knowledge of minute writing, the Civil Service Act, and office
routine, was about all the practical training they had experi
enced.
We have now achieved our aim of building up a Ghanaian
civil service able to administer the country efficiently, and I
would like my brothers in the emerging states of this continent
to know that Ghana stands ready to help them in their initial
stages of self-government. Our civil service is at their disposal.
We can lend them top officials to start their ministries, we can
send them instructors to train their own indigenous civil service.
I t is a problem whose complexity they will discover only with
the departure of the colonial power. I t would indeed be a boon
to all the new African states if those of us who have enjoyed a
somewhat longer period of independence were to make available
some of our officials to form a kind of African civil service pool,
standing at the service of emerging African states and ready to
serve the new Union of African States.
CHAPTER TWELVE
RECONSTRUCTI ON AND DEVELOPMENT
S t a t e s e m e r g i n g from colonialism face the gigantic problem
of transforming their almost purely trading and raw-material
producing economies into productive units capable of bearing
a superstructure of modern agriculture and industry. We have,
all of us, a similar dearth of capital, trained labour and tech
nically-skilled personnel to assist forward our development at
the pace which our objectives demand. Our late start, and the
speed at which we must work if we are to modernize our coun
tries, are bound in some degree to sharpen the stresses and strains
which have accompanied industrialization everywhere in the
world.
Every advance in methods of production made by the fore
most industrialized countries increases the gap between them
and us. There is a theory that the countries which appear last
upon the industrial scene can automatically start at the latest
point of development reached by the most advanced. This
theory can only be applicable where the accumulation of capital
is great enough to make an effective take-off possible. Even in
those circumstances, there must also be available a literate popu
lation able to provide a sufficient body of trained labour, and
managers to head and man the evolving industrial machine.
These circumstances do not exist in Ghana. They do not exist
in any of the colonialized territories, where subsistence farming,
mono-crop production and extractive industries have dominated
the economy under the influence of financial and commercial
monopolies.
I n Ghana, we have had to obtain technical knowledge and
staff from better equipped sources, and this process will continue
until we are able to produce a sufficient number of our own
experts. We are getting help from international bodies like
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U.S.O.M., U.N.T.A.B., F.A.O., W.H.O., but since we are
having to compete with so many other bidders, we have had to
apply also to private quarters. Even there, the demands are too
heavy to leave an ample supply of best quality people. I n order
to secure even the minimum of well-qualified technicians we are
having to offer terms of service which make development for us
disproportionately costly. Money which we could otherwise
spend on more basic requirements has to go, for example, into
housing and other amenities for foreign personnel. These would
be matters for private provision if we were able to recruit the
same people locally. They are, moreover, requirements which
create precedents that our own people demand when they come
to take over posts formerly held by expatriates. We are trying to
establish more realistic standards of service for our local people
in government employ, though we have met a certain amount of
resistance.
I do appreciate that in a market where many are competing,
we have to make our terms of service to expatriates as inviting as
we can, even though they place an additional strain upon our
far from unlimited resources. Y et I feela strong sense of injustice
in that we lately-colonial countries are forced to bear such addi
tional burdens through the fact of that very backwardness in
which we were kept by the countries which have made their
industrial progress to a large extent out of us. I t is these same
imperialist powers who are reaping another harvest today by
providing the machinery, equipment, management, consultants
and personnel which are the requisites of our reconstruction.
Capital investment, too, we have to seek abroad. There has
not been developed in Africa even that bourgeois accumulation
of \vealth based upon landholding, trade, commerce and in
dustry which has arisen to some extent in some unadvanced
countries in Asia, let alone the accumulation out of which Europe
financed its industrial revolution. This I think can be attributed
in a measure to the fact that the British banking firms which
operated here were essentially banks of exchange and looked
unfavourably upon the dispensing of credit to African entre
preneurs. This attitude was upheld by the fact that our system of
land tenure does not encompass individual ownership offreehold.
When it came to the question of the provision of collateral against
loans, our people were at a disadvantage, since even the owner
ship of buildings could be brought into dispute where the right
to the land on which they were erected might well be disputed.
Lands in Ghana in theory belong to the Stools, headed by
the chiefs. But when Europeans arrived in our midst, bringing
enticements of money and goods, many chiefs signed away con
cessions ; and some, in complete disregard of custom, made out
right sales. What is worse, parcels of land were sold by families
in possession of them, to different purchasers, and this started a
whole series of law suits which, until my government came into
office, was the chief source of income to our lawyers, many of
whom made fortunes out of persuading parties to land quarrels
to resort to the extended machinery of native law over tracts
of land frequently not worth 100. The whole question of land
tenure in Ghana is one which requires examination and careful
overhaul. I t becomes increasingly clear that the system is too
cumbersome and complex to adjust to the needs and pace of our
development.
My government has made efforts to put some order into the
administration of Stool lands, which has now been brought under
the control of local authorities. This measure was adopted as a
means of stopping the misappropriation of funds from land
administration, which was beginning to assume alarming pro
portions. We have also made laws which enable the government
to acquire lands suitable for development purposes.
Certain changes in our land tenure system seem to me inevit
able if we are to pursue our development plans, but these will
have to be very carefully worked out. They must avoid the
creation of rifts in the body politic, and will accordingly have to
take into account customs and fundamental traditions. One of
the blessings of our land tenure system is that it has not turned
ours into a nation where land hunger would have forced us to
break up vast holdings for redistribution among a destitute
peasantry. Our customs, moreover, had erected a kind of social
security adapted to our subsistence economy. Some of our
farmers, it is true, have fallen victims to the rapacity of money
lenders. My government is trying to meet this problem of
peasant indebtedness by way of credit and other facilities. We
are also stimulating the growth of the co-operative movement
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100 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
and encouraging farmers to join the United Ghana Farmers
Council, the farmers representative council in Ghana, which
assists the sale of their produce and makes monetary advances
to them at the beginning of the crop seasons.
Thrift has not been a characteristic of our people, largely
because they have not enjoyed enough income to make the
question anything but academic. How to instil a need to spend
and save wisely among them has become a major preoccupation
now that they are beginning to enjoy higher incomes and the
taste for amenities. Our family system actually discourages
family heads from saving, for the system, in effect, penalizes the
man with initiative in favour of the lazy and the weak. The
indigent members of the family live upon the more fortunate
ones. A praiseworthy and useful practice in our past, more or less
stagnant society based on subsistence farming, it acts today as a
break upon ambition and drive. At the present time, the man
who makes a reasonable living finds his money eaten up by his
relatives (and this includes the most extended members reaching
to the nth degree of relationship), so that he simply cannot meet
his personal obligations, let alone save anything.
But save we must, if we are to build up the hard reserves of
capital necessary for our development. Side by side with the
family hindrance to saving, there has been a real and developing
increase in expenditure upon a vast miscellany of imported
goods. The danger inherent in trying to keep up with the
J oneses which results in the rising cost in personal expenditure
is something upon which we are trying to put a brake, not merely
because this kind of spending encourages inflation, but because it
produces false standards and illusory ideas of wealth in an
economy which has not yet got off to a real start on the road of
reconstruction and development. I t is for these several reasons
that we have introduced compulsory savings and curtailed the
importation of what we regard as inessential goods. We have also
established a national lottery, extended post office savings facil
ities, and set up a savings branch in our national bank. We
are looking into the means of encouraging investment in new
businesses and industrial undertakings, which will encourage
enterprise and initiative and help in building up managerial
skill.
RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT 101
I nvestment capital is our great need. Our colonial status pre
vented us from accumulating as individuals the reserves of
capital necessary to establish on a private basis those major
enterprises which will lay the foundations of a sound indus
trialized economy and expand and diversify our agriculture.
Only the government, in fact, has resources large enough to
make a realistic approach to the problem of reconstruction and
development. And even government, because of low national
production, is obliged to seek investment from abroad. But while
wanting to attract capital, we are continually on the alert to
ensure that this does not endanger our independence by making
us subordinate to a new form of imperialism. The kind of invest
ment assistance we prefer is that which will enter into a partner
ship arrangement with the government, or any of our statutory
institutions, under which our own citizens will be trained to take
over management, direction and technical posts at all levels. We
are already receiving assistance of this kind, and more is on the
way.
I must say that we are rather chary of the fortune hunters who
come to our shores in shoals, seeking to make use of what they
regard as our innocence and naivete in these matters; or of that
army of business people, who have followed in one delegation
after another, more intent upon taking money from us in the
form of commodity sales which would enhance their own
national revenues, than upon contributing to our economic ex
pansion. There are circumstances in which the import of foreign
capital is of benefit to the importing country, especially in the
case of the emerging developing country where large-scale
sources of capital accumulation are small and not so easy to
mobilize. Foreign capital is thus useful and helpful if it takes
the form of a loan or credit to enable the borrowing country to
buy what it needs from whatever sources it likes, and at the same
time to retain control of the assets to be developed.
One of the worst things that can happen to less developed
and emerging countries is to receive foreign aid with political
and economic strings attached. These aids are very often
wrapped up in financial terms that are not easily discernible.
Foreign investment made in an emerging and developing
country by a foreign company in order that such company can
102 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
make a profit, has nothing to do with aid. This does not mean that
a developing country may not find it advantageous to make a
contract with a foreign company for the setting up of, say, a
factory or an industry.
Real aid is something quite different. I t consists of direct gifts
or loans that are given on favourable terms and without strings
attached.
I n other words, the problem is how to obtain capital-invest-
ment and still keep it under sufficient control to prevent undue
exploitation; and how to preserve integrity and sovereignty
without crippling economic or political ties to any country,
bloc or system.
We have had enough of European monopoly domination of
our economy. We have emancipated ourselves politically, and
we have now to shake off the economic monopoly that was the
objective of foreign political control. This is the crux of our
economic policy, and the essential heart of our endeavours. For
unless we attain economic freedom, our struggle for independ
ence will have been in vain, and our plans for social and cultural
advancement frustrated. Hence we are extremely vigilant in
scenting out the subtle and insidious infiltrations of neo
colonialism and the sabotage of foreigners enjoying our hospi
tality and the privilege of building economic enterprises in our
midst. I n furtherance of our goal of unshackling ourselves
from foreign economic domination, we are creating agencies
which will assist in breaking through this alien monopoly and
stimulate capital accumulation for re-employment in wider
development.
A countrys capital is, of course, also to be found in its body of
technical, scientific and managerial knowledge, as well as in its
productive capacity. I n these fields we have to acknowledge
deficiencies which we know it will take time to wipe out. More
over, the low rate of productivity makes our labour, in spite of
the relatively small wages it receives, quite expensive. At the
present time, low nutrition, a deficient sense of responsibility, the
fear of being out of work, govern the rate at which work is per
formed. These factors are the environmental effects of historical
circumstances. Tribal controls and taboos followed by the auto
cratic paternalism of colonialism have held in leash the sense of
initiative and responsibility which develops in a freer society.
As living conditions grow better under the improvements which
the government is pledged to effect, and indeed has already
made to some extent, as unemployment lessens and the mo
mentum of development gathers speed, a quickening of pro
ductive output throughout the economy must follow. Productive
increase will also respond to encouraging incentives, which need
not always be of a financial nature. For a productivity increase
which is completely eaten up through expanded consumption
will defeat the development programme, whose investment
capital must come from surpluses. Some austerity is imperative
and our new controls are aimed at this. At the same time, we
are trying to eliminate, by party discipline and other means,
wide gaps between the lower and higher income groups. We are
setting our hands as firmly as we can against the growth of a
privileged section.
There must also be guards against the danger of spiralling
inflation, which too often attends a constructing economy, such
as ours is rapidly becoming. Careful planning can and must
keep inflation within limits so that the advantages of economic
development shall not be dissipated in an ever-soaring cost of
living and building.
But the building of a new state requires more than the pre
paration of programmes, the design of plans and the issue of
instructions for their implementation. I t requires the whole
hearted support and self-identification of the people, and the
widest possible response to the call for voluntary service. A war
on illiteracy has to be waged; and a country-wide self-help
programme of community development arranged, to promote
the building of schools, roads, drains, clinics, post offices, houses
and community centres.
The effects of self-help schemes, valuable in themselves and
the incentive they give to initiative, are, however, local in com
pass and limited in purpose. Rapid development on a national
scale and the attainment of economic independence demand a
more intensive and wider application of ability and inventive
ness, the speedy acquisition of technical knowledge and skills, a
vast acceleration of productivity as a prerequisite to accumu
lation of savings for re-investment in industrial expansion. I n
RECONSTRUCTI ON AND DEVELOPMENT IO3
104
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
a less developed society there are several impediments to in
dustrialization, quite apart from the lack of requisite capital
accumulations, technical skills, scientific knowledge and in
dustrial enterprise, which, unless they are eliminated, will
stultify our efforts at advancement. For they have their cumu
lative effect precisely in the lack of these requisite reserves.
Customs which extol the virtues of extended family allegiance
sustain nepotic practices, and regard the giving and taking of
presents as implicit and noble, because they promote the family
welfare. They encourage indolence and bribery, they act as a
brake upon ability, they discourage that deeper sense of in
dividual responsibility which must be ready in a period of active
reconstruction to accept obligation and fulfil trust. Above all,
they retard productivity and oppose savings, the crucial factors
in the rate of development. Polygamy donates its quota to these
retarding influences, while our laws of succession and in
heritance stifle the creative and inventive urge.
I t is certainly not accidental that the industrial revolution
came first to England, where the law of primogeniture entailed
the inheritance of estates to the eldest son and made it necessary
for the younger ones to follow pursuits which increased capital
wealth. The historian, G. M. Trevelyan writes:
A distinguishing feature of the English gentry, which aston
ished foreign visitors as early as the reign of Henry VI I , was their
habit of turning their younger sons out of the manor-house to
seek their fortunes elsewhere, usually as apprentices to thriving
merchants and craftsmen in the towns. Foreigners ascribed the
custom to English want of family affection. But it was also,
perhaps, a wise instinct of what was best for the boy, as well
as a shrewd calculation of what was best for the family fortunes.
The habit of leaving all the land and most of the money to the
eldest son built up the great estates, which by steady accumu
lation down the years, became by Hanoverian times so marked
a feature of English rural economy.
The younger son of the Tudor gentleman was not permitted
to hang idle about the manor-house, a drain on the family
income like the impoverished nobles of the Continent who were
too proud to work. He was away making money in trade or in
law. He often ended life a richer and more powerful man than his
elder brother left in the old home.1
Another incentive was Puritanism which encouraged frugality
and frowned upon wastefulness and ostentatious expenditure.
As far as the national economy in an under-developed country is
concerned, savings converted into ornaments and squandered
in celebrating religious festivals, in extravagant wedding and
funeral expenses, are as much lost as though they were thrown
into the sea. Tribal society, counting little but sunrise, sunset and
the moons apogee, welcomed these festive breaks in the
monotony of passing days, and has carried over the customs into
the present, where another, more stirring philosophy needs to
induce industriousness and thrift.
The legend of the medieval church that to labour is to pray
encouraged tillage of the soil. I t was improved upon by the
exhortations of Protestantism to work hard and be thrifty,
which raised to a cardinal virtue the saving of money and its
investment in profitable enterprise. Our less energetic society
must be goaded into the acceptance of the stimuli necessary to
rapid economic development by alterations in our social
relationships and habits, if necessary by law. J apan, for instance,
since the end of the Second World War, has legislated for a cur
tailed family unit which comprises husband and wife and their
children. Legally, the husband has no responsibility for any
other members of the family outside this close unit. Moreover,
children are being taught not to look to their parents to will
them an inheritance but to fend for themselves. The initiative,
energy and drive thus released are being turned to the expansion
of J apans national economy.
A sense of devotion and sacrifice helps to instil acceptance of
narrower standards for the present in the interest of wider ones
in the future. A certain amount of belt-tightening is essential.
The Welfare State is the climax of a highly developed in
dustrialism. To assure its benefits in a less developed country
is to promise merely a division of poverty. Undoubtedly
there must be an investment of a proportion of the capital
reserves in the establishment of minimum wage levels to assure
1 G. M. Trevelyan: English Social History (Longmans 1946), p. 125.
RECONSTRUCTI ON AND DEVELOPMENT 105
i o 6 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
proper diet, as well as minimum health and housing facilities.
But poverty is progressively reduced only as productivity
increases and industrialization progresses and part of its surplus
can be made available in increased wages, better housing and
generally improved social conditions.
CHAPTER THI RTEEN
TOWARDS ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE
W h e r e i n d e p e n d e n c e has been preceded by a struggle,
there remains a residue of enthusiasm to start off the new
national existence, which, if properly harnessed and directed,
provides a spur in dealing with the tasks of state building.
However, there is an accompanying lessening of tension, a sense
of pressure eased, a pause for breath after battle. There is a
feeling that, having made the supreme and sustained effort
called for in ridding the country of colonial rule, a well-earned
rest can now be taken.
The government has to make it clear that a new and greater
effort is demanded to consolidate the nationalist victory. The
people have to be fully re-animated so that they will drive
forward with zest and courage to a more formidable battle in
which they will be faced with different obstacles and hardships
as the new state develops.
I n Ghana, the Convention Peoples Party had the task of
rousing the spirit of devotion and sacrifice necessary for the
programme of development which it was given a mandate to
discharge. The pre-independence slogan of Self-Government
Now was replaced with that of s e r v e g h a n a n o w . We held
out no glowing hopes of wealth without labour. On the contrary,
we stressed the need for everyone to work doubly hard now that
we were labouring for ourselves and our children, and not for the
enrichment of the former colonial power. The rewards would be
national and individual dignity, the satisfaction which comes
from creation and a raised standard of life. Foremost of all
would be economic independence, without which our political
independence would be valueless.
Under colonial rule, a country has very restricted economic
i o 8 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
links with other countries. I ts natural resources are developed
only in so far as they serve the interests of the colonial power.
However, once political independence has been achieved, the
countrys full potentialities can, and must, be explored. The
domestic economy must be planned to promote the interests of
its own nationals; and new and wider economic links must be
created with other countries. Otherwise, the newly-independent
country may fall victim to the highly dangerous forces of
economic imperialism, and find that it has merely substituted
one kind of colonialism for another.
I n the past, all Ghanas economic links were with the West,
mainly the United Kingdom. Since independence, we have
forged new links with countries such as Russia, China, Poland,
Czechoslovakia and Y ugoslavia. The Report of the United Kingdom
Trade and Industrial Mission to Ghana, published in 1959, showed
that 85 per cent of all Ghanas import trade was in the hands of
European firms (mainly British), 10 per cent in the hands of
Asians (I ndians, Syrians and Lebanese), and only 5 per cent in
Ghanaian hands. Now, many Ghanaians are participating fully
in the import and export business of the country. This was at one
time the privilege of the few, because the market was limited to
the sterling area only, and many of the popular brands of
merchandise were monopolized by the few principal firms with
foreign capital. I n i960, Ghana bought goods to the value of
Gi 29,617,497 from the outside world and sold goods worth
6115,982,854.
I n planning national development, the constant, funda
mental guide is the need for economic independence. This
involves a stock-taking of the national resources, both actual and
potential, human as well as material, and the need to develop
them by means of careful priorities and skilful integration so as to
produce a strong, healthy and balanced economy. An im
portant essential is to reduce our colonial-produced economic
vulnerability by lessening the dependence on mono-crop
farming.
Although cocoa still remains our main export, we have
succeeded to some extent in diversifying our agriculture. We
plan to relate our agricultural production primarily to the needs
of the domestic market and to provide raw materials for
secondary industries. We have begun to export bananas,
coconuts, copra, palm kernels, and palm oil, kola and other nuts,
plantains, rubber, coffee, spices, and tobacco. Several of these
products, such as palm oil, tobacco, coffee and rubber, we shall
use in increasing amounts in our own industries.
The government has provided grants for the regional
development of water resources, for soil conservation and
improvement projects, for financing experimental plantations
of new crops, and for the application of new techniques to old
crops. Our farmers are getting practical advice on how to use
their land to the best advantage and to produce greater yields.
They are being assisted by hire purchase and co-operative
schemes to acquire modern agricultural machinery and process
ing equipment. More rational marketing procedures are being
steadily introduced. Ghana has begun to export agricultural
products which have never been grown here before, and im
proved methods of growing established crops have led to
substantial increases in yield.
Diversity of agriculture has been accepted as a shibboleth, but
if the development is simply towards the end of exportation, this
can defeat the aim, since the fact that so many countries are now
concentrating upon similar objectives can produce an over
extension of the sellers market with subsequent depression of
world prices. The fall in world prices of raw materials since the
end of the Second World War has deprived the less developed
countries of the staggering sum of 574,000 million, an amount
greater than all the so-called aid which these countries have
received from the advanced nations. This in itself represents a
denial of tremendous capital for much-wan ted development that
would not have happened had we newly emergent states been
united and strong enough to make our bargaining on the inter
national commodity markets effective.
The major advantage which our independence has bestowed
upon us is the liberty to arrange our national life according to
the interests of our people, and along with it, the freedom, in
conjunction with other countries, to interfere with the play of
forces in the world commodity markets. Under-developed
countries, utilising their newly won independent status, can by
purposive policy interferences manage to alter considerably the
TOWARDS ECONOMIC I NDEPENDENCE l o g
no AFRI CA MUST UNITE
direction of the market processes under the impact of which they
have hitherto remained backward,5maintains Gunnar Myrdal.1
This is a reality which we recognize, and we are using the inter
national organizations and other media to exert pressures in our
favour. Nevertheless, the richer countries are still in a position to
limit the returns we obtain for our primary products, and we
would seem to be more strategically placed as the major pro
ducer of a single raw material, either agricultural or extractive,
for which there is a heavy world demand. Our cocoa production
has hitherto given us such a commanding position but, with
other comers tending to equalize the field, we are discovering
that a satisfactory price level can be held only by agreement with
the other large producers, such as Brazil, Nigeria, and others.
With judicious use of our joint bargaining power, we may
continue to use our exports of primary products to assist our
industrialization.
Fluctuations in primary product prices are one of the
insecurities in planning for less developed countries. Y et this
cannot invalidate planning, which is the prime medium by
which development can be undertaken in the given conditions.
The government has to take the place of the adventurous
entrepreneurs who created the capital basis of industrialization
in the advanced countries.
The fishing industry has also benefited from government
planning. A local building yard is turning out high-standard,
powered fishing vessels to increase the scope of our fishing fleets.
Complementing it, is a partnership association with overseas
interests in a storage and refrigeration plant to take vegetables
and other perishable goods as well as fish. A fishing harbour has
been built at Elmina near Cape Coast, at one time a thriving
Portuguese slaving and trading fort. A far larger fishing harbour
has been constructed at our new coastal town of Tema. We hope
that these two harbours, with adequate refrigeration facilities,
will not only provide an adequate supply of high protein food for
our people but enough fish to give work to a canning factory, the
output from which will swell our exports.
I n the industrial sphere, our aim has been to encourage the
1 Gunner Myrdal: Economic Theory and Under-Developed Regions, Gerald
Duckworth & Co. Ltd, p. 66.
TOWARDS ECONOMIC I NDEPENDENCE I 11
establishment of plants where we have a natural advantage in
local resources and labour or where we can produce essential
commodities required for development or for domestic con
sumption. During 1961, over sixty new factories were opened.
Among them was a distillery, a coconut oil factory, a brewery, a
milk processing plant, and a lorry and bicycle assembly plant. I n
addition, agreements were signed for the establishment of a large,
modern oil refinery, an iron and steel works, a flour mill, and
sugar, textile and cement factories.
I n forestry, we have introduced a programme for conservation
and disease control, which will both safeguard our forest reserves
and permit an advance in timber production. For Ghanaian
lumber continues to be greatly prized in overseas markets and
has a high place on our export list. Production in our local timber
and cork factories has been expanded, and a marked improve
ment has taken place in the output of our mining of gold,
diamonds, manganese and bauxite.
Our First Development Plan, launched in 1951, concentrated
on communications, public works, education and general
services. I t prepared the way for our industrialization drive.
This was the keynote of our Second Development Plan which
will provide for the establishment of many factories, of varying
size, to produce a range of hundreds of different products.
Financial provision is being made to ensure that adequate
facilities will be available to prospective investors in industrial
development.
Capital projects, such as the Volta River scheme and Tema
harbour and its extension, will provide opportunities for our
people to develop skills at all levels. An essential element in our
industrial development must be the building up of our store of
technical and managerial knowledge. We are encouraging
foreign investment, but to accept it merely for the purpose of
widening our industrial base without strengthening our own
skills and techniques will leave us as economically impoverished
as we were under colonialism. Unless our own nationals are
given the opportunity of learning the job on the spot, side by side
with foreign experts, we shall be as ignorantly backward as
ever.
There is an argument that contends that young nations
112 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
emerging from colonialism are indulging in wasteful expenditure
by duplicating industries and ventures which have already been
perfected by the older industrialized nations of the world, whose
products are available at lower cost than that for which they can
be manufactured by us. I t may be true in some instances that our
local products cost more, though by no means all of them, and
then only in the initial period. But even if it were substantially the
fact, it is not an argument that we can accept. I t is precisely
because we were, under colonialism, made the dumping ground
of other countries manufactures and the providers merely of
primary materials, that we remained backward; and if we were
to refrain from building, for example, a soap factory simply
because we might have to raise the price of soap to the com
munity, we should be doing a disservice to the country.
Every time we import goods that we could manufacture if all
the conditions were available, we are continuing our economic
dependence and delaying our industrial growth. I t is just these
conditions that we are planning to provide, so as to make our
selves independent of the importation of goods and foodstuffs
that we can produce ourselves. These are the conditions which
will assist to build up our body of knowledge, techniques and
skills, to make us more self-confident and self-sufficient, to push
towards our economic independence. Another no less important
aspect is that the exchange thus saved can be used to finance
capital machinery for our own industries, which alone can give
value to our industrialization.
Under colonial administration, postal, telegraphic and rail
communications, broadcasting, such electricity and water
services as existed, were all publicly owned and administered.
Since independence we have added an airline, a shipping line,
and a national bank. We have met with active resistance from
vested interests in our efforts to establish our own mercantile
fleet.
I n connection with the founding of Ghana Airways, it was
maintained that there were enough international airlines to
serve our needs, and that the formation of a new one was an un
necessary multiplication, which would only serve to satisfy our
national pride. Even if this were true, which it is not, it was an
argument which did not appeal to us. Naturally, it increases our
TOWARDS ECONOMIC I NDEPENDENCE
self-confidence to observe our own people helping to control the
intricate mechanisms involved in the functioning of our own
airways services, and we certainly experience a glow of pride in
seeing our flag flying on planes and ships travelling to other
countries. But again, we must encourage every kind of project
that will add to our technical skills and national experience, and
the operation of our own airlines and shipping makes a valuable
contribution to this end.
We are at present planning to chart routes which will connect
up the more important cities and towns of Africa. One of the
factors making contact between Africans difficult is the absence
of proper and plentiful means of communication. At the present
time, Africas communications look outward and not inward.
They connect us rather with countries overseas than with our
selves. Shipping is not planned to go all the way round the coast,
connecting roads criss-crossing the continent are non-existent,
and the established routings operated by the existing inter
national airlines are planned to serve travellers from Europe
rather than Africans wishing to go from one part of this continent
to another.
The routings of the European airlines frequently make it
necessary for us to go, for instance, from North or East to West
Africa by way of Europe. The absurdity of this is too obvious to
need stressing. Almost every country in Europe has its own air
line and the routes over the European continent are many and
well-served, and no one thinks it at all strange that B.E.A., for
example, duplicates some of Sabenas services. Therefore, the
contention that we young nations on other continents should
refrain from entering this vital field of communications smacks
to us of the old imperialist attitude. Africa is a considerably larger
continent than Europe, and there is more than enough reason for
us African nations to develop communications between ourselves
as a means of bringing us closer together and making our
common intercourse easier and more fruitful.
The difficulties in getting our Black Star shipping line started
have been successfully overcome and we are now enlarging it
with a number of vessels whose keels have been laid in Germany,
England, Holland and other countries. An efficient and adequate
shipping fleet of our own will establish a powerful instrument to
i i 4
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
break the hold which the monopoly interests, including foreign
shippers, have upon our trade. The revenue that goes abroad
every year merely in the shipment of our cocoa runs into several
millions sterling. Without shipping of our own, we are placed at
the mercy of the foreign shipping lines, who could hold us to
ransom, as they have in the past, at any time they wished. With
our own shipping we shall become independent of external
maritime agencies. We shall bring revenue to our own coffers,
and once more make a fine addition to our skills and experience.
I n connection wdth our communication projects, we have
organized a nautical training school and a flying school which are
designed to supply us with sufficient trained personnel to man
and officer our ships and aircraft. Training is planned to proceed
in stages so as to afford an annual output of men for immediate
absorption into the shipping and flying services.
All industries of any major economic significance require, as a
basic facility, a large and reliable source of power. I n fact, the
industrialization of Britain, America, Canada, Russia, and other
countries too, emerged as a result of the discovery of new sources
of energy. Newer nations, like our own, which are determined to
catch up, must have a plentiful supply of electricity if they are to
achieve any large-scale industrial advance. This, basically, was
the justification for the Volta River Project.
This project, and the extension of the port and harbour at
Tema, will have a massive effect on our national economy and
enlarge its development. The Volta River scheme involves the
production of hydro-electrical power by damming the river and
applying the great volume of resultant cheap power to convert
our bauxite resources into aluminium and to provide electri
fication for the nations other industries. The Volta is our
largest river, and we have enough bauxite to feed an aluminium
smelter with a capacity of 200,000 tons. As originally conceived,
the project called for raising the level of the water through the
erection of a single high dam with a power station below to
harness the energy released by the drop and convert it into
electricity. Almost its whole output was to be devoted to the
working of a smelter for rolling bauxite into aluminium sheets.
This and the estimated cost of 300 million sterling dimmed the
attractiveness of the project.
TOWARDS ECONOMIC I NDEPENDENCE
Nevertheless, I put it up to the colonial administration, who
could see no prospect of raising the capital. I t was obvious that
the project would have to wait for independence and that I
would have to take upon myself the task of enlisting financial
help from overseas. With independence, we would be in a
position to give government guarantees to outside investors. As
soon as we became free, I started pushing the project, but quickly
came up against a blank wall - the leading manufacturers of
aluminium. They were organized into a consortium controlling
the bulk of the worlds output, and were not interested in a new
competitor, still less in a new source of cheap aluminium. They
expressed polite interest; one even sent a study mission to make
an on-the-spot investigation and then turned the project down.
I n the middle of 1958, I accepted an official invitation from
President Eisenhower to visit the United States. During the talk
I had with him I told him of the Volta River scheme. This led to a
meeting with members of the Henry J . Kaiser Company, one of
the large independent aluminium producers. They promised to
send a team of experts to reassess engineering aspects of the
original scheme. The team made their investigations and were
favourably impressed. Their reassessment report recommended
the construction of the dam at a different point from that
originally proposed, and the extension of the scheme by the
provision of two other hydro-electrical stations which would
supply the more northerly part of the country with much-needed
water and power.
The original Volta River project was designed to channel the
bulk of the electricity produced by the dam to an aluminium
smelter, and a comparatively small proportion only would have
been made available for domestic consumption. The reassess
ment report recommended the installation of a national
electricity grid covering the major part of Southern Ghana, from
the harbour and industrial town of Tema, through Accra,
Takoradi, Tarkwa, Dunkwa, Kumasi, Koforidua and back to
the dam site at Akosombo. By the addition of the two smaller
stations at Bui and Kpong, at higher points on the Volta, the
national grid will extend into the territory on the other side of the
river. At selected points on the grid there will be outlets from
which electricity will be distributed for domestic and industrial
i i 6 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
users over an extended area. The routing of the grid will also
provide outlets for power supplies to many of the larger mines. I f
transmission lines could be installed economically, there would
be sufficient electricity to provide power for the whole country,
and even to have some to sell to our neighbours.
This scheme was accepted in principle by the government, not
only because it provided for reasonably economic operation in
the early years by selling power to a smelter, but because it also
provided for the production of a large and reliable source of
electrical power, for many years to come, for Ghanas develop
ment. The main hydro-electrical project at Akosombo is being
financed by Ghana, Britain, the United States and the I nter
national Bank, while an agreement has been reached with the
Soviet Union for the design and construction of the power dam
station at Bui.
One of the incidental results of the project will be the
formation of an inland lake, which will cover 3,275 square miles
and will be the largest man-made lake in the world. The lake
will, it is estimated, eventually produce up to 10,000 tons of fresh
fish a year, much of it readily accessible to areas of Ghana too far
from the sea for our sea-water catches to be readily transported
there. The lake fishing industry may well become very im
portant, and it is proposed to develop this as soon as the lake has
filled, and the fish have had time to multiply. A further advant
age is that about six hundred square miles of land around the
shores of the new lake will be flooded each season at high water,
and should be suitable for the intensive cultivation of crops such
as rice.
A private company has been formed by some of the worlds
greatest producers of aluminium, to establish the smelter at an
estimated cost of 100 million. This company, known as Valeo
(Volta Aluminium Company Limited), will employ about
1,500 people. Once its pioneer company relief period is over, it
will pay taxes to the Ghana Government, and also pay the Volta
River Authority nearly 2 \ million yearly for electricity.
The construction of the port and harbour at Tema was an
integral part of the Volta River scheme. Some two thousand
workers were employed to build thousands of housing units,
planned with modern shopping areas in each suburb, a good net
TOWARDS ECONOMIC I NDEPENDENCE 117
work of roads, and sites for the aluminium plant and subsidiary
factories. These will serve, and be served by, the large port area
with its main, lee and south breakwaters. The quays have
provision for extension, spacious sheds and warehouses, and
railway links to each point of need.
The port started to operate in 1961, and already the town
boasts almost 30,000 inhabitants. The ultimate population will
be about 250,000. A whole fishing village has been moved from
the condemned slums in which it was housed to a new one
providing modern amenities.
Tema is Ghanas first planned city. To see its construction, and
to remember the quiet palm-fringed cove which it replaces is to
feel a sense of creation and development. More important, to see
our men at work and to recall their pre-independence lounging
under the palms, is to refresh our faith in our capacity to build
our country.
The harbour, one of the largest in Africa, took over seven years
to build. At peak periods during its construction, more than
3,500 men worked on it, some of them in the hills twenty miles
away, where they quarried over ten million tons of rock for the
main breakwaters. The harbour is nearly half as large again as
the one at Takoradi, 160 miles to the west, and it encloses about
400 acres of water. I t has a fishing harbour, and will eventually
have five quays and fifteen berths.
Some two weeks before I opened the harbour at Tema, I
officially launched the Volta River scheme by pressing a button
to dynamite a slice out of the hillside at Akosombo. Hundreds of
people danced, cheered, sang and fired guns into the air as the
local chief poured libation and offered a sheep in sacrifice. One
of my greatest dreams was coming true. I n a few years there will
be sufficient power to serve the needs of our industrial growth for
a long time ahead.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
B U I L D I N G S O C I A L I S M I N GHA N A
W h e n I s a t d o w n w i t h m y p a r t y c o l l e a g u e s after i n d e p e n d e n c e
t o e x a m i n e o u r u r g e n t p r i o r i t i e s , w e f r a m e d a short li st. W e m u s t
a b o l i s h p o v e r t y , i g n o r a n c e , i l l i t e r a c y a n d i m p r o v e ou r h e a l t h
ser v i c e s . T h e s e w e r e d i r e c t a n d s i m p l e o b j e c t i v e s n o t e x a c t l y
a m e n a b l e to l e g i s l a t i o n . I n o u r s i t u a t i o n t h e y w e r e f o r m i d a b l e
l o n g - t e r m o b j e c t i v e s i n v o l v i n g t h e e l i m i n a t i o n o f s o c i a l il l s w h i c h
h a v e t r o u b l e d t h e w o r l d s i n c e t h e b e g i n n i n g o f h i s t o r y a n d s t ill ,
i n v a r y i n g d e g r e e s , p l a g u e a l l t h e c o u n t r i e s o f t h e g l o b e .
Delegations, official and semi-official, travel abroad from time
to time, examining what other countries have to offer us in the
way of experience and knowledge that can be applied to our
circumstances. I maintain that there is no universal pattern for
industrialization that can serve as an absolute model for new
nations emerging out of colonialism. Looking around, we find no
examples that are identical. European countries stretched their
industrialization over a much longer period and in a different
economic, scientific and social epoch. The United States cleared
virgin land and used slave labour to amass its primary wealth.
I t has a geographic span that gave it special opportunities for a
rapid industrial expansion and large-scale manufacture. The
Soviet Union, starting from practically nothing, covering a vast
land mass with manifold resources, swept away the former
bureaucracy, and employed an authoritarian dictatorship to
achieve its purpose.
Frequently, the nearest models are those countries, like J apan,
or China, or I ndia, that have made or are making their industrial
revolution against conditions more nearly approximating to
our own and in a time cycle closer to ours. I ndia and China
cover huge stretches of land and have excessive populations.
J apan, though much smaller, has also created a population that
gives her one of the highest densities in the world. These are
factors which bear directly upon the planning for industrial
development and economic independence. They provide both
causes and solutions in the drawing up of programmes, and the
degree of adjustment that is made to the problems which they
also raise will depend upon the economic course that is taken.
I n Ghana, we have embarked on the socialist path to progress.
We want to see full employment, good housing and equal
opportunity for education and cultural advancement for all the
people up to the highest level possible. This means that:
- prices of goods must not exceed wages;
- house rentals must be within the means of all groups;
- social welfare services must be open to all ;
- educational and cultural amenities must be available to
everyone.
I t means, in short, that the real income and standard of life of all
farmers and workers must rise appreciably.
I have already made it clear that colonial rule precluded that
accumulation of capital among our citizens which would have
assisted thorough-going private investment in industrial con
struction. I t has, therefore, been left to government, as the holder
of the means, to play the role of main entrepreneur in laying the
basis of the national economic and social advancement. I f we
turned over to private interests the going concerns capitalized
out of national funds and national effort, as some of our critics
would like to see us do, we should be betraying the trust of the
great masses of our people for the greedy interests of a small
coterie of individuals, probably in alliance with foreign
capitalists. Production for private profit deprives a large section
of the people of the goods and services produced. If, therefore, we
are to fulfil our pledge to the people and achieve the programme
set out above, socialism is our only alternative. For socialism
assumes the public ownership of the means of production, the
land and its resources, and the use of those means in fulfilment
of the peoples needs.
Socialism, above all, is predicated upon the ability to satisfy
those needs. I t is obvious, therefore, that Ghana at this time is
not possessed of the socialist means. I ndeed, we have still to lay
the actual foundations on which they can be built, the modern-
BUI LDI NG SOCIALISM IN GHANA I i g
120 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
ization of our agriculture and the industrialization of our
country. We have to transfer to the hands of the people the major
means of production and distribution.
Our rate of development will be governed by the surpluses that
will be made available out of heightened productivity, which
includes, besides the greater output from labour and increased
agricultural yields, the more efficient employment of investment
and the resulting increased productivity. Government inter
ference in all matters affecting economic growth in less developed
countries is today a universally accepted principle, and interests,
domestic or foreign, enjoying the opportunities of profitable
gain, cannot object to some control of the reinvestment of part of
that gain in the national development of the country in which it
is reaped. Today, not even in the advanced countries dedicated
to private enterprise is the principle of laissez faire allowed
absolutely free play. Restrictions of all kinds interfere with the
uninhibited movement of capital. The government of Ghana,
while making investment in our development as attractive as
possible, cannot, however, place that development and our
ultimate economic independence in jeopardy by surrendering
their intrinsic prior requirements.
These requirements are at the central heart of our planning,
and in the context of our national independence and advance
ment and the greater objective of Pan-African unity they must
govern our policies.
The road of reconstruction on which Ghana has embarked is a
new road, parts of whose topography are only hazily sensed,
other parts still unknown. A certain amount of trial and error in
following the road is inevitable. Mistakes we are bound to make,
and some undoubtedly we have already made. They are our own
and we learn from them. That is the value of being free and
independent, of acquiring our experience out of the consequence
of our own decisions, out of the achievements of our own efforts.
Our planning will be geared to our policy of increasing
government participation in the nations economic activities,
and all enterprises are expected to accept this policy and to
operate within the framework of our national laws. Our aim is
the building of a society in which the principles of social justice
will be paramount. But there are many roads to socialism, and in
BUI LDI NG SOCIALISM IN GHANA 121
the circumstances of our present retardedness, we must employ
all the forces at our disposal while we fashion others which will
accelerate our progress towards our goal.
Ghanas economy may be divided into five sectors. These are:
(i) State enterprises; (2) enterprises owned by foreign private
interests; (3) enterprises jointly owned by State and foreign
private interests; (4) co-operatives; and (5) small-scale Ghana
ian private enterprise. The government has given recognition to
the activities of these different sectors, and has decided that in no
sector of the economy will exclusive rights of operation in respect
of any commodity be conferred on any single person. Private
small-scale personal enterprise, however, is reserved to
Ghanaians, in order to encourage and utilize personal initiative
and skill among our own people.
Naturally the operations of these different sectors have to be
taken into account in our calculations for planning our basic
economic reconstruction. We have to create in the quickest
possible time, without a hasty improvisation that will ultimately
defeat our objective, a diversified, many-sided economy able to
supply a growing population with the basic commodities that
will lessen the burden now imposed on the country by the need
to import so many of its requirements. I n order to increase our
material resources, we have, as a major priority, to raise
significantly agricultural productivity. This is a pre-condition
for our industrial growth, as all our plans can founder on a
countryside that does not contribute a rising quota of production.
There must be a transformation of our subsistence farms into
commodity producing farms, so that they may provide enough
food for our steadily rising population, give raw materials to feed
secondary industries and cash crops to help pay for our necessary
imports. Priority will be given to those investments which will
quickly promote capital formation; will save imports or increase
exports; and reduce the differences between the different
regions of the country created by colonialism.
Our over-all plan will take account of our population and
their requirements, taking into consideration the yearly increase,
which is estimated at about three per cent. I t will count our man
power and our actual and potential reservoir of skills, and will
set annual targets of achievement. These targets will embrace
1
122 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
not only output and the absorption of planned numbers of
workers in the different categories and at different levels, but will
arrange for the training of skilled workers, and of managers and
executives qualified and able to see that the planned projects are
carried out efficiently, economically and to schedule.
Within the general planning are included our educational,
social welfare and health programmes. They are devised in
relation to the needs of our healthy development and the
improvement of the lives of the people. Apart from the
humanitarian principles by which the government is guided, an
educated, healthy population represents the human investment
in our development, and anything that can be spared from our
surpluses will be added to the already planned allocations for the
purpose.
Our planning will stretch out into the regions beyond the
main centres. At the present time there are big differences in the
degree of economic and social development between the various
regions of the country, and our population density is extremely
uneven. Regional planning will contribute to reducing the
differences by providing a more even distribution of economic
activity between the various regions, by utilizing the natural
potentialities of each region. I t will also aim at controlling and
reducing unnecessary migration, with its attendant problems.
Our over-all planning, in short, will be designed to unify and
discipline economic activity. I t will expand the creative spirit of
the people by the tasks of responsibility that will be given them in
management, supervision and invention.
Control from the top must ensure that individual executives
and administrators do not misinterpret policy and instructions
and break out of the co-ordinated pattern with the introduction
of improvised schemes. As we proceed, it may be found that
certain priorities may have to give way to others which may
present themselves as more urgent in relation to the needs of
capital formation or strategic development. Thus, while there
must be the strictest control to safeguard against unrelated over
spreading on any project, there must be a certain elasticity to
allow for emendation or adjustment without upsetting the
general plan and our budgeting.
Our present budgetary and fiscal systems have been taken over
BUI LDI NG SOCIALISM IN GHANA 123
from the colonial regime and call for adjustment to the socialized
objective of our planning. These are being overhauled and
adapted to our development needs and the planned growth of
our diversified agricultural and industrial base. Our fiscal policy
must be so framed as to release the maximum initiative and
husband our national financial resources for efficient and
effective investment in our development. I t would simply defeat
our whole objective of economic independence, for instance, to
encourage foreign investment in our development and see the
flight of capital from Ghana exceed or even approximate the
totality of such investment.
Under the new policy, surpluses must be pressed out of rising
production to finance development. As the state sector widens,
development finance will come less and less from taxes and dues,
though private enterprise, both foreign and domestic, will
continue to provide its quota through these avenues. Our real
wealth will come from increased productivity. This does not
mean that every advance in productivity will lead to an im
mediate rise in the standard of living. This is especially the case in
the early stages of industrialization, when the need to plough
back capital for further development is of paramount im
portance. Wages, however, must be set at a level which will
provide proper diet and maintain working energy, while the
increased productivity is used to give effective balance between
the desirability of capital development and secondary industries
at any given time.
The socialist objective implies the universal good of the
nation, and in the interests of that socialist objective it will be
necessary for all of us to forgo some immediate personal desire
for a greater benefit a bit later on. Speedier development out of
surpluses or social services in the interest of the community
confer more advantages upon a greater number of people than
would increased wages for certain groups of workers.
But as productivity rises appreciably and the socialist base of
the economy extends through increasing public ownership of the
means of production, the government will not only be able to
mobilize a greater surplus for use in the interests of the country,
but will be in a position to reward labour for its greater exertions
by increased wages.
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AFRI CA MUST UNITE
I f our new economic and industrial policy is to succeed, there
must be a change of outlook among some of those who are
responsible for running our affairs. They must acquire a socialist
perspective and a socialist drive keyed to the national needs and
demands. The executives of our public and statutory organiz
ations must achieve a new attitude to their jobs, which they owe
to the struggles of the people and the labours of our farmers and
workers. No economy, least of all a young one like ours struggling
to find a stable base, can afford to drain its resources in sub
sidizing unproductive ventures from which only well-paid
executives profit. Moreover, it cannot afford to waste resources
in men and materials, but must use them wisely in pursuit of the
socialist objective.
The spirit of service to the nation must permeate throughout
our society. I n a dawn broadcast on 8 April 1961, 1 spoke of the
dangers arising from Ghanaian public men attempting to com
bine business with political life, and warned that those who
could not give entirely disinterested service should leave politics
or be thrown out. Legislation has since limited the amount of
property our public men may own.
Our profound need at the present time is for tolerably pro
ficient technicians, capable of manning, supervising and
managing our agricultural and industrial developments.
Necessarily, there must be a nucleus of more advanced graduates
to take over teaching jobs in these spheres and to provide us with
a corps of scientific knowledge which can sustain invention and
apply its learning to our extended development. For the
moment, however, while we require advanced engineers,
physicists, scientists, bio-chemists, and others, the emphasis
cannot lie in this direction.
We are having to devise an educational system that will
provide in the shortest possible time a body of skilled personnel
able to serve the countrys needs at all levels. The University of
Ghana has been reformed so that too much emphasis will not be
placed, as under the colonial administration, on purely literary
and academic subjects. While we appreciate that these are
necessary and desirable, they are at this juncture in our national
life rather in the nature of luxuries which we cannot afford to
indulge in as much as we should like.
BUI LDI NG SOCIALISM IN GHANA
!25
I n accord with our needs, the government has introduced free
and compulsory primary and middle school education, with the
view to the total literacy of the country by the time we celebrate
the tenth anniversary of our Republic. We have, unfortunately,
a shortage of teachers. To meet this shortage, emergency training
centres have been established where volunteers can obtain the
appropriate certificates; while the problem of inadequate
accommodation is being coped with by the adoption of a shift
system in many schools.
The study of science has been made compulsory for all school
curricula, and primary technical schools are to be established.
These schools will be manned by graduates and will operate
alongside the general primary schools. They will give concurrent
training to boys and girls, so that by the time the pupil leaves
primary school, the technical training gained will give sufficient
proficiency for semi-skilled work. The bright scholar can
continue his technical training together with his general studies
at secondary school to prepare him to complete a short technical
course at one of our technological institutes.
The University of Ghana at Legon and the Kwame Nkrumah
University of Technology at Kumasi and many other colleges
and institutes in various parts of the country cater for higher
education and research. The Ghana Academy of Sciences carries
out research in the sciences, history, languages, sociology,
medicine, and so on. The work of these institutions is planned
and co-ordinated by the National Council for Higher Education.
The annual meeting and report of the Ghana Academy of
Sciences are matters of national importance, for they record
progress and outline plans for the future. We attach considerable
importance and pride to the title ofAcademician5, which is to be
recognized as one of the highest national awards.
There are many problems for the solution of which we must
look to our scientific institutions. For instance, with more and
more cocoa coming to glut the market, the Cocoa Research
I nstitute will turn its attention to setting up, without any loss of
time, a department for dealing with cocoa derivatives and their
uses. We have, too, many species of timber that are not being
utilized. This is a complete waste and the Timber Utilization
Research Unit is being turned into an institute, adequately
126 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
staffed so that it can cope with the problem and give effective
results. We are faced with the task of producing crops for
conversion into commodities, and must depend upon our
research institutes to assist us with the problems involved. The
demands that will be made upon our scientific institutions as we
proceed will grow more varied and extensive, and we shall have
to strengthen them.
One of our problems at the present time is that of unemploy
ment, particularly among school-leavers whose education has
not gone very far. To meet this problem, we have formed a
Workers Brigade, which has absorbed about 12,000 young men
and women, who are being trained in discipline, responsibility
and citizenship. They are being given the elements of skill which
will enable them to find employment in agriculture and industry
as our development gathers momentum. Their training is mean
while being supplemented by valuable experience in work on
community projects and in co-operative agriculture. The Volta
River project will require 15,000 workers over a period of five
years and our official employment exchanges are now placing
almost 2,000 workers in all kinds of jobs every month.
With the changes brought by the new social and economic
policy, there has been a re-examination of the role of our trade
unions. The public and semi-public sectors of the economy have
been widening out, so that the government is now the largest
employer of labour in the country, while its regulations are
placing an increasing obligation upon private enterprise not only
to respect the rights of labour but to make its contribution to the
investment in our national development. The workers under
stand that they are working for a state which is directed by a
government of their own choosing, whose programme they have
helped to formulate through party membership, and which they
actively endorse and support. Hence the aspirations of the people
and the economic and social objectives of the government are
synonymous.
The role of the trade unions, therefore, in our circumstances, is
entirely different from that in a capitalist society where the
motivating force is the accumulation of private profit. The aims
of our trade unions, being identified with those of the govern
ment, weds them to active participation in the carrying out of the
BUI LDI NG SOCIALISM IN GHANA 127
governments programme. Within the capitalist states, the trade
unions play the role of watchdogs for labour against the em
ployers. Even so, they are by no means free. Their leaders are
bought off by the sweets of office and often have their secret
arrangements with employers. More than that, they have for the
most part accepted the ideology of their capitalist class and,
through its exposition throughout their extensive forums and the
witch-hunting of those who do not conform, have openly
identified themselves with that ideology.
I n such circumstances there cannot be any talk of freedom. I n
Ghana, the trade unions are openly associated with the Con
vention Peoples Party as one of its wings. They have no need to
hide this association behind hypocritical sophistries. They are, in
fact, drawing the workers into the implementation of govern
ment plans by setting up works councils inside the public enter
prises to give effective expression to their national consciousness.
For it is only through the consent of the people in action that
our target for national reconstruction can be achieved. I n co
operation with the Trades Union Congress, we are devising a
programme of productivity and waste-avoidance incentives
which will include promotions, decorations, cash bonuses and
publicity for individuals who have done exemplary work.
By the industry and example of the Ghana labour movement,
we hope to inspire other Africans still fighting colonialism. Our
cruel colonial past and the present-day intrigues of neo
colonialism have hammered home the conviction that Africa
can no longer trust in anybody but herself and her resources.
I mperialism, having been forced out through the door by African
nationalism, is attempting to return by other, back-door means.
African workers, as the likeliest victims of these infiltrations, must
be on their guard. There is a constant endeavour to use the
African trade union movement as a protagonist in the cold war
conflict, and some of the leaders, through flattery and the
acceptance of financial assistance for their unions, have allowed
themselves to be suborned. This is a dangerous situation as it can
drag Africa into active participation in cold war politics and
deprive us of our safeguarding weapon of independent non
alignment. Unfortunately, there are also some leaders of the
African independent states who cannot see this danger. More-
128 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
over, because of their alliances with European powers, they are
obliged at times to act against the interests of their workers and
their trade unions in support of the alien interests in their
countries. The African trade union movement must promote
the independence and welfare of the African worker; it cannot
run the risk of subordinating the safety of African independence
and the needs of African development to other, non-African
influences.
I see in the All-African Trade Union Federation, because of
its independent African orientation, a dynamic and positive
instrument for drawing together the peoples of the African
countries. I t can act as a rallying pivot for all the African trade
union movements on the continent; it can become an immediate
practical union, bringing together the labour movements
existing in the independent African states and leaving room for
others to join as they become free. We in Africa must learn to
band together to promote African interests or fall victims to
imperialist manoeuvres to re-colonize us.
The development of a united African trade union movement
will give our working classes a new African consciousness and the
right to express themselves in the councils of world labour un
fettered by any foreign view and uncoerced by external force.
The I nternational Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the
World Federation of Trade Unions are organizations committed
to the ideological policies of West and East. The All-African
Trade Union Federation will give the world a new force in
dependent of both of them, and loyal not only to the needs of the
new Africa and the new African, but also to the international
working class.
The growth of this new African trade unionism is linked up
with the future of Africa. Such a dynamic force, allied to
political action, is the surest means of routing out of our continent
the last remnants of colonialism and exploitation, since it will
stimulate the effectiveness of the nationalist movements.
J ust as political independence could not have been attained
without the leadership of a strong, disciplined party, so Ghanas
economic independence and the objective of socialism cannot
be achieved without decisive party leadership. I am convinced
that the Convention Peoples Party, based as it is on the support
BUI LDI NG SOCIALISM IN GHANA 129
of the overwhelming majority of the people, is best able to carry
through our economic plans and build a socialist state. The
structure of the C.P.P. has been built up out of our own ex
periences, conditions and environment. I t is entirely Ghanaian
in content and African in outlook, though imbued with Marxist
socialist philosophy.
At all stages, we seek the fullest co-operation of the people and
their organizations, and in this way, and through public control
of the means of production, we hope to evolve the truest kind of
democracy within the Aristotelian meaning. By mass con
sultation we shall associate the people with the running of the
nations affairs, which must then operate in the interests of the
people. Moreover, since control of the modern state is linked up
with the control of the means of production and distribution,
true democracy can only be said to exist when these have passed
into the hands of the people. For then the people exercise control
of the State through their will as expressed in the direct con
sultation between government and them. This must surely
provide the most concrete and clearest operation of true
democracy.
To attain this democratic, socialist control, we have from
time to time to make a review of the administrative apparatus at
our disposal, remembering that it was originally bequeathed to
us by a colonial regime committed to a very different purpose.
Even though this apparatus has already been subjected to
considerable change, it still carries vestiges of inherited attitudes
and ways of thought which have been transmitted even to some
of our newer institutions. I n our adaptations, because we are
embarking upon an uncharted path, we may have to proceed
pragmatically. Changes which are made today may themselves
call for further change tomorrow. But when we are endeavouring
to establish a new kind of life within a new kind of society, based
upon up-to-date modes of production, we must acknowledge the
fact that we are in a period of flux and cannot afford to be hide
bound in our decisions and attitudes. We must accommodate our
minds and attitudes to the need for constant adaptation, never
losing sight of principle and our expressed social objective.
With this new approach to our economic and industrial
development, every avenue of education and information must
130 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
be used to stir and nourish the political consciousness of the
people and make and keep them aware of the welfare objectives
of the governments planning. We must at all times ensure their
fullest support, without which our plans for their enhanced well
being can fail. They must be refreshed by the elan which swept
them into the battle for political emancipation in order to carry
through the more exacting battle for economic freedom and
advanced social progress.
Socialism needs socialists to build it. Accordingly, we are
taking positive steps to ensure that the party and the country
produce the men and women who can handle our socialist
programme.
Those members who are to be in the forefront of the
educational drive take refresher courses in party political
teaching. The youth of the country are organized in the Y oung
Pioneers Movement, which is designed to give them training in
citizenship within a society which will be rooted in co-operation
and not acquisitive competition. For this end Africa needs a new
type of citizen, a dedicated, modest, honest and informed man.
A man who submerges self in service to the nation and mankind.
A man who abhors greed and detests vanity. A new type of man
whose humility is his strength and whose integrity is his great
ness.
Members of the Y oung Pioneers take part in educational and
cultural activities. They learn about the history of Ghana and
Africa, and about the present political scene in Africa. They
have their choral and dramatic groups, and attend classes in
many practical subjects. Through manual work and self-help
schemes they are instilled with the idea of service. Physical
training, too, plays an important part in the movement, to teach
the virtues of team work and the need to build healthy bodies and
minds. Teachers and instructors are recruited directly from
schools and teacher training colleges for part-time work; others
are prepared at the Partys training centre, the Kwame Nkrumah
I nstitute at Winneba, which is responsible for the Partys general
political education.
All, from members of the Central Committee, Ministers and
high party officials to the lowest propagandist in the field, pass
through a course at the I nstitute. Farmers, factory workers, and
BUI LDI NG SOCIALISM IN GHANA
others from all walks of life meet at Winneba, where they have
the opportunity to broaden their political knowledge and
ideological understanding. They strengthen their qualities of
loyalty and discipline, thereby increasing the total discipline of
the party and the loyalty of the general membership.
The I nstitute does not cater for Ghana alone. I ts doors are
open to all from Africa and the world who seek knowledge to fit
themselves for the great freedom fight against imperialism, old or
new.
Party study groups exist all over the country, in factories,
workshops, government departments and offices, in fact, in
every nook and cranny of Ghana, for the study of African life and
culture, party ideology, decisions and programmes, and for
explaining government policies and actions. For we have a
tremendous, herculean task before us. I t calls for all our attention,
all our brains. Our party, through all its members, must show
its merits in this our greatest mission yet, the building of a
socialist Ghana, and the laying of the foundations for the
political and economic unification of Africa.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
T OWA R D S AF RI CAN U N I T Y
T h e r e a r e those who maintain that Africa cannot unite
because we lack the three necessary ingredients for unity, a
common race, culture and language. I t is true that we have for
centuries been divided. The territorial boundaries dividing us
were fixed long ago, often quite arbitrarily, by the colonial
powers. Some of us are Moslems, some Christians; many believe
in traditional, tribal gods. Some of us speak French, some
English, some Portuguese, not to mention the millions who
speak only one of the hundreds of different African languages.
We have acquired cultural differences which affect our outlook
and condition our political development.
All this is inevitable, due to our historical background. Y et in
spite of this I am convinced that the forces making for unity far
outweigh those which divide us. I n meeting fellow Africans from
all parts of the continent I am constantly impressed by how much
we have in common. I t is not just our colonial past, or the fact
that we have aims in common, it is something which goes far
deeper. I can best describe it as a sense of one-ness in that we are
Africans.
I n practical terms, this deep-rooted unity has shown itself in
the development of Pan-Africanism, and, more recently, in the
projection of what has been called the African Personality in
world affairs.
The expression Tan-Africanism did not come into use until
the beginning of the twentieth century when Henry Sylvester-
Williams of Trinidad, and William Edward Burghardt DuBois
of the United States of America, both of African descent,
used it at several Pan-African Congresses which were mainly
attended by scholars of African descent of the New World.
TOWARDS AFRI CAN UNITY
133
A notable contribution to African nationalism and Pan
Africanism was the Back to Africa movement of Marcus
Garvey.
The First Pan-African Congress was held in Paris in 1919
while the peace conference was in session. The French Prime
Minister, Clemenceau, when asked what he thought of the
holding of a Pan-African Congress, remarked: Dont advertise
it, but go ahead. His reaction was fairly typical among Europeans
at the time. The very idea of Pan-Africanism was so strange that
it seemed unreal and yet at the same time perhaps potentially
dangerous. Fifty-seven representatives from various African
colonies and from the United States of America and the West
Indies attended. They drafted various proposals, though nothing
much came of them. For example, they proposed that the allied
and associated powers should establish a code of law for inter
national protection of the natives of Africa.
The Second Pan-African Congress was held in London in
1921. The British Government, if not sympathetic, was tolerant,
and 113 delegates attended. This Congress, though far from
being truly representative of African opinion, nevertheless went
some way towards putting the African case to the world. I n a
Declaration to the World, drafted at the closing session, it was
stated that the absolute equality of races, physical, political
and social, is the founding stone of world and human advance
ment. They were more concerned in those days with social than
with political improvement, not yet recognizing the pre-emption
of the latter in order to engage the former.
Two years later, in 1923, a Third Pan-African Congress was
held in London. Among the resolutions passed was one which
asked for a voice for Africans in their own governments; and
another which asked for the right of access to land and its
resources. The political aspect of social justice was beginning to
be understood. But in spite of the work of DuBois and others,
progress was slow. The movement lacked funds and membership
was limited. The delegates were idealists rather than men of
action. However, a certain amount of publicity was achieved,
and Africans and men of African descent for the first time
gained valuable experience in working together.
A Fourth Pan-African Congress was held in New Y ork in
134
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
1927, which 208 delegates attended, but after that the move
ment seemed to fade out for a time.
A non-party organization, the I nternational African Service
Bureau, was set up in 1937, and this was the forerunner of the
Pan-African Federation, the British section of the Pan-African
Congress movement. I ts aim was to promote the well-being and
unity of African peoples and peoples of African descent through
out the world, and also to strive to co-operate between African
peoples and others who share our aspirations.
Pan-Africanism and African nationalism really took concrete
expression when the Fifth Pan-African Congress met in Man
chester in 1945. For the first time the necessity for well-organized,
firmly-knit movements as a primary condition for the success of
the national liberation struggle in Africa was stressed.
The Congress was attended by more than two hundred dele
gates from all over the world. George Padmore and I had been
joint secretaries of the organizational committee which planned
the Congress and we were delighted with the results of our work.
Among the declarations addressed to the imperialist powers
asserting the determination of the colonial people to be free
was the following:
The Fifth Pan-African Congress calls on intellectuals and pro
fessional classes of the Colonies to awaken to their responsi
bilities. The long, long night is over. By fighting for trade union
rights, the right to form co-operatives, freedom of the press,
assembly, demonstration and strike, freedom to print and read
the literature which is necessary for the education of the masses,
you will be using the only means by which your liberties will be
won and maintained. Today there is only one road to effective
action - the organization of the masses.1
A definite programme of action was agreed upon. Basically,
the programme centred round the demand for constitutional
change, providing for universal suffrage. The methods to be
employed were based on the Gandhist technique of non-violent
non-co-operation, in other words, the withholding of labour,
1 Declaration to the Colonial Peoples of the World (by the present author),
approved and adopted by the Pan-African Congress held in Manchester,
England, 15-21 October 1945.
TOWARDS AFRI CAN UNITY
*35
civil disobedience and economic boycott. There were to be
variations of emphasis from territory to territory according to the
differing circumstances. The fundamental purpose was identical:
national independence leading to African unity. The limited
objective was combined with the wider perspective.
I nstead of a rather nebulous movement, concerned vaguely
with black nationalism, the Pan-African movement had become
an expression of African nationalism. Unlike the first four
Congresses, which had been supported mainly by middle-class
intellectuals and bourgeois reformists, the Fifth Pan-African
Congress was attended by workers, trade unionists, farmers and
students, most of whom came from Africa.
When the Congress ended, having agreed on the programme
for Pan-African nationalism, a working committee was set up
with DuBois as chairman and myself as general secretary. The
Congress headquarters were moved to London, where shortly
afterwards the West African National Secretariat was also
established. I ts purpose was to put into action, in West Africa,
the policies agreed upon in Manchester. I was offered, and
accepted, the secretaryship.
We published a monthly paper called The New African, and
called two West African Conferences in London. By this time
the political conscience of African students was thoroughly
aroused, and they talked of little else but the colonial liberation
movement. The more enthusiastic among us formed a kind of
inner group which we called The Circle. Only those working
genuinely for West African freedom and unity were admitted,
and we began to prepare ourselves actively for revolutionary
work in any part of the African continent.
I t was at this point that I was asked to return to the Gold
Coast to become general secretary of the United Gold Coast
Convention. I accepted with some hesitation. There was my
work for the West African National Secretariat to consider, and
also the preparations which were being made for the calling of a
West African National Conference in Lagos in October 1948.
I called at Freetown and Monrovia on the way home, and
spoke with African nationalists there, telling them of the con
ference plans and urging them to attend. The political contacts
I made in both Sierra Leone and Liberia were to prove signi
136 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
ficant later, though the conference in Lagos never, in fact, took
place.
When I returned to West Africa in 1947, it was with the
intention of using the Gold Coast as a starting-off point for
African independence and unity. With the mass movement I
was able to build up in the Convention Peoples Party, the Gold
Coast secured its freedom and emerged as the sovereign state of
Ghana in 1957. I at once made it clear that there would be no
meaning to the national independence of Ghana unless it was
linked with the total liberation of the African continent. While
our independence celebrations were actually taking place, I
called for a conference of all the sovereign states of Africa, to
discuss plans for the future of our continent.
The first Conference of I ndependent African States met in
Accra in April 1958. There wrere then only eight, namely, Egypt,
Ghana, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Liberia, Morocco and Ethiopia.
Our purpose was to exchange views on matters of common
interest; to explore ways and means of consolidating and safe
guarding our independence; to strengthen the economic and
cultural ties between our countries; to decide on workable
arrangements for helping fellow Africans still subject to colonial
rule; and to examine the central world problem of how to secure
peace.
When, on 15 April 1958, 1 welcomed the representatives to the
conference, I felt that at last Pan-Africanism had moved to the
African continent where it really belonged. I t was an historic
occasion. Free Africans were actually meeting together, in
Africa, to examine and consider African affairs. Here was a signal
departure from established custom, a j ar to the arrogant
assumption of non-African nations that African affairs were
solely the concern of states outside our continent. The African
personality was making itself known.
Because many of the speeches made at the conference were
similar in content, it was alleged in some quarters that there had
been previous collaboration. I am able to state categorically that
all of us who spoke had prepared our speeches independently.
I f they showed identity of thought and belief, it was because our
attitudes in Africa were assuming an identity of vision and
purpose.
TOWARDS AFRI CAN UNITY
137
The Accra Conference resulted, as indeed I hoped it would, in
a great upsurge of interest in the cause of African freedom and
unity. But matters did not rest there. Some weeks after the con
ference ended some of my colleagues and I set out on a tour of the
countries which took part in the conference. Our purpose was to
convey to the heads of states and governments, many of whom
were unable to attend the conference personally, the good wishes
of the government and people of Ghana.
Everywhere we went we were enthusiastically received, and
were able to discuss ways and means of strengthening further the
ties of friendship between our respective countries. Plans to
improve cultural and economic relations were the subject of a
series of communiques. Our common background and basic
common interests drew us together.
The year 1958 was memorable not only for the first conference
of independent African states, but also for the opening of the
All-African Peoples Conference in Accra in December 1958.
Delegates from 62 African nationalist organizations attended
the conference.
The will to unity which the conference expressed was at least
equal to the determination to carry forward the process of in
dependence throughout Africa. The enthusiasm generated
among the delegates returning to their own countries profoundly
influenced subsequent developments. The Belgian Congo,
Uganda, Tanganyika, Nyasaland, Kenya, the Rhodesias, South
Africa, all were affected by the coming together in Accra of
representatives of the various freedom movements of the
continent. The total liberation and the unity of the continent at
which we aimed were evolving and gaining reality in the
experience of our international gatherings.
I n November 1959, representatives of trade unions all over
Africa met in Accra to organize an All-African Trade Union
Federation. The African labour movement has always been
closely associated with the struggle for political freedom, as well
as with economic and social development.
A further step forward in the direction of all-African co
operation took place a few months later when the conference to
discuss Positive Action and Security in Africa opened in Accra in
April i960. I t was called by the government of Ghana, in
138 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
consultation with other independent African states, to consider
the situation in Algeria and in South Africa, and also to discuss
and plan future action to prevent Africa being used as a testing
ground for nuclear weapons. Equally important matters to be
considered were the total liberation of Africa, and the necessity
to guard against neo-colonialism and balkanization, both of
which would impede unity.
I n mid-1960 a further conference of I ndependent African
states, twelve in number, was held in Addis Ababa, and yet
another all-African conference met in Accra. The latter, a con
ference of African women to discuss common problems, opened
on 18 J uly. The delegates spoke of freedom and unity, and of the
urgent need for social and economic progress.
While their conference was taking place, events in the newly-
independent Congo were causing one international crisis after
another. The province of K atanga was attempting to secede
from the Republic of Congo, and Patrice L umumba, the
Congolese Prime Minister, had asked for United Nations aid.
Some of the dangers of neo-colonialism and balkanization,
which we had foreseen, now became realities. Foreign business
interests, as well as policies connected with the cold war, began
to dominate the Congo political scene and prevented early action
by the United Nations which, if it had been used to effect the
purpose for which it had been called in, could well have been
decisive in maintaining the sovereignty of L umumbas govern
ment.
I f at that time, J uly 1960, the independent states of Africa had
been united, or had at least a joint military high command and a
common foreign policy, an African solution might have been
found for the Congo; and the Congo might have been able to
work out its own destiny, unhindered by any non-African
interference.
As it was, the position in the Congo steadily worsened, and all
the unrest and dangers of disunity became fully apparent. The
only people to score from the situation were the neo-colonialists
and their allies in South Africa and the Rhodesias, who used
the struggle in the Congo as an argument to demonstrate the
inability of Africans to manage their own affairs.
I n a last minute attempt to save the situation, and to show
TOWARDS AFRI CAN UNITY
139
some kind of African solidarity, a conference of independent
African states met in Leopoldville from 25-30 August, at the
invitation of Patrice Lumumba. At the conference, which was at
Foreign Ministers level, delegates aired their views on the Congo
crisis. Although the conference did not achieve its purpose, it
was significant in that it enabled the delegates to see for them
selves what was really going on in the Congo and to report on
this personally to their governments. A valuable object lesson,
however, on the imperative need for unity in defence of the
independence of Africa had been demonstrated.
Against a background of continuing struggle in the Congo,
and of trouble in South Africa, Algeria, and other parts of the
continent, an All-African Peoples Conference met in Cairo
early in 1961. About two hundred delegates attended. The
conference warned independent African states to beware of neo
colonialism, which was associated with the United Kingdom, the
United States of America, France, Western Germany, I srael,
Belgium, the Netherlands, and South Africa. I t also warned
states to be on their guard against imperialist agents in the guise
of religious or philanthropic organizations. Resolutions included
a call to the anti-imperialist bloc to help in the development of
African economies by granting long-term loans at low interest
rates to be paid in local currencies. They demanded the ex
pulsion of South Africa from the United Nations Organization;
the dismissal of Mr Hammarskjold; the immediate release of
J omo K enyatta; the immediate independence of the Rhodesias
and the dissolution of the Central African Federation. The
conference also called for a trade boycott of the Rhodesias;
criticized policies in Angola, Cameroon and the Congo, and
affirmed that M. Gizengas regime in Stanleyville was the
legitimate Congo government.
As the years go by, further All-African Peoples Conferences
will take place, and their resolutions and declarations will
become increasingly significant as they gain more power. Other
all-African gatherings will continue to make their impression,
whether they are held to discuss political, social or economic
problems. Hardly a week goes by without news of some gathering
together of Africans from different parts of the continent. As the
whole of Africa becomes free, these gatherings will gain in
140 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
membership, strength and effectiveness. But it is only when full
political unity has been achieved that we will be able to declare
the triumphant end of the Pan-African struggle and the African
liberation movements.
SOM E A T T E M P T S A T U N I F I C A T I ON
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
T h e f i r s t step towards African political union was taken on
23 November 1958, when Ghana and the Republic of Guinea
united to form a nucleus for a Union of African States. We
established a system of exchange of resident ministers, who were
recognized as members of both the government of Ghana and the
government of Guinea.
The following year, in J uly 1959, the Presidents of Liberia and
Guinea, and I , met at Sanniquellie to discuss the whole question
of African emancipation and unity. At the end of our talks we
issued a Declaration of Principles, in which we stated that the
name of our organization would be the Community of I n
dependent African States. Members of the Community would
maintain their own national identity and constitutional
structure; and each member of the Community would agree not
to interfere in the internal affairs of any other member. The
general policy of the Community would be to build up a free and
prosperous African Community for the benefit of its peoples,
and the peoples of the world. The policy would be founded on the
maintenance of diplomatic, economic and cultural relations, on
a basis of equality and reciprocity, with all the states of the world
which adopted positions compatible with African interests. One
of its main objectives would be to help African territories not yet
free to gain their independence.
Membership of the Community was declared open to all
independent African states and federations, and any non
independent country of Africa was given the right to join the
Community on attainment of independence. The motto adopted
for the Community was i n d e p e n d e n c e a n d u n i t y .
On 24 December i 9601 met President Sekou Toure of Guinea
and President Modibo K eita of Mali at Conakry, with the result
142 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
that a special committee met in Accra from 13 to 18 J anuary
i960 to formulate proposals for a Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union*
The three of us had a further series of meetings in Accra from
27 to 29 April 1961, and agreed upon a Charter.
Our Union was named The Union of African States (U.A.S.)
and was to form the nucleus of the United States of Africa. I t was
declared open to every state or federation of African states which
accepted its aims and objectives. Articles 3 and 4 of the Charter
contained the aims and activities of the Union, and I quote them
below in full:
Article 3. The aims of the Union of African States (U.A.S.) are
as follows:
to strengthen and develop ties of friendship and fraternal co
operation between the Member States politically, diplo
matically, economically and culturally;
to pool their resources in order to consolidate their independence
and safeguard their territorial integrity; to work jointly to
achieve the complete liquidation of imperialism, colonialism
and neo-colonialism in Africa and the building up of African
Unity;
to harmonize the domestic and foreign policy of its Members, so
that their activities may prove more effective and contribute
more worthily to safeguarding the peace of the world.
Article 4. The Unions activities shall be exercised mainly in the
following fields:
a. Domestic Policy. The working out of a common orientation of
the States.
b. Foreign Policy. The strict observance of a concerted diplomacy,
calculated to achieve closer co-operation.
c. Defence. The organization of a system of joint defence, which
will make it possible to mobilize all the means of defence at
the disposal of the State, in favour of any State of the Union
which may become a victim of aggression. '
d. Economy. Defining a common set of directives relating to
economic planning, aiming at the complete decolonization
of the set-ups inherited from the colonial system, and organiz
ing the development of the wealth of their countries in the
interest of their peoples.
e. Culture. The rehabilitation and development of African cul
ture, and frequent and diversified cultural exchange.
SOME ATTEMPTS AT UNIFICATION
143
The Charter also provides for regular conferences between the
Heads of State of the Union. I n fact the supreme executive organ
of the Union is the Conference, which meets once a quarter in
Accra, Bamako and Conakry, respectively, and is presided over
by the Head of State of the host country. At these conferences we
exchange views on African and world problems, and see how we
can best strengthen and widen our Union.
After the second summit conference of U.A.S. held at Bamako
on 26 J une 1961, we issued a joint communique in which we
reaffirmed our determination to continue to support the African
peoples in their struggle for national liberation, particularly in
Algeria, the Congo, and Angola. On the problem of the Euro
pean Common Market we agreed on a common policy, and
decided to take joint action in order to establish an African
Common Market.
Our conferences have been characterized by an identity of
view on most of the problems examined and an atmosphere of
perfect understanding. They have been followed by meetings of
official representatives from our different countries to examine
ways and means for giving effective realization to our decisions,
out of which recommendations are being made and action
endorsed. This shows clearly the workability of union between
African states. I t is my great hope that the U.A.S. may prove to
be the successful pilot scheme which will lead eventually to full
continental unity.
The ultimate goal of a United States of Africa must be kept
constantly in sight amidst all the perplexities, pressures and
cajoleries with which we shall find ourselves confronted, so that
we do not permit ourselves to be distracted or discouraged by the
difficulties and pitfalls which undoubtedly lie ahead.
During 1961 sharp differences appeared between the so-called
Casablanca and Monrovia groups of states. The Casablanca
states, comprising Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Libya, Egypt, Morocco
and the Algerian F.L.N. met from 3 to 7 J anuary 1961 in the
Moroccan capital. The delegations of Ghana, Guinea, Mali
and Egypt were led by their Heads of State, the Algerian
Provisional Government by Ferhat Abbas, and Libya by her
Foreign Minister. Ceylon sent their ambassador in Cairo, Mr
A. C. Pereira, as an observer. The conference was convened by
144
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
the late K ing Mohammed V of Morocco, who was chairman,
and the then Crown Prince led the Moroccan delegation.
The central theme of the conference was the situation in the
Congo, and the failure of the United Nations to deal with it by
effectively enforcing its own resolutions. I t was agreed that the
states should withdraw their troops from the Congo unless the
U.N. command acted immediately to support the central govern
ment; Mobutus army should be disarmed; all Belgians and
others not under U.N. command should be expelled; and the
Congo Parliament reconvened.
Among other important decisions reached were those con
cerned with Algeria, the French testing of atomic bombs in the
Sahara, and the whole question of apartheid. I n general, the
conference reaffirmed, and undertook to implement, the
decisions taken at the Bandung, Accra, Monrovia and Addis
Ababa conferences, when it was agreed to impose transport bans
and boycotts on South Africa.
But perhaps the most far-reaching result of the Casablanca
Conference was the publication of the African Charter of
Casablanca. This established a permanent African Con
sultative Assembly, and three permanent functional com
mittees: the first, political, comprising Heads of State; the
second, economic, comprising Ministers of Economic Affairs;
and the third, cultural, consisting of Ministers of Education. A
joint African High Command, composed of the Chiefs of Staff of
the independent African nations, was also provided for in the
Charter. They were to meet periodically with a view to ensuring
the common defence of Africa in case of aggression against any
part of the continent, and with a view to safeguarding the in
dependence of African states.
The Charter ended:
We, the Heads of A frican States, convened in Casablanca
from the 3rd J anuary to the 7th J anuary, 1961, reaffirm our
faith in the Conference of I ndependent A frican States, held in
A ccra in 1958, and in A ddis A baba in i960, and appeal to all
I ndependent A frican States to associate themselves with our
common action for the consolidation of liberty in A frica and the
buildi ng up of its unity and security. We solemnly reaffirm our
unshakeable adherence to the Uni ted Nations Charter and to the
SOME ATTEMPTS AT UNI FICATION
145
Declaration of the Afro-Asian Conference held in Bandung,
with the aim of promoting co-operation among all the people of
the world, and of consolidating international peace.
I n my speech at the closing session of the conference, I warned
against the dangers of delay in achieving unity:
I can see no security for African states unless African leaders,
like ourselves, have realized beyond all doubt that salvation for
Africa lies in unity . . . for in unity lies strength, and as I see it,
African states must unite or sell themselves out to imperialist and
colonialist exploiters for a mess of pottage, or disintegrate
individually.
Certain sections of the foreign press gave great publicity to the
Casablanca conference. Some saw in it a step forward on the way
to unity; others seemed to take great delight in pointing out that
only a handful of African states attended, and it could therefore
not be regarded as truly representative of African opinion.
Nigeria, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Liberia, Sudan, Togoland,
Somalia, I ndia and I ndonesia were all, in fact, invited to the
conference. French Community states, which coalesced round
the meetings in Abidjan and Brazzaville at the end of i960, were
not asked. There seemed, therefore, some justification for the
view that three different blocs were emerging in Africa.
This view received added support when the Monrovia
Conference took place in May 1961. The sponsors of the con
ference were Cameroon, Liberia, Nigeria, and Togoland. Out
of the twenty-seven independent African states twenty sent
delegations, and fifteen of them were led by Presidents and Prime
Ministers. The President of Liberia was elected chairman.
The seven absentees were Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco,
Egypt, Sudan and the Congo. The Congo had not been invited,
because of the lack of settled government there.
Four main topics were discussed, namely, ways and means to
achieve better understanding and co-operation and ways of
promoting unity in Africa; threats to peace and stability in
Africa; the establishment of special machinery to which African
states might refer in case of disputes amongst themselves; and the
possible contribution of African states to world peace. I t was
146 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
agreed that a technical commission should meet at Dakar to
draw up plans for co-operation in research, communications,
and so on; and principles for a permanent association were
agreed. These included the principle of non-interference in the
domestic affairs of other independent states; the political
equality of all independent African states; freedom to accept or
reject political unions, and respect for the territorial integrity of
all states.
I n more detailed resolutions the conference condemned
South Africa, supported independence for Algeria, pledged
loyalty to the United Nations, offered assistance to the Angolan
nationalists, and condemned all nuclear tests.
Both the Casablanca and Monrovia conferences resulted in
meetings of experts to consider detailed plans for economic co
operation among the respective members. Experts of the
Casablanca countries, meeting in Conakry, recommended the
ending of customs barriers over five years from 1J anuary 1962,
and the ending of quota systems and preferential treatment from
the same date. They also proposed the creation of a Council of
African Economic Unity (C.U.E.A.) and an African develop
ment bank; and suggested the formation of joint air and shipping
lines.
Experts of the Monrovia group, meeting at Dakar, also dis
cussed the setting up of an African development bank. They
recommended the promotion of trade between African countries
by regional customs unions, and the progressive establishment of
common external tariffs. Among other suggestions were the
harmonization of development policies, including investment
codes and conventions, an investment and guarantee fund, the
exchange of economic information, and the co-ordination of
research programmes. I t was agreed that a network of roads and
railways should be built to link the countries together, and joint
shipping and air-lines formed. They agreed, also, to co-operate
in educational schemes and to adopt common standards.
The fundamental similarity of aims between those who met at
Casablanca and Conakry and those who met at Monrovia and
Dakar are apparent from a study of the resolutions passed and
recommendations adopted. Both aim ultimately at some kind of
unity. The Casablanca powers are convinced that political unity
should come first, as the necessary prelude to the creation of the
extended field for which integrated plans for development in the
economic and social spheres can be worked out. Their belief in
the importance of putting political aims first is strengthened by
experience in their own countries, where political independence
had to be achieved before economic reconstruction could be
taken in hand.
There may be some significance in the fact that Monrovia,
which has given its name to the group that attaches priority to
economic associations, is the capital of the one country on the
African continent which has not had to fight a battle for its
political sovereignty. Nevertheless, L iberia has had ruggedly to
hold its national integrity and viability against the territorial
and economic encroachments of outside powers throughout its
somewhat chequered history, and must many times have wished
for the help that its colonialized neighbours were then unable to
give.
I n spite of the very real difference of approach between the
two groups to the vital issue of unity, it cannot be said that there
is a rigid division between us. On the contrary, every oppor
tunity and means are used for cordial intercourse and useful dis
cussion. For example, the Prime Minister of Nigeria enjoyed a
very friendly visit to Guinea in December 1961. At about the
same time, we welcomed to Ghana the President of Mauritania,
a- country which our Casablanca colleague, Morocco, did not
then recognize.
I n December i960 His I mperial Majesty Haile Selassie I ,
Emperor of Ethiopia, visited Ghana. I n the communique issued
at the end of the visit it was declared that the Heads of State of
Ghana and Ethiopia agreed: That a Union of the African States
is a necessity which should be pursued energetically in the
interests of African solidarity and security.
President Abdulla Osman of Somalia expressed similar views
on unity during his official visit to Ghana in October 1961. I n a
joint communique we reaffirmed our faith and belief in African
unity as the most reliable safeguard against neo-colonialism and
the balkanization of the African continent.
I n a world divided into hostile camps and warring factions,
Africa cannot stand divided without going to the wall. Patrice
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148 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
L umumba, who had seen and suffered from the evils of disunity
in the Congo, held this view very strongly when he came to
Accra in August i960. I t may not be generally known that he
agreed then to work in the closest possible association with other
independent African states for the establishment of a Union of
African States.
There are bound to be differences between the independent
states of Africa. We have frontier troubles, and a host of other
inter-territorial problems which can only be resolved within
the context of African unity.
At the Lagos conference of independent states, held in J anuary
1962, North Africa was not represented at all. This was because
the Algerian provisional government was not invited. The Casa
blanca powers, and the Sudan, also declined to go to Lagos for
this reason. Nevertheless, with the Congo and Tanganyika
taking the place of Tunisia and Libya, the Lagos attendance was
as large as that at Monrovia, 20 of Africas 28 independent states
being represented.
The conference agreed upon a whole new complex machinery
for inter-African co-operation. I t included a semi-permanent
council of ministers, a biennial representative assembly, and a
permanent secretariat of the African and Malagasy states.
Among resolutions passed were those calling for a development
bank, a private investment guarantee fund, an organization for
health, labour and social affairs, an educational and cultural
council, and certain other commissions to deal with various
practical matters.
I n the early flush of independence, some of the new African
states are jealous of their sovereignty and tend to exaggerate
their separatism in a historical period that demands Africas
unity in order that their independence may be safeguarded. I
cannot envisage an African union in which all the members,
large or small, heavily or thinly populated, do not enjoy legal
equality under a constitution to which all have laid their hand.
But the insistence on not wanting to cede certain functions to a
central unifying political authority in which all the members
will have an equal voice is unrealistic and unfounded. On the
other hand, an association of a confederate or even looser nature,
which does not give effective powers to a central authority and
SOME ATTEMPTS AT UNIFICATI ON
149
determine those to be left to the sovereign states, can leave the
way open for the domination of the smaller and weaker members
by larger and stronger ones.
Ghana has declared her stand in no uncertain terms. We have
provided in our republican constitution for the surrender of our
sovereignty, in whole or in part, in the wider interests of African
unity. Guinea has made the same provision. So have Mali,
Tunisia and the United Arab Republic. Every African must
judge for himself which view is the more progressive and
realistic; which is dedicated fully to the practical needs and
interests of Africa, unrestrained by fear of external pressures;
and which reflects the true voice of Africa.
E C ON OM I C A ND P OL I T I C A L
I N T E GR A T I ON : A F R I C A S NEED
A f r i c a , it is frequently maintained, is poor. Y et it is widely
acknowledged that its potentials provide tremendous possi
bilities for the wealthy growth of the continent, already known
to contain vast mineral and power resources. The economic
weakness of the new African states has been inherited from the
colonial background, which subordinated their development to
the needs of the colonial powers. To reverse the position and
bring Africa into the realm of highly productive modem
nations, calls for a gigantic self-help programme. Such a pro
gramme can only be produced and implemented by integrated
planning within an over-all policy decided by a continental
authority.
The superstructure of colonial particularism upon Africas
subsistence economies, has resulted in a highly uneven regional
development of the continent. On the whole, the coastal areas,
the mining regions, and the highland areas where soil and climate
are good, have been exploited within the limitations of colonial
requirements for raw materials. Areas requiring more pre
exploitation study and comparatively higher capital invest
ments were left more or less untouched. Hence there are in
Africa huge areas of practically virgin land which, for these
reasons and from geographical considerations, it has up till
now been thought useless to try to develop. Within the confine
ment of these limitations Africa has, however, managed to
produce from its agriculture the following percentages of the
world supplies, according to the 1954 figures:1
66% cocoa; 58% sisal; 65% palm oil; 26% groundnuts;
14% coffee; 11 % olive oil.
1 Economic Development in Africa 1954-5. U.N. & F.A.O. Report.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Considerable amounts of barley, wool, cotton, maize, tea,
rubber, tobacco, wheat, pyrethrum, cloves and rice are also
produced.
I n mineral production, our continent provided, according to
United Nations Organization findings for 19561, the following
proportions of the worlds output:
96% of gem diamonds (excluding U.S.S.R.); 69% cobalt;
63% gold; 48% antimony; 37% manganese; 34% chromite;
32% phosphate rock; 24% copper; 19% asbestos; 15% tin;
4% iron ore; 4% bauxite.
Nigeria produces 85% of the worlds supply of columbite. Ghana
is the second largest manganese producer in the world.
I n addition, Africa possesses some of the worlds greatest
known reserves of uranium ore, and this may make possible the
relatively early introduction of nuclear-electrical plants. As well
as the known deposits at Shinkolobwe in the Congo, reserves of
fissionable raw materials have been found in Ghana, Nigeria,
Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Mozambique, Madagascar, various parts
of the former French tropical territories, and in Ethiopia.
Power resources are no less impressive. Africa has the greatest
water power potential in the world. Most of it lies within the
tropical area, the Congo having 21.6% of the world total. Actual
installed capacity, however, is only about 1% of the world total.
Ghana has made a start on the Volta River project. There are
new projects on the Konkoure in Guinea, on the Kouilou in
former French Equatorial Africa, and a dam is envisaged at the
I nga falls in the lower Congo. Hydro-electrical development has
taken place on the Sanaga at Edea in Cameroon, at Boali
near Nabui, and on the Djou near Brazzaville. I n the Congo,
there are hydro-electrical developments on the Lufira and
L ualaba rivers, and on the Inkisi. Mention must also be made of
the projects on the Dande, Catumbela and Cunene rivers in
Angola; and on the Revue river in Mozambique. I n East and
Central Africa there are the Owen falls dam and the K ariba
dam.
Coal and iron ore are necessary for industrialization. Africa
1 Economic Survey of Africa since 1950. Published 1959.
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has coal reserves estimated at 4,500 million tons. Coal of coking
quality is mined at Wankie in Southern Rhodesia and low grade
coal is mined in Nigeria, the Congo and Mozambique. I n
addition, coal is known to exist in Tanganyika, Northern
Rhodesia, Madagascar and Nyasaland. I ron ore is mined in
Southern Rhodesia, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. When
a full geological survey is carried out, further deposits may be
found. New oil deposits are also suspected. Meanwhile, oil has
been discovered in the Sahara, Nigeria, the Gabon basin and
near L uanda in Angola. The French Government certainly
seemed to be impressed with the Sahara potentialities, to judge
from the importance attached to them in negotiating the Algerian
peace settlement. Oil prospecting has been going on in Ghana,
Somalia, Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Tanganyika, Mozambique, and
Madagascar. I n recent years a methane gas deposit with a heat-
producing potential equal to 50 million metric tons of coal was
reported beneath Lake Kivu.
All these are known resources, and they are by no means in
considerable. What economic possibilities will be opened up as
our whole continent is surveyed and its economic exploitation
tackled on a total basis, there is no telling. From our experience
in Ghana, where we have already discovered many new re
sources, wre can anticipate that the economic potentialities of
Africa must be immense.
On the agricultural plane, too, Africa is estimated to have a
vast unused potential. Crop, animal-breeding and pest-control
experiments are being carried out which will undoubtedly result
in higher and more varied output. I n the timber industry, trials
are being made which should lead to a big expansion. Africa
contains about 27% of the total world forest area, and not enough
profitable use has so far been made of it. Some thirty species of
trees are now being regularly accepted in the world markets and
successful tests have been carried out in the pulping of mixed
tropical woods. A pilot pulp and paper mill has been established
near Abidjan, and there are expectations of the increased use of
tropical woods for plywood and press wood.
So much was neglected under colonialism that would even
have benefited the imperialist interests, if their concern had not
been limited to developing the best land, the most lucrative
mines, the harbours and towns connected with their economic
engagements. They wanted quick and easy returns, and would
not occupy themselves with what appeared to be less promising
areas of exploitation.
Our African view is different. There is no single part of the
African continent which is not precious to us and our develop
ment. And with the technological resources available today,
what would formerly have been regarded as miraculous can now
be done with the help of scientific aids, provided the means are
there. Nowadays even climate is not regarded as an impossible
impediment to economic progress, and certainly not drought.
About two-fifths of tropical Africa is steppe or desert; at least
one-third is savannah country with a seasonal rainfall. At first
sight, this may seem unpromising, but the problems presented
can be overcome to some extent by large-scale irrigation and
suitable afforestation.
Soil, of course, presents special problems. Much of the soil in
rain forest and savannah areas is poor. But a lot can be done to
improve it. Artificial manures, composting, litter-farming, green
manuring, can be employed. The growth of mixed farming has
been held up by the tsetse fly. Full control of the tsetse can only
be achieved, like that of the anopholes mosquito (the bearer of
malaria), on a continental scale, since insect pests are no
respecters of territorial boundaries. With the elimination of the
tsetse, mixed farming could go ahead, and animals could then
supply the restorative manures to our soil.
There is indeed a vast horizon of improvement waiting upon
development in Africa. The Niger river inland delta scheme and
the Gezira scheme in the Sudan, for example, might be greatly
extended. I rrigation work could be carried out along the
Gambia, Senegal, Rufiji, Tana, and Zambesi rivers, and in the
Lake Chad basin. I mmense advances could be made in the way
of controlling the flow of smaller streams, the digging of shallow
surface reservoirs, and the bunding of flat areas to reduce run
off and increase soak-in during the rainy seasons. Swamp areas
such as the Bahr el Ghazal region in the Upper Nile, the Bang-
weulu swamp in Northern Rhodesia and the Okovanggo swamp
in Bechuanaland, could be thoroughly explored to see if, with
suitable treatment, they cannot be turned into useful agricultural
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areas. I n Northern Rhodesia alone, the six largest swamps total
13,754 square miles, or six per cent of the total area. I n rain
forest regions, mechanical trench diggers might be made more
use of, to improve drainage. Mango trees could be cut out, and
fields bunded and sown with rice. Efforts in this direction are
being made in Sierra Leone. Experience gained there could be
profitably put at the disposal of other African countries with
similar problems.
An essential part of what is today termed the infrastructure of
development is communications. Lord L ugard, a pioneer carrier
of the white mans burden, said that the material development
of Africa may be summed up in one word - transport.1Although
this is obviously an over-simplication, the development of tran
sport on a continental basis is vital to African intercourse and
economic advancement. What Africa really requires is a fully
integrated transport system for the continent, properly planned
by a central organization, which will examine the relative
potentials and economics of road, rail, river, air and sea systems
in correlation with an over-all plan for inter-African trade and
progressive economic and social development. At the present
time, commerce and the exchange of goods between African
countries is small. Colonialism interrupted the interchange that
existed before its incursion and subsequently all forms of com
munication - roads, railways, harbours - were pointed outwards,
the necessary auxiliary arms for transporting raw materials
from their African sources to their European convertors overseas.
These communications are now proving inadequate to meet
the increasing demands being made upon them by the expanding
traffic that independence has brought. All over Africa, harbours,
railways, roads and airports have become greatly overburdened
in recent years.
When we talk about these communications looking outward,
more is meant than that they point towards the coasts and over
seas. Railways were deliberately constructed for taking goods
to ports planned and equipped for on-board ship-loading rather
than for both loading and unloading. Thus most of our existing
railways still consist of single track routes with a few branch and
connecting lines. They were designed by the colonial powers to
1 Lord Lugard: The Dual Mandate in Tropical Africa, Blackwood 1922, p. 5.
link mining areas or to carry cash crops and raw materials from
collection points to the ports for export. Farmers had to find their
own means of getting crops to the collecting centres. Ghana and
Nigeria are better served with railways than most parts of Africa,
each having main eastern and western lines which are linked
together. Ghanaian railways handle some two million tons a
year, more than the combined lines of former French West
Africa, but less than i per cent of the tonnage carried in the
United Kingdom. Roads, too, are quite inadequate to meet the
growing needs of emergent Africa. The cost of making them is
high, and the building of a continent-wide system would have to
be centrally planned and financed.
The climate and geography of Africa present special problems
for the construction and maintenance of both roads and railways.
But these difficulties could be surmounted within the frame
work of a plan for over-all African development, which would set
aside reserves of funds and materials for the purpose. Such a vast
scheme would, naturally, take time to complete and priorities
would certainly be necessary to secure speedier fulfilment at
points of development vital to the corporate progress of the
continent. But with the will to attack and overcome the many
problems and their involvements, the real opening up of Africa
will begin. And this time it will be by the Africans for the
Africans.
This contention is supported by the example of the United
States. Americas real expansion began with her union, which
assisted the building up of a vast network of railways and roads,
so that D. W. Brogan, an accepted authority on American
political history, after remarking that in America, regions as
unlike as Norway and Andalusia are united under one govern
ment, speak a common language, regard themselves as part of
one nation, is able to assert: This unity is reinforced by the
most elaborate transportation system in the world, a system the
elaboration of which has been made possible by the political
unity.1
Ports and waterways are no less important than good roads
and railways. Africa has the shortest coastline in relation to its
1 D. W. Brogan: U.S.A.: An Outline of the Country, its People and Institutions,
Oxford University Press, p. 9.
ECONOMIC AND POLI TI CAL I NTEGRATI ON I 55
156 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
size of any continent but it is not so fortunate with its natural
harbours. We do have a few excellent artificial ports, and
facilities exist for more. Notable among them are those at
Monrovia and Tema. Older ports include Dakar, Freetown,
Lagos, Dar-es-Salaam, Mombasa, Beira, Matadi, Port Har
court, and Alexandria, to name only some. Among ports which
have recently been greatly improved is Conakry in Guinea.
There is need for the building of new ports and the improvement
of old ones.
I n the case of inland waterways the problem is also important
even though navigable waterways have only limited importance
in most areas. There are exceptions. I n West Africa, the River
Niger plays a significant part in the bulk shipment of palm oil,
timber, peanuts, and imported petroleum products. On the
Senegal river, small ships operate all the year round on the 177
miles from St Louis to Podor; and for a limited time on to Kayes.
I t is estimated that there are about 9,000 miles of navigable
rivers in the Congo, and the system is reckoned to be the most
important inland waterway of tropical Africa. Rivers like the
Zambesi, Rufiji and Tana, which flow into the I ndian Ocean,
are navigable for short stretches. Considerable use, on the other
hand, is made of the Middle Nile in the Sudan. Then there are
the East African lakes. Shipping on Lake Victoria totalled some
215,000 tons in 1956.
Coastal lagoons and tidal creeks must also be taken into
account. A canal in the I vory Coast allows movement by lagoon
across half the coast, and permits the collection and dispersal of
goods to Abidjan at reduced costs. Porto Novo in Dahomey is
linked by lagoons to Lagos. When the Volta river project is com
pleted, low-cost water transport will be provided from the
artificial lake area to the Northern region. Waterways of all
kinds can be improved or extended if we pool our resources.
Air transport, both for passengers and freight, probably has
the greatest future. Many large international airlines operate
services in Africa, but most of them have planned their routes
to serve the needs of passengers travelling to and from countries
outside Africa. Most of the best routes run from North to South.
Air links between, for example, East and West African countries
are generally poor and few and far between. So far, the demand
for internal air services has been limited, but this is something
which is changing with the growing need for inter-continental
communication and trade.
The necessary capital for all these developments can only be
accumulated by the employment of our resources on a conti
nental extension. This calls for a central organization to formu
late a comprehensive economic policy for Africa which will
embrace the scientific, methodical and economic planning of
our ascent from present poverty into industrial greatness.
I nternal customs barriers can be eliminated; differences in
domestic structures accommodated. Currency difficulties must
disappear before a common currency. None of our problems is
insuperable unless we are set against their solution. I n J uly
1961 customs, barriers between Ghana and Upper Volta were
removed. An African Development I nstitute is to be set up at
Dakar to train economists, to provide experts who can be sent
on request to African States, to carry out research, and to co
ordinate policies. This I nstitute, when it is operating, will, it is
hoped, go some way towards counteracting the excessive dupli
cation of experimental work that now goes on in Africa because
we have no central economic planning organization for directing
research and pooling knowledge and experience.
There are some who refute the requirement of continental
unity as the essential prerequisite to full industrialization. Others
refer to economic confederations like the Zollverein of nine
teenth-century Germany as likely patterns upon which we might
model our African co-operation for industrial fulfilment. This
ignores the historical fact that the Zollverein proved unequal to
the task of creating the capital formations Germany needed to
carry forward her industrialism, which only got fully under way
when the states surrendered their sovereignty to the German
Empire. I t was the unification of Germany which provided the
stimulus to expanding capitalism and gave a suitable popula
tion basis for the absorption of manufactured goods, particularly
as population growth in Germany was high and quickly reached
forty-one millions. At that period of scientific invention, this was
a large enough consumption group to enable Germany to pro
gress from a mainly agricultural country in 1871to the industrial
achievements that led her into the scramble for colonies before
ECONOMIC AND POLI TI CAL I NTEGRATI ON I 57
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the middle eighties. I n the first decade of the twentieth century,
German capitalism attained the stage of commercial and
financial monopoly whose expansionist needs impelled her into
the 1914 war.
The German example illustrates the advantages of uniting
parts into a more effective whole. This German development
took place within the typical national exclusivism of the nine
teenth century, which reached its apotheosis under the Wil
sonian doctrine of self-determination after the end of the First
World War, when the countries of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire assumed sovereignty behind boundaries whose inter
necine possibilities were subsequently exploited by the great
powers. Motivated by the ambitions of rising bourgeoisies for
political control as the means to capitalist development, the
leaders of the European nationalist movements, once they
assumed power, discovered that they were too weak to stand by
themselves. But instead of coalescing into a wider fraternity of
nations which would have strengthened their economies and
provided a defence against big-power encroachments, they
hugged their exclusivism and made pacts with the stronger
states, which in the end undermined their self-confidence and
failed to save them from imperialist expansion.
Today, the major European powrers, confronted with the
deepening competitiveness of acquisitive production, intensified
by the new scientific inventions, shrinking empires and the
enlargement of the socialist conclave of nations, are forming their
associations of strength, both economic, political and military.
I t seems, then, curiously paradoxical that in this period when
national exclusivism in Europe is making concessions to super
national organizations, many of the new African states should
cling to their new-found sovereignty as something more precious
than the total well-being of Africa and seek alliances with the
states that are combining to balkanize our continent in neo
colonialist interests.
Some of these states are aligning themselves with the European
associations in the mistaken belief that they will profit sufficiently
to prosper their economies. I t is true that the overseas members
of the European Common Market are enjoying at the present
time certain benefits from the European Development Fund.
But in the face of the enormous requirements of industrial
development, these are infinitesimal in size and restricted in
character. Out of the applications submitted, the projects so far
approved ignore the requests for the establishment of industries
and concentrate on social projects and the building of roads,
railways and ports. These, it is true, are necessary to fuller
development and the raising of welfare, and undoubtedly are
welcome additions to the economic and social base. But it is
wishful thinking not to recognize them as the bribes they
are, and to suppose that the European Common Market, which
is devised to increase the welfare of the European member
countries, should conscientiously promote industrialization in
the raw material producing countries of Africa. I t is equally
romantic to think that the Development Fund could ever be big
enough to provide anything like the investment capital the
African states require for substantial development. As is only to
be expected, emphasis is placed upon modernization and im
provement schemes that will increase European economic
strength,1and widen still more the productivity gap between
Europe and Africa.
The enticement of aid which the European Common Market
holds out demands close examination and it is particularly
curious that Mr Leopold Senghor, President of the Republic of
Senegal, should lend himself to a subtle appeal to the English
speaking countries to enter. I n an interview appended to an
article in International Affairs for April 1962, President Senghor
expresses his pleasure about it,
above all for Africa, because we ourselves, a French-speaking
state, are associated with the Common Market, and I think that,
if Britain joins in, the English-speaking countries of Africa will
wish to do so too. From a purely selfish point of view that might
not be entirely to our advantage, for the greater number of par
ticipants, the smaller the individual share in the European fund.
But I think there is a more important side to it: what we lose on
the level of material aid, we gain on the level of cohesion and
co-operation. We shall then be able to harmonize our technical
1 Stuart de la Mahotire: The Common Market, Hodder & Stoughton 1961,
pp. 30-48. This book offers a comprehensive survey of the subject from a
European supporter.
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and economic co-operation between Africans, both French
speaking and English-speaking.1
This argument, despite the gratuitous magnanimity expressed,
is a special plea for collective colonialism of a new order.
For if technical and economic co-operation between Africans
(whom he is careful to divide linguistically) is a feasibility, as
President Senghors inference allows, then where is the need to
tie it in with the European Common Market, which is a European
organization promoted to further European interests? The
overseas associated members have gone in as providers of raw
materials, not as equals dealing with equals. What reasons have
they to assume that cohesion and co-operation will be fashioned
by those controlling the instrumentalities of the Market for the
good of Africas common development? All the evidence, both
past and present, surely points in the other direction; that the
design is to maintain the historical relationship of European
industrial convertor and African supplier of primary products.
Notwithstanding the outward signs of change that have taken
place at many points of the continent, the nature of African
economy has remained practically unaltered since the first
European adventurers came to its coasts in the fifteenth century.
I t is purely and simply a trading economy. Our trade, however,
is not between ourselves. I t is turned towards Europe and em
braces us as providers of low-priced primary materials in ex
change for the more expensive finished goods we import. Except
where we have associated and formed a common selling policy,
we come into a competition that acts to force down the prices
we receive to the profit of the overseas buyers. I t is because of
the effects of this colonial relationship in limiting their economies,
that some of the African states have joined the European
Common Market. They have the hope that by this means they
will inject new life into their economies. But this is an illusion,
because the benefits received by way of aid will do nothing to
change the fundamental nature of these economies, and they
can, therefore, never thrive in the way that most advanced
countries do. They may well regress, because, while inter-
1 Leopold Senghor: Some Thoughts on Africa in International Affairs, April
1962.
national trade between highly industrialized countries may be
mutually beneficial, a quite normal result of unhampered trade
between two countries, of which one is industrialised and the
other less developed, is the initiation of a cumulative process
towards the impoverishment and stagnation of the latter.1
The tariff arrangements of the European Common Market
must deepen the divisions between the overseas members and the
non-members on the African continent on account of the in
creased competitiveness that must result between them. Quota
restrictions and depressed prices can be the only outcome. I n his
comprehensive guide to The Common Market, Stuart de la
Mahotiere forecasts the extension of industrial monopolies to
deal with the keen competition which will develop between the
European members of the Market, and declares that the key
note to success will undoubtedly be in the first instance the
ability to keep costs down and prices competitive.2 Raw
materials and labour costs are the two major items in production
costing, so it is quite obvious where the keynote to success must
lead. The development aid which the associated African
members may receive from the European Fund will be out
balanced by a gradual decline in the national revenues from
primary products. Even united African arrangements for the
maintenance of a common selling policy for certain raw materials
such as cocoa, cannot be upheld if one or more of the parties to
the arrangements adheres to the European organization. The
prices which will be fixed by the European members will apply
to all the overseas members supplying the Common Market, and
the Common Market states within the African alliance will have
to conform to the fixed prices if they are to enjoy the aid for
which they joined it. African loyalty will be split between the
European attachment and the African association, and the
obligation to the former will nullify fidelity to the African
interest.
This is the neo-colonialism of the European Common Market,
which holds out to the undeveloped African states the threat of
discriminatory tariffs for those who do not come in, and the
promise of aid for those who do. I t is a heads I win, tails you
1 Gunnar Myrdal: Economic Theory and Under-Developed Regions, p. 99.
2 Stuart de la Mahotidre: The Common Market, p. no.
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lose* policy, which aims to create a bitter schism among the
independent African states or else to cajole them all into the
fold of the European market, in the same old imperialist relation
ship of the European rider on the African horse. Any of the states
that enter deprive themselves of the possibility of independent
action. They will have lost their freedom to trade wherever it is
most advantageous or to secure capital from the most convenient
sources. They will, moreover, have surrendered their policy of
non-alignment by attaching themselves to the European eco
nomic organization which is linked with the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (N.A.T.O.). Even worse, they will be com
pelled to betray the cause of African freedom, by the support
they will be obliged to give to the imperialist suppression of the
emancipation struggle in Africa. I n short, they will have sold
their African birthright for a mess of neo-colonialist pottage.
Nor could there be any idea of solid industrialized advance
ment for these African states in the interests of their people.
For, having returned themselves to the imperialist fold, this time
of their own free5will and not by territorial conquest, the same
forces which kept them tagging behind the industrialized coun
tries of the West will continue to operate. The African countries
will once more be wide open to imperialist exploitation. Political
independence will be a sham and will have gained nothing
except the aggrandizement of certain opportunist groups
within the national societies and the enrichment of the neo
colonialist interest. Economic independence will be farther away
than ever and the conflicts within these African societies will be
more severe, because the class divisions will crystallize sharply
under the more ruthless demands of neo-colonialist monopoly
to feed its greedier and greedier economic and military
machines.
An African Common Market, devoted uniquely to African
interests, would more efficaciously promote the true require
ments of the African states. Such an African Market presupposes
a common policy for overseas trade as well as for inter-African
trade, and must preserve our right to trade freely anywhere. I f
it is a good thing for the European buyers to regulate their affairs
with their overseas suppliers by combination, then it must be
equally good for Africans to do likewise in offering their wares.
Besides, an African Common Market that does not concert its
policy in regard to its exports seriously reduces its effectiveness,
since the mutuality of interest might well be violated by in
dividual actions in regard to the sale of crops common to several
of the members. One of the principal objectives of our African
Common Market must be to eliminate the competition that
presently exists between us, and must continue to do so while
any one of us mistakenly shelters under the umbrella of the
European Common Market. The cash crops that we produce
must be pooled, so that our combined totals will give us a com
manding position and, through a united selling policy, enable
us to extract better prices. For instance, Ghana and Nigeria
between them produce about 50 per cent of the worlds cocoa.
So far we have been selling against each other, but in uniting our
policy, we can beat the undercutting tactics of the buyers who
set us one against the other.
The surpluses thus derived from increased revenues resulting
from a common selling policy could be placed to realistic
development (rejected by the European Development Fund),
and give a spurt to fundamental industrialism. The trade now
beginning to be developed between us would be stimulated,
while a common currency would eliminate the difficulties of
exchange as well as the illegitimate dealings which at present
rob us of part of our wealth. A common currency, free of links
with outside currency zones, would enable us to reserve the
foreign exchange made from our export trade for essential
imports.
I n the same way, the pooled sum of our present individual
investments in our similar national projects, if used within an
integrated plan, would give greater benefit in mutual develop
ment. I ndeed, the total integration of the African economy on a
continental scale is the only way in which the African states can
achieve anything like the levels of the industrialized countries.
The idea of African union is not just a sentimental one, emanat
ing from a common experience of colonialism and a desire for
young, untried states to come together in the effervescence of
their new freedom, though sentiment undoubtedly has its part.
The unity of the countries of Africa is an indispensable pre
condition for the speediest and fullest development, not only of
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164
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
the totality of the continent but of the individual countries linked
together in the union.
Advancing science, the new technologies, the constant im
provements in modes of production and techniques of manage
ment, the economic realities of this second half of the twentieth
century demand large expanses of land, with their variegated
natural resources, and massive populations, to obtain the greatest
benefits from them and thereby sustain their profitability. To
day, those powers embracing large aggregates of population
and earth surface are more capable of full industrialization.
Unfortunately, in the present-day conflict of political ideo
logies, these are the powers that make claims to greatness. The
others are virtual satellites oscillating between their orbits. The
current impact of the cold war on world affairs governs the
external policy, and influences in many ways the internal
policies of most of the rest of the world. Only China, with its huge
population and massive land extent, combined with its non
competitive, centrally planned system of production and dis
tribution, has a rate of productivity that is making her a potential
challenger of the only two powers whose weight counts in our
present world. That is the root reason why the United States
refuses to admit China into the United Nations and why the
Soviet Union is respectful of her attitudes. Chinas rate of pro
ductivity puts her ahead of the declining imperial powers whose
industrial extension, limited by their shrinking empires, has led
them into the European Common Market, in the hope that the
increased productivity and expanded market offered by 170
million people will provide a more effective challenge to
Americas industrial - and hence political - mastery of the
capitalist world. I ndustrial output in China increased 276 per
cent in the years between 1950 and 1957, and it is estimated that
if the relative rates of development persist, she will outstrip J apan
and Britain in the not too distant future.
Only the Soviet Union, China, and perhaps Indonesia among
the under-developed countries possess the material and popula
tion base sufficient for successful (socialist) economies. The
individual territories of Africa and South America, to say
nothing of the territorial boundaries of such countries as South
ECONOMIC AND POLI TI CAL I NTEGRATI ON 165
Korea, Formosa, Pakistan, South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,
J ordan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Greece, Turkey, and the
West Indies, are too limited. . . . As a consequence, there is an
implicit movement in the world today towards regionalism - not
the regionalism of the various pacts inspired by the capitalist
world, although some of these may unwillingly foster the move
ment. But a regionalism based upon economic and cultural
identification and co-operation.1
The greatest single lesson that can be drawn from the history
of industrial development in the world today is the uncounted
advantages which planning has in the first place over the laissez
faire go-as-you-please policies of the early pioneers of indus
trialism; and secondly, how immensely superior planning on a
continental scale, allied to a socialized objective, has proved for
the giant latecomers into the realm of modern statehood over the
fragmented discordant attempts of disunited entities, as on the
South American continent. The rates of growth of the Soviet
Union and China are much higher even than that of the other
continental giant, the United States of America, whose economic
evolution stretched over a longer period of time and whose
capital accumulations, as a result of large-scale plantation farm
ing by slave labour, and the conversion of its products into
manufactured goods, were already considerable before her large-
scale industrialization got under way in earnest, after the war to
maintain the union. America is the most vocal proponent of free
enterprise, unfettered by central planning. Her society shows the
most glaring social inequalities, from the Negro sharecropper
living close to or below the subsistence line and financial tycoons
amassing astronomical fortunes, with all possible gradations of
wealth and poverty in between. Sixteen million people still
remain unintegrated with the body politic.
Soviet embarkment upon planned industrialization occurred
on the edge of the nineteen-thirties, after a really critical
approach had been made to the intricate problems involved in
making the take off5with a paucity of reserves and resources
rather greater than our own at the present time. There were the
1 Prof. Oliver C. Cox of Lincoln University, U.S.A., in a paper entitled
Factors in Development o f Under-Developed Countries, delivered in Accra, J une
1959-
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
conditions created by the aftermath of revolution and civil war,
including the destruction of such industrial plant as had existed
under the Czarist empire or its alienation to the states that had
seceded. There was a population scattered unevenly over a sixth
of the earths surface, in varying stages of development, from
nomadic tribes on the steppes and wastelands to a cultured in
telligentsia in Leningrad and Moscow and a relatively small
proletariat working in the main cities and towns. The inter
necine strife and hatreds among these people was proverbial, and
the multiplicity of languages and religions not much less than in
present-day Africa. Over and above all this, the Soviet Union
had to make its way in a state of isolation forced upon her by her
exclusion from the world comity of nations on account of the
social ideology she had adopted as her guide. Furthermore, she
was surrounded by a cordon sanitaire of satellite states, which were
used as the threatening outposts of the great powers.
Against all the disadvantages, the open enmity and contri
vance aimed at her success, and the appalling devastation and
material and human losses resulting from the Second World
War, the Soviet Union, in a little over thirty years, has built up
an industrial machine so strong and advanced as to be able to
launch the Sputnik and follow it up by being the first to send a
man into space. There must be something to be said for a system
of continental organization allied to clearly defined socialized
objectives that made this remarkable achievement, and I pose
it as an example of what an integrated economic programme
could do for Africa. I am aware of the deep social disturbances
that were created and the harshness of the repressive machinery
used against critics, dissenters and others in the course of attain
ment. I n recognizing the achievement I can only regret the
excesses, though I may, out of our own experience, understand
some of the causes that produced them.
Nor would I suggest that we in Africa should slavishly pattern
our course on the Soviet model. I merely present it as an example
of what can be done through planning an integrated economic
course on a united continental plane. I have frequently said that
there is no universal pattern of development that is applicable to
African conditions, environment and particular economic cir
cumstances. The economic theories that have emanated from
Europe have been erected out of the experience there. They
were not evolved as guides in advance of economic development,
but were the result of analysis of that development after the
event. Even Lenins theory of imperialism issued from his study
of the growth of capitalism and its monopolistic expansion, And
when he came to lead the emergent Soviet state into rehabilita
tion on socialist foundations, he had no blue-print which he could
use as a guide.
We are more fortunate, and we are not isolated. We may have
enemies, but we have friends, too. We have the examples of the
United States, of the Soviet Union, of China, of I ndia. They are
all operating their economies on a continental scale and offer us
a choice of means and methods which we can adapt to the African
scene. But one thing is certain, unless we plan to lift Africa up
out of her poverty, she will remain poor. For there is a vicious
circle which keeps the poor in their rut of impoverishment,
unless an energetic effort is made to interrupt the circular
causations of poverty. Once this has been done, and the essential
industrial machine has been set in motion, there is a snow
balling5effect which increases the momentum of change. But the
essential industrial machine, which alone can break the vicious
circle of Africa's poverty, can only be built on a wide enough
basis to make the take-off realistic if it is planned on a continental
scale.
At the moment, we call our conferences and meetings,
which, while obviously useful, must remain ineffective unless
supported by joint action. The African economy has shown little
improvement since the establishment of the Economic Com
mission for Africa (E.C.A.) in 1958. During the spring 1962
session of the Commission, it was pointed out that the population
of Africa had probably increased by some 8 per cent since 1958,
with the result that there were nearly 20 million more people to
feed. Y et advances in agriculture and industry had not kept pace
with the rising population. I n fact, figures showed that the
African balance of trade had actually deteriorated.
I t is clear that radical changes in economic planning in Africa
are urgently needed, and this can only be achieved quickly and
effectively if we are united politically. At the 1962 meeting of the
E.C.A. to which reference has just been made, speakers found it
ECONOMIC AND POLI TI CAL I NTEGRATI ON 167
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
difficult to separate economic and political issues. This is because
they are, for us, inseparable at this time in our history. For the
radical changes that are urgently needed in economic planning
can only be brought about quickly and effectually if we are
united politically. Conversely, our national independence can
only be given full meaning if a vast pool of economic and indus
trial resources can be created to provide the various African
states with a strong enough base to support the welfare of their
peoples.
I n the isolation of purely national planning, our rate of pro
gress can only be halting, our individual developments doomed
to slowness, no matter how intensive our efforts or how careful
our projects. Expansion of extractive industries, extension and
diversification of agriculture, establishment of secondary in
dustries, some infra-structure, the building of a few key industries
- this is what we may expect within the confines of our national
planning, and even this is not assured. Certainly not without the
most careful trimming and austerity, and an uneven struggle at
all times against coercive pressures, both external and domestic.
Each of us alone cannot hope to secure the highest benefits
of modern technology, which demands vast capital investment
and can only justify its economics in serving an extensive popu
lation. A continental merging of our land areas, our populations
and our resources, will alone give full substance to our aspirations
to advance from our pre-industrial state to that stage of develop
ment that can provide for all the people the high standard of
living and welfare amenities of the most advanced industrial
states.
I t may, of course, be argued that any economic integration at
this time would be like a pooling of poverty. But this ignores the
essential core of integration: that it will co-ordinate all the exist
ing resources, economic, agricultural, mineral, financial, and
employ them methodically so as to improve the over-all surplus,
to assist a wider capital development. Further, a co-ordinated
survey of the continental resources, actual and potential, human
and material, will permit planning to eliminate the present im
balance in identical forms of primary trading economies and
provide for the erection of a complementary pattern of develop
ment which will give the fullest opportunity for progressive
capital formations. We would still need to exchange primary
products for capital goods, and I have explained how an African
Common Market and common currency would facilitate the
accumulation of reserves from our pooled production and
common selling policy. Moreover, within the unity of integrated
economic planning, we should be better placed to extract the
most advantageous aid agreements free of clauses that would
jeopardize our independence of action. The larger potentials of
greater land area and numbers would offer greater attraction to
outside investment capital because of their anticipated higher
profitability ratio. Another advantage for outside investment
capital would be the soundness of the guarantees that unified
continental development could offer. No single individual could
undertake such investment, so that it would have to be done by
corporate or public investment. I n fact, the trend today is
towards public investment, because public guarantees are
demanded. Foreign countries will not loan to a private individual
in another country but will only lend to a private institution or
a public institution with a guarantee from the government. As
a rule, it will not come without this guarantee, and often enough
the investment will not be allowed to come to the borrowing
country without the approval of the government of the lender.
That kind of investment is the more solid kind of investment
that Africa needs from abroad, and both international and public
capital would find it much less complex to deal with and secure
guarantees from an all-African administration than from the
several governments they now have to deal with. I t would make
for easier co-operation all round.
Separatism, indeed, cuts us off from a multitude of advantages
which we would enjoy from union. Though Ghana is bearing
the cost of erecting the Volta dam, we would be more than
willing to share its benefits with our immediate neighbours
within a common economic framework. The I nga dam, a blue
print dream for the Congo, may not get beyond that stage with
out the co-operation of other African states, for no single state
could afford to build it. Y et if it were built, the dam would
provide 25 million kilowatts of electricity, which is estimated to
be four-and-a-half times the output expected from the largest
hydro-electrical plant in the Soviet Union: the Bratsk Dam.
ECONOMIC AND POLI TI CAL I NTEGRATI ON 169
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
The I nga project could go a long way towards electrifying the
whole of the African continent.
I f the independent states had a united, integrated economic
policy, the building of the I nga dam could be carefully planned
to support an extended industrial growth, catering for a far
larger population. I ts cost would, therefore, be economically
spread. This is only a single illustration of what African inte
grated economic planning might do. Extend it to all sectors of
our economies, and its possibilities are infinite.
I have often been accused of pursuing a policy of the im
possible. But I cannot believe in the impossibility of achieving
African union any more than I could ever have thought of the
impossibility of attaining African freedom. When I came back
to Ghana in 1947 to take a leading part in the anti-colonial
struggle, I was dubbed an irresponsible agitator. I ndependence
at that time looked a long way off. None of us really imagined
that by 1962 most of the African countries would have thrown
off political domination and embarked upon their own national
existence as sovereign states. But that did not stop us from going
forward with our efforts, buoyed by the certainty of ultimate
victory. And it has come, as I said, much sooner than anticipated.
That is how I feel about African union. J ust as I was con
vinced that political freedom was the essential forerunner of our
economic growth and that it must come, so I am equally con
vinced that African union will come and provide that united,
integrated base upon which our fullest development can be
secured. There is no doubt that the task before us is a challenging
one. No easy road to the achievement of modem industrializa
tion has so far been discovered. The most we can hope is to learn
from the more glaring mistakes of those who have preceded us
on the road what we should obviously avoid, and what will most
assist us in pushing forward to the goal as speedily as possible
without sustaining too many bitter shocks to the body politic.
But there is absolutely no doubt that the key to significant
industrialization of this continent of ours lies in a union of African
states, planning its development centrally and scientifically
through a pattern of economic integration. Such central plan
ning can create units of industrialism related to the unit re
sources, correlating food and raw materials production with the
establishment of secondary manufactures and the erection of
those vital basic industries which will sustain large-scale capital
development. The national components will each perform their
essential role in the practical implementation of the total plan
and feel secure in the co-operative task of eliminating the eco
nomic unevenness that now exists between the different regions.
The individual character of population groups might properly
be expressed in special kinds of development within the universal
plan, particularly in the fields of specialized production, whether
in agriculture or industry, of handicrafts and culture. This would
infuse energy into the realization of the planned development,
as the people would be given every opportunity to expand their
individual genius.
Because of the enormously greater energy, both human and
material, that would be released through continentally inte
grated planning, productivity increase would be incomparably
higher than the sum of the individual growths which we may
anticipate within the individual countries under separatism.
The cumulative surpluses that must result would achieve con
tinuing capital formations for increasing the African investment
in expanding development. I t is quite obvious that integrated
continental planning cannot find a substitute in the kind of
tinkering that limits us to inter-territorial associations within
customs unions, trade agreements, inter-communications ser
vices, and the like. While these will naturally increase our
common intercourse and provide for certain inter-action, they
can only be partially beneficial in their effects. For such tinker
ing does not create the decisive conditions for resolute develop
ment, since it ignores the crucial requirement of continental
integration as the essential prerequisite for the most bountiful
economic progress, which must be based in the widest possible
extension of land and population. The planned industrialization,
moreover, must be geared to the social objective of the highest
upliftment of the masses of the people, and presupposes the
elimination of those acquisitive tendencies which lead to sec
tional conflicts within society. By these means alone can Africa
maintain the popular support without which the planned pro
gramme cannot succeed, and arrive at that economic freedom
which is the intertwined goal of political independence.
ECONOMIC AND POLI TI CAL I NTEGRATI ON 171
172 AFRICA MUST UNITE
I n the face of the forces that are combining to reinforce neo
colonialism in Africa, it is imperative that the leaders should
begin now to seek the best and quickest means by which we can
collectivize our economic resources and produce an integrated
plan for their careful deployment for our mutual benefit. I f we
can do this, we shall raise in Africa a great industrial, economic
and financial power comparable to any that the world has seen
in our time.
Such effective economic links, however, are impossible
to establish without sound political direction to give them
force and purpose. Therefore, we must come to grips first with
the major and basic issue of African unity, which alone can clear
the way for the united effort in erecting the powerful industrial
and economic structure which will give substance and reality
to our dream of a strong African continent, absolutely freed from
political and economic colonialism.
CHAPTER EI GHTEEN
N E O - C O L O N I A L I S M I N AF RI CA
T h e g r e a t e s t danger at present facing Africa is neocolonial
ism and its major instrument, balkanization. The latter term is
particularly appropriate to describe the breaking up of Africa
into small, weak states, since it arose from the action of the great
powers when they divided up the European part of the old
Turkish Empire, and created a number of dependent and com
peting states in the Balkan peninsula. The effect was to produce
a political tinderbox which any spark could set alight. I n fact,
the explosion came in 1914 when an Austrian archduke was
murdered at Sarajevo. Because the Balkan countries were so
closely tied up with the great powers and their rivalries, the
murder resulted in the First World War, the greatest war which
had been fought up to that time.
I n the same way as alliances by the Balkan states with rival
powers outside the Balkans resulted in world war, so a world
war could easily originate on our continent if African states make
political, economic and military alliances with rival powers out
side Africa. Already political commentators have referred to
Africa as a vast new battleground for the cold war.
As the nationalist struggle deepens in the colonial territories
and independence appears on the horizon, the imperialist
powers, fishing in the muddy waters of communalism, tribalism
and sectional interests, endeavour to create fissions in the national
front, in order to achieve fragmentation. I reland is the classic
example, I ndia another. The French dismembered the Federa
tion of West Africa and that of Equatorial Africa. Nigeria was
broken into regions and is anticipating further partitions.
Ruanda-Urundi has been fragmented with independence.
Because we in Ghana survived pre-independence attempts to
split us, the British foisted on us a constitution that aimed at
174
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
disintegrating our national unity. The Congo, hastily invested
with independence, with malice aforethought, immediately
became the battleground of imperialist-fomented division.
These are all part of the policy of intentional balkanization of
Africa for manipulation by neo-colonialism, which in effective
ness can be more dangerous to our legitimate aspirations of
freedom and economic independence than outright political
control. For instance, Lenin maintained that:
A form of financial and diplomatic dependence, accom
panied by political independence, is presented by Portugal.
Portugal is an independent, sovereign state, but actually,
for more than two hundred years, since the war of the Spanish
Succession (i 701-14), it has been a British protectorate.
Great Britain has protected Portugal and its colonies in order to
fortify her own positions in the fight against her rivals, Spain and
France. I n return, Great Britain has received commercial
privileges, preferential conditions for importing goods and
especially capital into Portugal and the Portuguese colonies,
the right to use the ports and islands of Portugal, its telegraph
cables, etc., etc.1
The form taken by neo-colonialism in Africa today has some
of these features. I t acts covertly, manoeuvring men and govern
ments, free of the stigma attached to political rule. I t creates
client states, independent in name but in point of fact pawns of
the very colonial power which is supposed to have given them
independence. This is one of the diverse forms of dependent
countries which, politically, are formally independent, but in
fact, are enmeshed in the net of financial and diplomatic de
pendence5.2The European power forces the conclusion of pacts
with the balkanized states which give control of their foreign
policy to the former. Often, too, they provide for military bases
and standing armies of the alien power on the territories of the
new states. The independence of those states is in name only, for
their liberty of action is gone.
France never subscribed to the thesis of ultimate independence
for her colonial territories. She had always maintained her
1 Lenin: Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism, pp. 137-8.
2 ibid, pp. 136-7.
NEO- COLONI ALISM IN AFRICA
x75
colonies as tightly closed preserves. When it became obvious
that national sovereignty could no longer be withheld, the
ground was prepared for maintaining the emerging independent
nations within the French orbit. They were to remain suppliers of
cheap raw materials and tropical foodstuffs while continuing to
serve as closed markets for French products.
Soon after the Second World War, France set up two financial
organizations for the purpose of aiding economic development
in her overseas territories. These were F.I .D.E.S. (Fonds
dInvestissement et Developpement Economique et Social) and the
G.G.O.M. {Caisse Centrale de la France dOutre-mer.)
Subventions from C.C.O.M. went to the budgets of the former
French colonial territories to help meet the cost of public
administration and the maintenance of French forces in the
territories. I nvestment in the social and economic development
of Frances overseas territories was largely an euphemism for the
siphoning of funds through F.I .D.E.S. into these former French
colonies and back again to France. I t has been estimated that
as much as 80 per cent of such so-called investment returned to
France in the form of payments for materials, services, com
missions, bank charges and salaries of French staffs and agents.
Projects undertaken were mainly in the sphere of public services
and agriculture. They were woefully inadequate and improperly
planned, with little or no regard for local conditions or needs.
No attempt was made to lay the foundations for industrial
growth or a diversification of agriculture which would assist true
development. F.I .D.E.S. and C.C.O.M. have given place to the
F.A.C. (Fonds d'Aide et de Cooperation) and C.C.C.E. (Caisse
Centrale de Cooperation Economique). The newly named agencies,
however, perform the same functions as the old ones on exactly
the same terms. I nvestment continues to support the production
of exportable community crops and the trading enterprises of
French commercial houses and contracting firms who secure
their supplies from French factories and industrial centres.
French bankers and financial concerns linked with some of the
biggest raw material converters are being encouraged to extend
the exploitation of minerals in the former colonial territories for
exportation in their primary form.
Thus, even though independent in name, these countries
176 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
continue the classical relationship of a colonial economy to its
metropolitan patron, i.e. providers of primary products and
exclusive markets for the latters goods. Only now the relation
ship is covered up under the guise of aid and protective solicitude,
one of the more subtle forms of neo-colonialism.
Since France sees her continued growth and development in
the maintenance of the present neo-colonialist relationship with
the less developed nations within her orbit, this can only mean
the widening of the gap between herself and them. I f the gap
is ever to be narrowed, not to say closed, it can only be done
by a complete break with the present patron-client relation
ship.
When neo-colonialism can make such effective penetrations
by other means, there seems a certain illogicality, viewed from
their standpoint, in clinging bitterly to political control of the
remaining territories in Africa. Unless, of course, it is to use time
to increase the differences and deepen the schisms, and to allow
South Africa to build up her military forces, to use, in alliance
with the Rhodesias and Portugal, against the fighters for
freedom and the new African independence. I t is in this con
text that the former insistence on the inviolability of the Central
African Federation in the teeth of African opposition must
be understood and met. There is discernible a curious variance
of purpose when one compares the British concurrence to the
demand for regionalism in Nigeria and their refusal for so long
to concede to African clamour for the dissolution of the Central
African Federation. I t was claimed for the continuance of
Central African Federation that it made for economic cohesion
and progress. I f a larger aggregate is good for one part of Africa,
the settler-controlled part, then surely it must contain the same
beneficent seed for the independent parts.
The conversion of Africa into a series of small states is leaving
some of them with neither the resources nor the manpower to
provide for their own integrity and viability. Without the means
to establish their own economic growth, they are compelled to
continue within the old colonial trading framework. Hence they
are seeking alliances in Europe, which deprive them of an
independent foreign policy and perpetuate their economic de
pendency. But this is a solution that can only lead backwards,
NEO- COLONI ALISM IN AFRI CA 177
not forwards. The forward solution is for the African states to
stand together politically, to have a united foreign policy, a
common defence plan, and a fully integrated economic pro
gramme for the development of the whole continent. Only then
can the dangers of neo-colonialism and its handmaiden balkani
zation be overcome. When that has been accomplished, our
relations with Europe can enter upon a new phase.
Although the end of European rule in Africa is in sight,
European economic interests are ascendant and its political and
cultural influences strong. I n a number of territories, mother
country ideology and cultural identity have strongly affected
certain political leaders. Paul-Marc Henry, designated French
official expert on African affairs, has argued that the story of
nationalism in French Africa is basically different from that in
British territories. He says:
African deputies and senators have learned their politics not
in the narrow confines of territorial problems, but in the strange
and stimulating world of the French parliament. . . . One could
argue that the world as seen from Paris is rather distorted.
French deputies themselves were not always aware of the real
factors in power politics. The continuous presence of friendly and
able African colleagues led them to believe that there was no
such thing as African nationalism in French areas, that the idea
was a foreign import and, in some cases, one of those notorious
plots against Franco-African community and its spiritual
achievements. On the other hand, there was no better school for
intellectual and political sophistication than that of the French
Parliament of the Fourth Republic.1
Henrys remarks serve to underline the myopia which seems
to have become endemic to the French ruling class since the
days of the Bourbons. The transmission of the affliction to
Africans whose attitudes have been conditioned by sophisticated
flatteries away from an African orientation towards a Franco-
African community can only be regarded as sinister and
inimical to African interests. Mesmerized by the strange and
stimulating world of the French parliament, issues as seen at
1 Paul-Marc Henry: Article entitled Pan-Africanism - A Dream Come
True in Foreign Affairs, April 1959.
178 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
Abidjan can be quite as distorted for African politicians as they
can for French deputies in Paris.
Viewed thus, it is small wonder that General de Gaulles
referendum of 28 September 1958, on the constitution of the
French Community, should have triumphed with the single dis
sentient vote of Guinea. The weight of the Generals promise of
largess for those who remembered the intertwined destiny and
common cultural heritage of the Community and the threat of
excommunication for those who rejected this destiny, and for
swore their noble inheritance, was irresistible. While the long
standing politicians of the rest of French Africa were dismayed
at the prospect of a future severed from the embracing arms of
France, Sekou Toure rallied his countrymen round him for a
No vote, and Guinea was rudely ejected from the Community.
The French Community was evolved by General de Gaulle
to replace the French Union, devised by the statesmen of the
Fourth Republic within la loi cadre, the outline law. The French
Union was an attempt to contain the rising tide of African con
sciousness by the cover of a spurious autonomy in certain de
partments of administration. Events in Ghana and our steady
progress to full independence revealed the counterfeit character
of the French Union, and with the near civil war precipitated
by the attempted military seizure of power in Algeria, General
de Gaulle, ensconced in power in Paris, formulated the French
Community to replace the sham pretensions of the Union. When
promulgated, the provisions of the constitution of the Com
munity in respect of the powers they allotted to the African terri
tories were seen to fall short of those regarded as too constricted
under the Union. The breaking down into separate entities
before the referendum of the Federation of West Africa and that
of Equatorial Africa was the key to the new political policy of
France. I t was balkanization in practice. I t reinforced the am
bitions of political personalities and deepened schisms which
were on the way to being closed. A new rift was opened in African
politics between Republicans and Federalists, that is, between
those who felt they would advance their careers within the strict
limits of autonomy and those who, responding to popular
clamour, sought association with other units. This popular
pressure in the African lands has achieved several modifications
NEO- COLONI ALISM IN AFRI CA
179
in the working of the Community constitution and has even
succeeded in making some of the clauses inoperative.
The coming together of Senegal and Sudan in the Mali
Federation secured them a joint independence within the Com
munity, subject to the French retention of a military base. The
Mali Federation, because of the difference in the political atti
tudes of the leaders, Mr Leopold Senghor and Mr Modibo
K eita, has since divided once more into its national parts,
Senegal and Mali. Houphouet-Boigny followed by demanding
independence for the countries of the Conseil de IsEntente,1
I vory Coast, Upper Volta, Niger and Dahomey, without pre
ceding agreements. Sovereignty has since been conferred on
Togo, the Congo Republic (Brazzaville), Chad, Gabon,
Cameroon, the Central African Republic (formerly Ubangui
Shari), and Madagascar. And at last, Algeria has wrested
independence after seven years of bitter fighting.
Now that African freedom is accepted by all except the die
hard racialists as an inescapable fact, there are efforts in certain
quarters to make arrangements whereby the local populations
are given a token freedom while cords attaching them to the
mother country5remain as firm as ever. This arrangement gives
the appearance of nationhood to the African territory but leaves
the substance of sovereignty with the metropolitan power. A
certain token aid is pumped in by the colonialist power in order
to mislead the people and give the impression that something is
being done for them. I t is meant to divert the nascent demand for
a change of government involving more positive independence
and a programme envisaging popular welfare. The intention is
to use the new African states, so circumscribed, as puppets
through whom influence can be extended over states which
maintain an independence in keeping with their sovereignty.
The creation of several weak and unstable states of this kind in
Africa, it is hoped, will ensure the continued dependence on the
former colonial powers for economic aid, and impede African
unity. This policy of balkanization is the new imperialism, the
new danger to Africa.
I ts mechanics are simple. I n the dynamics of national
revolution there are usually two local elements: the moderates
1 Council of Understanding.
i 8o AFRI CA MUST UNITE
of the professional and aristocratic5 class and the so-called
extremists of the mass movement. The moderates would like
some share in their government but are afraid of immediate
responsibility because they lack experience and skill. They are
prepared to leave the main areas of sovereignty to the colonial
power, in return for a promise of economic aid. The so-called
extremists are men who do not necessarily believe in violence but
who demand immediate self-government and complete inde
pendence. They are men who are concerned with the interests
of their people and who know that those interests can be served
only by their own local leaders and not by the colonial power.
They know that the tasks of independence are onerous and that
without colonialist help they may make mistakes. But they prefer
to make their own mistakes in freedom rather than to be denied
the opportunity of responsibility, in the belief that even good
government is no substitute for self-government.
Having learned from experience that the greater and more
bitter their resistance to extremist5demands for independence
the more extreme and more powerful they become, certain
colonial powers began to respond more positively to signs of
nationalist stirrings in some of their territories. The understand
ing dawned that in the absence of a bitter struggle, there is a
chance of treating with the moderate leaders, who may be
tempted to show their followers that the masters are being
reasonable5and are open to persuasion, that quiet and peaceful
negotiation can produce an advance towards freedom. The
colonial power, experienced in the ways of diplomacy, seeks to
curb the efforts of the extremists by ostentatiously polishing the
silver platter on which they promise to hand over independence.
Underneath the shining surface is the dross. Only the outward
form will have changed, the intrinsic relationship is maintained.
Foreign imports are still protected, local development clamped
down, fiscal policy controlled from the metropolitan capital.
The impact of such semi-independent states on the liberation
of Africa has been unfortunate, even dangerous. Bound up as
these countries are with the policies of their sponsors, they try
to shun the issues involving colonialists and the still enslaved
peoples on the African continent, where they do not directly
align themselves on the colonialist side. Some of their leaders, it
must be confessed, do not see the struggle of their brother
Africans as part of their struggle. Even if they did, they would
not be free to express their solidarity. The imperialists can thus
sit back and regard with sly satisfaction the rift between Africans.
The results can only be to retard the independence of countries
not yet free and to cause friction and disunion among the peoples
of Africa. Here is a phenomenon against which all African
freedom fighters must be on their guard and resist to the utmost.
I n Africa today there are several apparently independent
states who, consciously or not, accept this pattern and serve the
interests of the new imperialism, which seeks to salvage some
thing from the wreck of the old imperialism. The European
Common Market is an outstanding example. The new threat
this organization offers to African unity is no less ominous for
being unobtrusive.
As far as Ghana is concerned, we do not oppose any arrange
ment which the nations of Europe may wish to make among
themselves to seek greater freedom of trade within Europe; but
we are most decidedly and strongly opposed to any arrangement
which uses the unification of Western Europe as a cloak for per
petuating colonial privileges in Africa. We therefore naturally
protest against any economic or political grouping of European
powers which seeks to exert political and economic pressures
upon the newly emergent countries of Africa, or which discrimi
nates against the trade of those countries which are not willing
to participate in these exclusive and unfair arrangements. The
operation of the European Economic Community, as at present
conceived, will not only discriminate against Ghana and other
independent states of Africa economically, but what is more
important, it will perpetuate by economic means the many
artificial barriers which were imposed on Africa by the European
colonial powers.
Any form of economic union negotiated singly between the
fully industrialized states of Europe and the newly emergent
countries of Africa is bound to retard the industrialization, and
therefore, the prosperity and the general economic and cultural
development, of these countries. For it will mean that those
African states which may be inveigled into joining this union
will continue to serve as protected overseas markets for the manu-
NEO- COLONI ALISM IN AFRI CA l 8 l
182 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
factured goods of their industrialized partners, and sources of
cheap raw materials. The subsidy which they will receive in
return for assuming these obligations will be small compared
with the losses which they will suffer from perpetuating their
colonial status, losses which are to be measured not only in
terms of their own retarded economic, technical and cultural
development, but in the harm which they do the peoples of Africa
as a whole. The question must be raised as to where this subsidy
comes from. I t is difficult to believe that it is a purely altruistic
contribution made by the European members of the Market
to the cause of African well-being. Such subsidy must, in fact,
come out of the trading profits made from forcing down the
prices of primary products bought from the African countries
and raising the cost of the finished goods they are obliged to take
in exchange. I t is also included in the cost of the projects which
constitute the subsidy, a good part of which returns to the
European contributors in the form of payments for materials,
services, salaries, and banking commissions and interest.
I t is true that by joining they obtain a preferential market for
their cash crops and minerals in the territories of European
economic union. But the advantages of this are largely illusory
since most of the commodities which they export are goods which
the European partners would in any case have to buy from them.
On the other hand, they deprive themselves of the advantages
of meeting their own requirements in the world market and will
be bound to have to pay considerably more for everything they
buy, quite apart from the hindrances which the Common
Market is bound to impose on their own internal industrial
development. Admittedly, the Rome Treaty introduces explicit
safeguards concerning tariff protection by the overseas terri
tories of the European Economic Union. But in the circum
stances, I am by no means confident that these safeguards will
prove effective. The ex-French colonies of Africa have plenty of
direct experience of the difficulties they have encountered in
setting up manufacturing industries in those cases where these
safeguards operate to the disadvantage of industries in France.
I t is true, of course, that the producers of primary materials
are always at a disadvantage in bargaining with powerful manu
facturers in industrial countries. This naturally follows from their
NEO- COLONI ALISM IN AFRI CA
economic weakness, a weakness which can be corrected through
unity of action between the different raw material producing
countries, and not through exclusive trading arrangements
between the strong and the weak. The case of Daniel and the
lions may occasionally come out right, but it is not a safe basis
for economic planning.
The pattern of imperialist aid to Africa is set not only to draw
the unwary back into the neo-colonialist relationship but to tie
them into cold-war politics. This has been amply explained by
Mr Walt Whitman Rostow, Counsellor and Chairman of the
Policy Planning Council of the U.S. State Department, in an
interview given to the weekly journal, U.S. News and World
Report. 1 Asked what America is doing about the underdeveloped
areas, Mr Rostow refers to the gradual creation of a pattern to
succeed the colonial period. We helped pioneer this pattern in
our relationship with the Philippines. After commenting upon
the new relationships established with their former colonies by
Britain, France and Belgium, who is making an important con
tinuing contribution to the Congo, he states that: As the residual
problems are solved we look, as I say, to a new partnership
based on the common interests of the northern and southern
parts of the free world. This Mr Rostow admits is a long-term
process. I n playing the game in the underdeveloped areas you
must be prepared to play for a long time, and hence, in some of
the underdeveloped countries, as in most of Africa, we have to
start from a very low level - with specific projects, not national plans
of a sophisticated kind' 2 For, says Mr Rostow, using the examples
of I taly and Greece in the Marshall Plan period, we are buying
time to protect crucial pieces of real estate - and the possibility
of human freedom for those who lived there. And in the end we
sweated it out and won. . . . Buying time is one of the most
expensive and thankless things we do with our money - as in
South K orea.
This is perhaps one of the most cynical but clear-cut summings
up that has ever appeared in print of the approach of a rich
power to the needs and hopes of the new nations of the world.
1 Dated 7 May 1962. This journal is published in Washington by the United
States News Publishing Corporation.
2 Italics added.
184
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
There is no need to underscore the intention it so blatantly
exposes in playing the game5of buying time5. I t should be an
object lesson for all those African statesmen who think that
associations with non-African powers will foster their true
interests and give them the opportunity to prosper their nations
within continuing independence of action. This objective can
only be achieved by close economic association between the
African states themselves, which in turn presupposes close
political co-operation between them. I t is on account of its
retrograde consequences for the cause of African unity and
economic independence that the government of Ghana is so
completely opposed to the European Community in its present
form.
That many of the leaders of the new African states find them
selves in a perplexing position, there is no doubt. They are
strongly dependent on foreign contributions simply to maintain
the machinery of their governments. Many of them have
deliberately been made so weak economically, by being carved
up into many separate countries, that they are not able to sustain
out of their own resources the machinery of independent govern
ment, the cost of which cannot be reduced beyond a certain
minimum. I recognize the impossible position in which they
were placed when the transfer of power took place. Their
frontiers were not of their own choosing, and they were left
with an economic, administrative and educational system which,
each in its own way, was designed to perpetuate the colonial
relationship.
Ghanas case was no different, but we are making decisive
efforts to change the pattern and are determined to retain our
independence of policy and action. I regard as culpable the
insidious reluctance of these states to formulate an independent
policy even though it may involve the loss of the contributions
which were offered in exchange for continued conformity to the
policies of the colonial powers. Equally reprehensible is the
refusal to give recognition to the nature of the new imperialism
that is using them as pawns in keeping Africa divided, as a means
of aborting total independence and maintaining neo-colonial
hegemony. Worse still are the deceits in the pretended willing
ness of some leaders to co-operate on certain levels of African
NEO- COLONI ALISM IN AFRICA
affairs, while actually conniving with the colonial powers to
mislead the efforts at mutual African assistance and unity. The
perfidy of these artifices cannot be too strongly denounced for
their fatal implications in the betrayal of African freedom. They
bring in question the patriotism of the leaders employing them
and give rise to suspicions of their sincerity and honesty. I f they
had had to fight a stern battle for their independence, they
might have valued it more.
A point in our history has been reached where Africas interests
must be the prime concern of Africas leaders. The safety and
progress of every one of our states can be safeguarded only by
the acceptance of this precept, which can best be promoted by
our unalloyed unity. This means that where associations linking
African countries with European powers cut across basic African
interests at any level and offer impediments to the goal of union,
they must be discarded, and rejected where they are offered. I n
all relations with the world overseas, the key consideration must
be not merely the superficial or even intrinsic advantage of
such relationships for the given African country but the obliga
tion to the African continent as a whole. However much we may
protest our loyalty to the cause of African freedom and our
united destiny, our affirmations will be without value unless we
accept this approach as the cardinal guide to our actions.
States emerging from the tutelage of other colonial powers
have not always understood Ghanas attachment to the Com
monwealth and the sterling area. That is because the loose, ad
hoc nature of the structure is not correctly comprehended by
those who have been or are members of a more formal associa
tion. I t is difficult for those not accustomed to afree connection
with Europe to appreciate that the Commonwealth is an associ
ation of sovereign states, each of which is free from interference
from the others, including the United Kingdom. Each decides
for itself its own foreign and domestic policies and the pattern of
its government, as provided in the Westminster Statute of 1931,
which laid down that: Dominions are autonomous communities
within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate
to one another in their domestic or external affairs though
united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely asso
ciated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
Some of the nomenclature is outmoded but the principle of
sovereign identity of the members of the Commonwealth is more
meaningful than ever. Members, however, have the right to
criticize each other, and do. For example, events in the Union of
South Africa and the whole subject of apartheid came under
heavy fire at the Conference of the Commonwealth Prime
Ministers in May i960, and in 1961 South Africa left the
Commonwe alth.
There is no compulsion to remain within the Commonwealth,
or even to become a member. Burma exercised the right to sever
her relations with the Commonwealth on becoming free in 1947.
Other states, like Canada and Australia, acknowledge the
British Crown as Head of State. I ndia, Pakistan, Ceylon and
now Ghana, choose to maintain Republics.
There are mistaken claims that the French Community, by
virtue of the changes that have been wrought in its original
intentions through the greater panoply of powers vested in the
new African states (which are the result of popular pressures),
is taking on the character of the Commonwealth. The resolution
from the recent meeting of the Brazzaville Group at Bangui,
calling for the transformation of the Community into a French
speaking association patterned on the Commonwealth, does not
comprehend the essential uniqueness of the Commonwealth.
The fact is that, in the circumstances of having to dissolve an
existing association to replace it with a new one, constitution-
making will have to be invoked. This will at once instil a
principle which is entirely out of keeping with the whole idea
of the Commonwealth, which is not governed by any constitu
tion. I t grew out of the association of the white dominions within
the British Empire and has adapted itself, with customary
British flexibility, to the continuing evolvement of political in
dependence among the non-European members.
Nevertheless, if the United Kingdom opts into a close
European federation by attaching to the European Common
Market, the position of Ghana, as a member of the sterling area,
would be prejudiced, and we might be forced to withdraw from
the Commonwealth to safeguard our trading position. I t seems
anomalous, therefore, that the new African states at this time,
when the French Community is in decline and the unity of the
Commonwealth in question, should seek to bind themselves once
more into a European political association which can only
intensify their economic dependence on France.
I t is significant that the word Eurafrica has come into use in
connection with the European Common Market negotiations.
I t sums up the dangerous conception of a close, continuing link
between Europe and Africa on neo-colonialist terms, which must
be cemented in any political formation such as that envisaged
in the Bangui resolution.1The newly emergent states do not make
it a principle to break off all relations with their former colonial
masters. I n the context of a united Africa these relations would
take on new and more dignified forms. Even at this time, there
may be certain advantages in maintaining a link which history
has forged. No question of dictation, however, must arise. The
new states must ensure that such relations are the result of a
free choice freely negotiated, in which they can treat with the
European power just as with any other state in the world with
whom they may wish to promote friendship. Nonetheless, how
ever loose such a relationship may be, if it should tend in the
slightest degree to impinge upon the African states relations
with other African states, its retention becomes indefensible.
Pan-Africa and not Eurafrica should be our watchword, and the
guide to our policies.
What is at stake is not the destiny of a single country but the
freedom and destiny of the African continent, the unalterable
prelude to African Union and the fullest development of the
many countries comprising the continent. J ust as we are alive to
the dangers of a world which is half-slave, half-free, so we are
alert to the perils of an African continent split between states that
are wholly sovereign and states that are only half-independent.
Such a pattern can only impede the real independence of Africa
and its transformation into an industrialized continent exercis
ing its rightful influence upon world affairs.
None of us should be under any illusion about the diffi
culties that lie ahead in the forging of continental government.
Enemies of African unity will multiply their endeavours to
deflect us from our course. Their device is the creation of discord
1 Resolution at the Conference of Brazzaville States held at Bangui from
25-26 March 1962.
NEO- COLONI ALISM IN AFRI CA 187
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
and distrust in order to keep a wedge between us. Besides the
open methods of division, the impact of rising nationalism
and independence has encouraged the more subtle velvet-glove
weapon of flattery of our national egos. Play is made upon our
vanities, the importance of each of us is magnified at the expense
of others. We are subjected to the insidious suggestion that a
certain African state is anxious to exalt itself to the place of the
retired colonial power; that some African states have a large
mouth, open and ready to swallow their neighbours. Appeal is
directed to our personal ambitions and we are reminded that in
a union of African states there will be room for only one Prime
Minister, a single cabinet and a sole representation at the United
Nations. Hints are spread around that some states, on account
of their size and magnitude of population, are more qualified
than others to play the role of leadership in Africa and to be its
mouthpiece. There is a tendency to divide Africa into fictitious
zones north and south of the Sahara which emphasizes racial,
religious and cultural differences.
The basic fallacy of these persuasions, dangerous to the in
dependence of Africa in their shrewd exploitation of our pride
and vanities, is the deliberate distortion of our vision of African
Union. We do not intend a relationship of unequal partners. We
envisage the African Union as a free merging together of peoples
with a common history and a common destiny. As with other
existing unions, the size and resources of countries joining the
African Union will be irrelevant to the choice of union leader
ship. I n America, the President is not chosen from the largest
of the states. Both President Eisenhower and President Truman
came from among the smaller states.
I n the early nineteenth century Simon Bolivar, the great
liberator of the South American colonies from Spain, had a
vision of a Union of South American States as the precursor to
the economic development of the South American continent.
Unfortunately for the subsequent history of these lands, he was
not able to bring his farsighted idea to triumph over the personal
ambitions and jealousies of contending individuals and forces.
We have seen the unhappy results of this failure in the dissidence
and sloth in which the South American countries were sunk for
so many decades. I t is only today, against the pressures of popular
discontent and welfare aspirations, that they are making some
headway on the road to development. Unless, however, they can
come together in a union such as Bolivar envisaged, their rate
of development can never reach anywhere near those of the
integrated, planned economies of the U.S.S.R. and China.
The United States of America, but for the firm resolve of
Abraham Lincoln to maintain the union of the states, might well
have fallen into a disintegration which would have barred the
way to the tremendous acceleration of development that an
enormous agglomeration of land, resources and people made
possible. Lincoln plunged into a civil war to maintain the union
as the only logical base of viability. Slavery and its abolition was
a secondary, subservient consideration, though the advantage of
free labour in a growing industrial economy, making for lower
working costs, and greater productivity, were impressing their
reasoning upon the entrepreneurs of the North.
Here, then, is the lesson for Africa, and our choice. Are we
to take the road of national exclusivism or the road of
union?
I n the British West Indies at this time we are witnessing a
sorry spectacle of political jugglery which refuses to subordinate
selfish big island interests to total West I ndian welfare within
federation. I nter-island rivalries and jealousies, adroitly stirred
by designing politicians, local racial dissensions which have been
deliberately fostered to break down a one-time at least super
ficial cosmopolitanism in such multi-racial islands as Trinidad
and J amaica, the skilfully exploited fears of the predominant
East I ndian population of the South American mainland terri
tory of British Guiana of being swamped within federation by
the total African-descended population, the complacency of
island leaders, have all played their several parts in interring the
still-born federation.
Federation of the British West I ndian territories, leading
eventually to a wider unity with those under other suzerainties,
is the only answer to the present poverty and stagnant agricul
tural societies of the Caribbean world. The islands are less
numerous and scattered than those of I ndonesia, where the
central government is reaching out to bring them all within a
centrally directed state. Unless they succeed in coming together
NEO- COLONI ALISM IN AFRI CA 189
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
within a federation more strongly knit under a firmer central
authority than the first attempt, the islands of the West Indies
can have a future no different from that of the banana republics5
of Central America, notwithstanding Trinidads oil and asphalt
industries and J amaicas bauxite extraction and secondary
manufactures. For these are, anyway, all foreign-owned and
controlled, and the illusion they give of industrialization must
disintegrate before the perennial problems of over-population
in islands like J amaica and Barbados, unemployment in all of
them, and the steadily rising inflation which has become a
noticeable feature of West I ndian economies.
Meantime, separate and inwardly split into minuteness by
political friction and group animosities, they are unable to give
support to the African struggle for freedom and unity, in spite
of the bonds of race and sympathy that exist.
Vanity and narrowness of outlook were what kept the leaders
of the original states of North America from uniting for a long
time. They were finally overwhelmed by the exertions of the
people and the emergence of leaders of stature, maturity and
farsightedness. No one today doubts that the welfare and pros
perity of the United States would never have been achieved if
each state still cherished its petty sovereignty in splendid isola
tion. Y et in those days there was perhaps less obvious reason for
South Carolina to join New Hampshire as members of a conti
nental union than there is today for Ghana and Nigeria, Guinea
and Dahomey, Togo and I vory Coast, Cameroon and Mali,
and others, to form themselves into a Union as a first step to the
creation of a union of all the states of the African continent.
That is why any effort at association between the states of
Africa, however limited its immediate horizons, is to be wel
comed as a step in the right direction: the eventual political
unification of Africa.
The Central African Federation was never to be confused
with these free associations of Africans expressing their own desire
to come together. The Federation of Northern and Southern
Rhodesia and Nyasaland was forced upon the Africans of those
territories by the white settler minorities, with the consent of the
United Kingdom Government, in the hope that they would be
able to extend their combined hegemony over a dominion freed
NEO- COLONI ALISM IN AFRICA
from the supervision of Whitehall, and to spread the intensive
racial practises of Southern Rhodesia to the other parts.
There is a strong financial and ideological connection between
South Africa and the Rhodesias which extends through Portu
guese Angola and Mozambique. There is talk of a secret military
pact between Portugal and the Union of South Africa. The
military machine that is being built up by South Africa presents
a most threatening danger, not only to the struggle for independ
ence in Central, East and South Africa, but to the safety of the
already independent African states. I t is unfortunate that the
United Kingdom, even though South Africa has withdrawn
from the Commonwealth following the heavy censure of her
apartheid policy from the majority of the members, continues to
give support to the Unions policy of military preparedness.
We cannot afford either to ignore the sinister chain of interests
which unites events in the Congo and Angola to East and South
Africa. These interests are also connected with the East-West
battle for world supremacy and the frenzied efforts being made
to drag the newly emerging countries of Africa into the orbit of
the cold war. The contest for ideological influence over the new
states of Africa is throwing into confusion and complicating even
more what is already a complex enough struggle for freedom
from imperialist political and economic dominance and the
unification of the continent. Any difference, any kind of fissure
among Africans is seized and turned to the imperialist and cold-
war interests. The Congo offers perhaps the most striking
example of how tribal dissensions and political careerism are
exploited in order to fragment united territories and exacerbate
divisions. The aim of the marionette control of local careerists
like Moise Tshombe, besides the maintenance of economic
power, is to cut across the African determination to secure
continental unity in full independence. I t was unfortunate that
the United Nations was manoeuvred into a position where at one
time it appeared to be weighting its influence against the
legitimate Congolese Government on the side of those who were
responsible for throwing the country into upheaval and for the
murder of Patrice L umumba.
We must be forgiven, I think, if we also see some connection
between events in the Congo and Angola and N.A.T.O. The
192 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
dominating powers joined in this organization - Britain, France,
the United States - are all influenced by financial, industrial and
military considerations in maintaining in Africa regimes that
will support their interests. The means used for doing so are, if the
evidence is to be believed, dubious in the extreme. I t would be
difficult to convince most people of what can only be described as
the criminal intent behind certain actions that are employed to
upset the stability of states trying to sustain their national unity
and integrity against subversive forces. I t has been left, however,
to a publication linked with N.A.T.O. to reveal the strategy of the
coup d'etat, which is recommended for use out of the search for
alternative methods of violence. This publication, the General
Military Review, published in its October 1957 issue an article by
a Captain Goodspeed, on this subject, in which he advised that:
I n s u r g e n t l e a d e r s s h o u l d e n d e a v o u r t o e n s u r e t h a t p u b l i c
o p i n i o n i s i n f l a m e d a g a i n s t t h e g o v e r n m e n t p r i o r t o t h e coup.
C a r e f u l l y s e l e c t e d a c t s s h o u l d b e p e r f o r m e d w h i c h w i l l p r o v o k e
o f f i c i a l r e a c t i o n , a n d t h i s r e a c t i o n s h o u l d b e p r e s e n t e d t o t h e
p u b l i c i n t h e w o r s t p o s s i b l e l i g h t . T h e r e i s p r o b a b l y n o b e t t e r
w a y o f a c h i e v i n g t h i s t h a n b y a j u d i c i o u s a s s a s s i n a t i o n o r t w o .
T h e g e n e r a l p u b l i c , f r o m t h e v e r y i n c e p t i o n o f t h e coup, s h o u l d
b e k e p t i n f o r m e d , n o t n e c e s s a r i l y o f w h a t i s a c t u a l l y g o i n g o n ,
b u t a t l e a s t o f w h a t t h e r e b e l s w i s h t h e m t o b e l i e v e .
T h e o b j e c t o f t h i s i s t o i n f l u e n c e t h e p u b l i c i n t h o s e c o u r s e s o f
a c t i o n d e s i r e d b y t h e i n s u r g e n t s , a n d i t i s n o t n e c e s s a r y t h e r e f o r e
t h a t t h e b r o a d c a s t s c o r r e s p o n d t o t h e r e a l s i t u a t i o n .
This exposure must surely give credence to the publication of
plots that governments in Africa have uncovered from time to
time, aimed at assassinating the leaders and overturning the
state.
As we examine the multifarious dangers to which the new
states and the freedom fighters of Africa are exposed, the more it
becomes certain that our best, indeed our one, protection is in
unity. For it is that very unity which all the imperialist designs
and actions are intended to prevent. I t should, therefore, be
glaringly obvious that these designs can only be circumvented by
achieving the end they are planned to frustrate. At present, an
apparent diversity of view among the leaders of some of the
NEO- COLONI ALISM IN AFRI CA
193
African territories draws a fagade of disharmony across the
fervent will to unity that pervades the rank and file of the large
nationalist movements throughout the continent. I t is the idea of
the universality of freedom that has impelled the struggle for in
dependence. And just as the vast masses of the peoples of Africa
instinctively absorbed the notion of freedoms indivisibility, so, in
contradistinction to those unpatriotic leaders who ally them
selves with foreign interests rather than support Africas con
tinental cohesion, they spontaneously understand and uphold
the need for African union. Their Africanism is a more solid
reality, for they have not been seduced by the sophistries of
assimilation into an alien culture and foreign ideological
identity. There is a bond of unity here that cannot be dis
regarded. I t must be used to mould the cause of African Union
and carry us forward to its attainment and the exorcism of every
vestige of imperialism from our continent. Our course is clear.
We must beware of the gift of fictitious independence and refuse
the falsities of encumbered foreign alliances. We must examine
carefully praise from questionable sources and give to the people
guarantees of our sincerity in every way. We must stand firmly
together against the imperialist forces which are engineering our
division and seeking to make Africa a war-ground of contending
interests. For it is only in the African association of unity and not
in a rider-horse relationship with the very powers that are
planning our balkanization that we can counteract and sur
mount this machiavellian danger.
A Union of African States must strengthen our influence on the
international scene, as all Africa will speak with one concerted
voice. With union, our example of a multiple of peoples living
and working for mutual development in amity and peace will
point the way for the smashing of the inter-territorial barriers
existing elsewhere, and give a new meaning to the concept of
human brotherhood. A Union of African States will raise the
dignity of Africa and strengthen its impact on world affairs. I t
will make possible the full expression of the African personality.
CHAPTER NI NETEEN
A F R I C A I N WO R L D A F F A I R S
I t is impossible to separate the affairs of Africa from the affairs
of the world as a whole. Not only has the history of Africa been
too closely involved with Europe and the Western hemisphere,
but that very involvement has been the driving force in bringing
about major wars and international conflicts for which Africans
have not been responsible. Africa has too long been the victim of
disruptive aggression, which still attempts to make a hunting
ground of our continent.
Our interest, therefore, in the maintenance of peace and the
elimination of the forces which daily threaten it, is very real
indeed. Hence, our co-operation in any living organism that can
be counted on effectively to promote international peace,
provided it does not invade our independence of action, is
assured. At the moment there exists only the United Nations
Organization which offers, with all its defects, the possibility of
working towards a peaceful world.
When the United Nations Organization was founded in 1945,
Asian and African nationalism was of little consequence. Since
then, however, so many former colonies have achieved in
dependence that Afro-Asian countries now form the most
influential single group within the United Nations.
At the end of 1961, African states occupied more than a
quarter of the seats. The proportion might rise to almost a third
as the entire African continent becomes free. This possibility was
certainly in the minds of those at the Lagos conference when they
passed a resolution calling for a specifically African group at the
United Nations.
But the dramatic increase in the international importance of
independent Africa, though it may at first sight appear to
AFRI CA IN WORLD AFFAIRS
*95
demonstrate strength, in fact reflects weakness, since it is based in
the fragmentation of the continent into many states, few of
which are really viable.
The two most powerful countries in the world are the
U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A., with populations of 215 millions and
185 millions respectively. Both have one representative each at
the United Nations, as entities; though the Byelo Soviet Socialist
Republic and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, units of
the U.S.S.R., are each represented since Laos and Cambodia
were admitted. I ndia, with her population of 460 millions, also
has only one representative. When the Peoples Republic of
China is admitted, its mighty population of over 640 million
people will doubtless have a single representative. There is no
reason, therefore, why Africa, with its approximately 300 million
people, once united, should not send a single representative to
the United Nations. A single representation, resting on the
strength of a whole continent, would be more positive in its
influence than all the separate representations of the African
states put together.
Although confidence in the United Nations has suffered
several shocks since its foundation, and particularly of late in
connection with the Congo crisis, it remains the only world
organization in which the many problems of the world have a
chance of finding reasonable solution. I t must, therefore, be
supported by all interested in the preservation of peace and the
progress of human civilization.
We in Ghana showed our faith in the organization when we
responded at once with troops to support United Nztions inter
vention in the Congo in i960. The reason why we did not with
draw our troops when several other countries did, was because
we felt that by doing so we would weaken the authority
of the United Nations and leave the way open for the intensi
fication of intervention from just those forces we are anxious to
oust.
Recently, in J anuary 1962, Ghana was elected to serve for two
years as a non-permanent member of the eleven-nation Security
Council. We welcomed the opportunity to take our share of
responsibility in the United Nations, though this does not deter
us from pressing for certain changes in the administrative
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
structure which we consider necessary if it is to function as a more
objectively serviceable organ of world peace.
The United Nations, in its present form, does not reflect true
conditions in the world at this time. Today, more and more
countries are assuming the dignity of sovereign states out of a
colonial status which previously made them nothing but
appendages or vassals of imperialism. I t has not, however,
eliminated the view that the powerful nations (and some who
regard themselves as still powerful even though events have
proved their brittle vulnerability) have a right to set the pattern
for the budding nations and even to interfere nakedly in the
internal affairs of these struggling states.
I n the past might meant right. The idea that right presides in
might still persists. I ndeed, it has achieved its fateful acme in the
contest between the two colossi, who seek to draw the rest of the
world into their opposing camps. However, the very fact of a
progressively enlarging world, which is altering not only in the
number of independent nations but in kind, is having its impact
in creating a fringe bloc of states which, though individually
unimportant, collectively are able to exert an influence on the
international scene which is unprecedented.
Their common concern with the anti-colonial struggle and
the continuing liberation of subjected territories is forcing the
United Nations to abandon its temporizing methods for more
positive measures in connection with arbitrary rule in Africa, as
well as the extension of aid to the less developed parts of the
world. The constant whittling at South Africas resistance
resulted in the visit in May 1962 of a United Nations special
mission to the trust territory of South-West Africa to investigate
allegations of slavery and maltreatment. Another delegation
from the United Nations special committee on colonization
visited East Africa to enquire into conditions in Mozambique
from freedom fighters who had been forced into exile in
Tanganyika and elsewhere. A seventeen-nation sub-committee
which sent a mission to Central Africa to examine the tenability
of Central African Federation, recommended its breaking up, as
it imposed no freedom measures on the majority population. I t
found that the proposed new constitution for Northern Rhodesia
was basically undemocratic and discriminatory. The principle
AFRI CA IN WORLD AFFAIRS
197
of parity made a sham of democracy by providing 70,000 non-
Africans with fifteen seats in parliament and giving the same
number to 3,000,000 Africans.
Nothing like this busy concern with the African surge for
freedom could ever have happened without the concerted
pressure of the newly independent states within the world
organization of nations.
And they are able to operate their decisive influence because
many of them adhere to a policy of non-commitment to either of
the East-West blocs, a policy of neutral non-alignment, but not
of passivity. They exercise their right of free choice in supporting
those acts which they consider will help to maintain the peace on
which their continuance as independent nations rests.
When the United Nations came into being, the old order still
existed and its rules made concessions to the prevailing
assumption of the priority of the great powers. I t is now necessary
that recognition be given and concession made to the novel factor
of a growing number of new states unwilling to be swallowed up
by the older, powerful ones. Thus, at the Conference of Non
Aligned Countries, held in Belgrade in September 1961, I
suggested that three deputy secretary-generals should be
appointed, one from the East, one from the West, and the third
from among the uncommitted nations. This would reflect the
main streams of current political thought, restore confidence in
the secretary-generalship, and enlarge the objectivity of the
secretariat.
I also proposed the setting up of an executive body, elected by
the General Assembly, whose duty it would be to ensure that the
decisions of both the General Assembly and the Security Council
were faithfully and promptly put into effect. For it cannot be
denied that decisions are not always readily executed. An
effective secretariat is essential to the proper functioning of
the United Nations and the energetic implementation of
decisions.
Ever-darkening clouds over Angola, South-West Africa, the
Rhodesias, Congo, Laos, Korea, and over Berlin, gravely over
cast the international sky. I t is significant that so many uneasy
centres are in Africa and Asia. For where they are not the direct
outcome of Western imperialist manceuvrings, they are engaged
198 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
with an issue arising from the conflict between the two great
power blocs of East and West, with which the peace of the world
is dangerously tied up. These two blocs are each committed to its
own political and economic ideology. Both are militarily power
ful, and each is suspicious of the thoughts and actions of the
other. The failure to reach any agreement over such fundamental
issues as disarmament and the testing of nuclear weapons seems
to hold out little hope for the future.
A new and vigorous approach to the problem of peace and war
is needed. The time has come wrhen the destiny of mankind
should cease to hang so dangerously on the aims and ambitions
of the great powers. I n recent years I have travelled extensively
in America, in the Soviet Union, in Europe, I ndia and China,
where I have spoken to men and women in all walks of life.
Everywhere, I have noticed a deep longing for peace. This
universal, but often inarticulate, desire for peace must find
expression and exert its proper influence on the conduct of
world affairs. For peace is indivisible. Disagreement between
East and West, for example over Laos or Berlin, can threaten the
security of the whole of the rest of the world.
These were the kind of considerations behind the Belgrade
Conference of the Non-Aligned Countries, held in September
1961, which 25 countries1attended. At Belgrade, we did not
intend to form a third power bloc, but we did hope by our
solidarity to constitute ourselves into a distinct moral force
which might hold the balance of power between East and West
in the cause of peace.
At that time the United States was spending an estimated
$47,966 million a year on defence and armaments alone, more
than half the entire national budget. I n i960 the Soviet Union
spent some 96,100 million roubles on defence, out of a national
budget of 745,800 million roubles. I n a declaration issued at the
end of the Belgrade Conference, the United Nations was asked
to convene either a special session of the General Assembly
1 Afghanistan, Algeria, Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, Congo, Cuba, Cyprus,
Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, I ndia, Indonesia, I raq, Lebanon, Mali, Morocco,
Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Republic,
Y emen and Y ugoslavia. There were observers from Brazil, Bolivia, and
Ecuador.
AFRI CA IN WORLD AFFAIRS
*99
to discuss disarmament, or to call a world disarmament
conference.
When the non-aligned nations talk of disarmament they are
not merely concerned with the destructiveness and madness of
the armaments race. They are thinking of the vast possibilities
now denied the people of the less-developed areas for increased
standards of living, the development of agriculture and industry,
the planning of cities, the abolition of illiteracy and want, and the
curing of disease. I t has been estimated that one-tenth of the
expenditure involved in armaments would be enough to raise the
whole of the less-developed world to the level of a self-sustaining
economy. The influence of the uncommitted nations must be
exerted to the full to restore a proper sense of values to the
world.
As a contribution to this end, the Ghana government set aside
50,000 for an Assembly held in Accra in J une 1962, and
attended by representatives of all organizations throughout the
world whose aim is the ending of the threat of nuclear warfare
and the establishment of universal peace. At the meeting of the
Preparatory Committee for this Accra Assembly, held in
Zagreb, Y ugoslavia, in March 1962, it was agreed that the
following subjects should be discussed: the reduction of inter
national tensions; methods of effective inspection and control in
disarmament; the transformation of existing military nuclear
materials to peaceful purposes, and the prevention of the spread
of nuclear weapons; economic problems involved in or arising
from disarmament; and the examination of such fundamental
problems as hunger, disease, ignorance, poverty and servitude,
with a view to utilizing for social purposes resources now misused
as a result of the armaments race.
The three basic aims of Ghanas foreign policy are African in
dependence, African unity, and the maintenance of world peace
through a policy of positive neutrality and non-alignment. The
first two aims are inextricably bound together, since until we are
free from foreign domination we cannot be completely united.
Y et united action is essential if we are to achieve full independ
ence. The third aim is closely associated with the other two.
Living as we do under the constant threat of universal
destruction, the more unaligned nations there are, the wider the
200 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
non-committed area of the world, the better the chances of
human survival. By moral force, if not by material strength, the
non-aligned nations must exert their influence to save the world
from ultimate disaster. The unity of Africa and the strength it
would gather from continental integration of its economic and
industrial development, supported by a united policy of non
alignment, could have a most powerful effect for world peace.
I do not believe it is possible for a state, in the world today, to
secure its safety by withdrawing from international affairs and
refusing to take a stand on issues which affect peace and war. This
would be to follow a policy of negative neutralism which is
tantamount to a fatal belief that war between the great powers
would bring misery and destruction only to those who partici
pated in it. Since war, if it comes, is likely to destroy most of us,
whether we are participants or not, whether or not we are the
cause of it, negative neutralism is no shield at all. I t is completely
impotent and even dangerous.
The participants in the Belgrade Conference held this view.
They agreed it was essential that the non-aligned countries
should participate in solving outstanding international issues
concerning peace and security in the world as none of them can
remain unaffected by, or indifferent to, these issues.1 They
considered that the further extension of the non-committed area
of the world constituted the only possible alternative to the
policy of the total division of the world into blocs, and the
intensification of cold war policies.
A free and united Africa would contribute greatly to the
strength of the non-committed area. While the enormous
obstacles that still stand in the way of African freedom and unity
must not be under-estimated, account must be taken of the ever
growing strength of our cause. For the opposition to colonialism,
both moral and material, is greater in the world today than it has
ever been, and it is becoming more powerful all the time.
I t is significant that, at the fifteenth session of the General
Assembly of the United Nations, a Declaration on the granting
of I ndependence to Colonial Countries and Peoples was
adopted. Not only was colonialism condemned, but colonial
powers were asked to begin preparations at once for the liberation
1 D e c l a r a t i o n i s s u e d a t t h e e n d o f t h e C o n f e r e n c e , i n O c t o b e r 1 9 6 1 .
AFRI CA IN WORLD AFFAIRS 201
of all territories still under their rule. This declaration was
strongly supported at the Belgrade Conference, though it has yet
to be implemented.
United States spokesmen have often declared their con
demnation of colonialism and latterly have affirmed their support
of African independence. We must hope this means that deter
mined efforts will be made to halt the imperialist interventions of
the Western bloc in Africa. The Soviet Union, by the very nature
of its state and constitution, is a supporter of independence. We
can count, also, on large numbers of well-wishers in Britain and
in other colonial countries. The days of colonialism in Africa are
numbered, despite the military reinforcements Portugal has
hurriedly packed into Angola, and the imperialist and cold-war
machinations in the Congo; despite the latest suppressions of the
nationalist movements in the Rhodesias, the gruelling enforce
ment of apartheid in South Africa, and the frenzied manoeuvres
of neo-colonialism in Africa. Sooner or later, and I think it
will be much sooner than the world thinks, all these frantic
efforts to save imperialism in Africa will be swept into the debris
of history.
Along with them will go the fascist dictatorships in Europe
that are so finely balanced on the prolongation of colonialism,
which, in the case of Spain, provided the military means for the
seizure of power; with the concurrence of a democratic world
more concerned at the time with supporting reactionary ruling
cliques as a bastion against Communism than with the issue of
popular liberty. I n the present, there is a positive revolutionary
connection between Captain Galvaos exposure of Portuguese
atrocities in Angola after his plucky break for freedom and the
intensification of nationalist activities in the Portuguese colonies.
These, in turn, are undoubtedly having their reaction upon the
intellectual and working class revolt in progress against the
dictatorship in Portugal. The weakening of Portuguese fascism
simultaneously at the metropolitan centre and in the colonial
periphery can start off a chain of events which might successfully
engage Portuguese forces split between the metropolis and the
colonies, provided there is no interference from the neo
colonialist and cold-war elements. There is the danger that
South Africas military forces may be brought into play to
202 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
prevent the extension of the colonial revolt to its own and its
neighbours borders.
The freedom fighters of Africa must prepare themselves for
this danger, which also threatens the independent states, who can
meet it effectively by unifying their military command and
foreign policy, and uniting with the liberation movements
through a concerted strategy. The dangerous potentials herein
envisaged are a graphic illustration of the direct bearing of im
perialism on international affairs through its instruments,
colonialism and neo-colonialism. I t can be readily seen that
imperialism is a fundamental cause of war. An iniquitous system
which has generated intense rivalries and conflicts between
nations that erupted into open warfare on a major scale in the
scramble to secure a place in the sun of colonial supremacy, it
has today spawned the neo-colonialism which is as busy as ever in
creating clashes among the nations. I n their eagerness to exploit
the resources of the overseas territories, they engage in wicked
policies that bring a serious threat to the peace of the world.
Their grabbing involves them in a constant scramble, like crabs
in a pot, climbing over each others backs in order to get the
biggest helping. More often than not this scramble ends in
physical fighting, with the loss of countless innocent lives.
When we in Africa denounce imperialism and the recent off
shoot, neo-colonialism, we do it not only because we believe that
Africa belongs to the Africans and should be governed by them,
but also in the interest of world peace which is so essential to our
development and freedom. By abolishing imperialism in all its
forms, the world will be rid of many of the present areas of
conflict.
I t is in the same interest of world peace that we also advocate
unity. A united Africa would be able to make a greater con
tribution towards the peace and progress of mankind. For one
thing, it would resolve the problems of those arbitrary frontiers
erected by the colonial powers, and so eliminate irredentist
dissensions. There would be no foreign military bases on African
soil. With a united foreign policy and a common defence plan,
there would be no need for them. I n the concourse of African
union, no African country would be left in a position of solitary
weakness in which it could be bullied into allowing them. Any
AFRI CA IN WORLD AFFAI RS 203
kind of military pacts or alliances with outside powers would be
unnecessary. Our united strength would be sufficient to deter
any would-be aggressor, since an attack on any African country
would be regarded as an attack on the Union.
The maintenance of military forces imposes a heavy financial
burden on even the most wealthy African states. We all need
every penny we can get for development, and it is suicidal for
each of us, individually, to assume such a heavy burden when the
weight could be lightened by sharing it among ourselves. I do
not imagine that France would have dared to attack Bizerta if
we had been united. Nor would she explode atomic bombs in the
Sahara in spite of urgent and repeated African objections.
World peace today needs Africas total independence, needs
Africas unity, as positive contributions to an elimination of the
elements engaged in creating the conditions for war. Some of
these elements are connected with the supply of materials for and
promotion of the manufacture of the most lethal weapons of
destruction yet devised. To ensure the continuance of this supply,
Africa is being drawn into the danger zone of war. I n Angola, the
Rhodesias, in South Africa, a menacing military machine is
being built up, aimed at destroying African independence and
maintaining the servitude of millions of Africans to white
supremacy, in conditions of slavery.
World peace is not possible without the complete liquidation
of colonialism and the total liberation of peoples everywhere.
The indivisibility of peace is staked upon the indivisibility of
freedom. And this indivisibility extends to minorities within
independent states who are segregated from the body politic.
Wherever there is the possibility of conflict arising out of dis
criminations and the refusal of human rights, the peace of the
world is threatened.
Hence it follows that, if the true interest of all peoples is
pursued, there must come an end to all forms of exploitation and
oppression of man by man, of nation by nation; there must come
an end to war. There must result peaceful co-existence and the
prosperity and happiness of all mankind.
The balance of forces in the world today has reached such a
stage that the only avenue open to mankind is peaceful co
existence. The alternative to this is chaos, destruction and
204
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
annihilation. However, in terms of the African Revolution, we
cannot speak of a balance of forces or even of co-existence as long
as the problem of colonialism remains unsolved. Until
colonialism and imperialism in all their various forms and
manifestations have been completely eradicated from Africa,
it would be inconsistent for the African Revolution to co-exist
with imperialism.
E X A M PL E S OF M A J OR U N I ONS
OF ST A T ES
T h e r e are in the world several unions of states which can offer
examples or case studies for the political unification of Africa:
the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, Australia, Canada, Switzerland and Venezuela.
Each of them came into being at different historical periods, but
all aimed at giving greater protection to the uniting states
against internal and external disintegrating pressures; and at
providing within the union the conditions of viability and
security which would lead to faster economic evolution.
The first of them was the United States of America, whose
constitution has, with modifications and adaptations, provided
a pattern for most of those which followed. J ames Bryce, a
famous English jurist who died in 1922, in his Studies in History
and Jurisprudence, defined the most perfect form of a federation
of states as that which delegates to a supreme federal govern
ment certain powers or functions inherent in themselves or in
their sovereign or separate capacity. I n its turn, the federal or
union government, in the exercise of those specific powers, acts
directly on the individual citizen no less than upon the com
munities making up the federation. The separate states retain
unimpaired their individual sovereignty in respect of the residual
powers unallotted to the central or federal authority. The
citizens of the federated states owe a double allegiance, one to
the individual state, the other to the federal government.
By the constitution adopted in 1787 and put into effect in
1789, the original thirteen members of the United States of
America, each wholly independent of the other, formed a
federal republic by a voluntary combination. This formation
strengthened and centralized the confederation and perpetual
CHAPTER TWENTY
206 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
union that had been established under the confederation articles
accepted in 1777 and operated between 1781 and 1789. The
constitution recognized a common citizenship for the whole
union, and gave powers to the federal government to exercise
such authority as was expressly delegated to it. These powers
which are extremely wide, are set out under Article One Section
8 of the constitution as follows:
T h e C o n g r e s s s h a l l h a v e p o w e r t o l a y a n d c o l l e c t t a x e s , d u t i e s ,
i m p o r t s a n d e x c i s e , t o p a y t h e d e b t s a n d p r o v i d e f o r t h e c o m m o n
d e f e n c e a n d g e n e r a l w e l f a r e o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ; b u t a l l d u t i e s ,
i m p o r t s a n d e x c i s e s h a l l b e u n i f o r m t h r o u g h o u t t h e U n i t e d
S t a t e s ;
T o b o r r o w m o n e y o n t h e c r e d i t o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ; t o r e g u
l a t e c o m m e r c e w i t h f o r e i g n n a t i o n s , a n d a m o n g t h e s e v e r a l
s t a t e s , a n d w i t h t h e I n d i a n t r i b e s ; t o e s t a b l i s h a u n i f o r m r u l e o f
n a t u r a l i z a t i o n , a n d u n i f o r m l a w s o n t h e s u b j e c t o f b a n k r u p t c i e s
t h r o u g h o u t t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ;
T o c o i n m o n e y , r e g u l a t e t h e v a l u e t h e r e o f , a n d o f f o r e i g n c o i n ,
a n d f i x t h e s t a n d a r d s o f w e i g h t s a n d m e a s u r e s ;
T o p r o v i d e f o r t h e p u n i s h m e n t o f c o u n t e r f e i t i n g t h e s e c u r i t i e s
a n d c u r r e n t c o i n o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ;
T o e s t a b l i s h p o s t - o f f i c e s a n d p o s t - r o a d s ;
T o p r o m o t e t h e p r o g r e s s o f s c i e n c e a n d u s e f u l a r t s , b y s e c u r i n g
f o r l i m i t e d t i m e s t o a u t h o r s a n d i n v e n t o r s t h e e x c l u s i v e r i g h t t o
t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e w r i t i n g s a n d d i s c o v e r i e s ;
T o c o n s t i t u t e t r i b u n a l s i n f e r i o r t o t h e S u p r e m e C o u r t ;
T o d e f i n e a n d p u n i s h p i r a c i e s a n d f e l o n i e s c o m m i t t e d o n t h e
h i g h s e a s , a n d o f f e n c e s a g a i n s t t h e l a w o f n a t i o n s ;
T o d e c l a r e w a r , g r a n t l e t t e r s o f m a r q u e a n d r e p r i s a l , a n d
m a k e r u l e s c o n c e r n i n g c a p t u r e s o n l a n d a n d w a t e r ;
T o r a i s e a n d s u p p o r t a r m i e s , b u t n o a p p r o p r i a t i o n o f m o n e y
t o t h a t u s e s h a l l b e f o r a l o n g e r t e r m t h a n t w o y e a r s ;
T o p r o v i d e a n d m a i n t a i n a n a v y ;
T o m a k e r u l e s f o r t h e g o v e r n m e n t a n d r e g u l a t i o n o f t h e l a n d
a n d n a v a l f o r c e s ;
T o p r o v i d e f o r c a l l i n g f o r t h t h e m i l i t i a t o e x e c u t e t h e l a w s o f
t h e U n i o n , s u p p r e s s i n s u r r e c t i o n s a n d r e p e l i n v a s i o n s ;
T o p r o v i d e f o r o r g a n i z i n g , a r m i n g a n d d i s c i p l i n i n g t h e
m i l i t i a , a n d f o r g o v e r n i n g s u c h p a r t o f t h e m a s m a y b e e m p l o y e d
i n t h e s e r v i c e o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , r e s e r v i n g t o t h e s t a t e s r e s p e c
t i v e l y , t h e a p p o i n t m e n t o f t h e o f f i c e r s , a n d t h e a u t h o r i t y o f
t r a i n i n g t h e m i l i t i a a c c o r d i n g t o t h e d i s c i p l i n e p r e s c r i b e d b y
C o n g r e s s ;
T o e x e r c i s e e x c l u s i v e l e g i s l a t i o n i n a l l c a s e s w h a t s o e v e r , o v e r
s u c h d i s t r i c t ( n o t e x c e e d i n g t e n m i l e s s q u a r e ) a s m a y , b y c e s s i o n
o f p a r t i c u l a r s t a t e s , a n d t h e a c c e p t a n c e o f C o n g r e s s , b e c o m e t h e
s e a t o f t h e g o v e r n m e n t o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , 1 a n d t o e x e r c i s e l i k e
a u t h o r i t y o v e r a l l p l a c e s p u r c h a s e d b y t h e c o n s e n t o f t h e l e g i s
l a t u r e o f t h e s t a t e i n w h i c h t h e s a m e s h a l l b e , f o r t h e e r e c t i o n o f
f o r t s , m a g a z i n e s , a r s e n a l s , d o c k y a r d s a n d o t h e r n e e d f u l b u i l d
i n g s ; a n d
T o m a k e a l l l a w s w h i c h s h a l l b e n e c e s s a r y a n d p r o p e r f o r
c a r r y i n g i n t o e x e c u t i o n t h e f o r e g o i n g p o w e r s v e s t e d b y t h i s C o n
s t i t u t i o n i n t h e g o v e r n m e n t o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , o r i n a n y
d e p a r t m e n t o r o f f i c e t h e r e o f .
Apart from allocating certain special powers to the federal
government, the United States constitution lays down certain
specifics in regard to migration of persons, the inviolability of
habeas corpus except when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the
public safety may require i t5, export taxes and duties, inter-state
duties, the avoidance of preference in the regulation of com
merce or revenue as between the ports of the different states,
the appropriation of moneys from the federal treasury, as well
as a number of other matters.
The constitution can be amended by approval of two-thirds
of both houses of Congress, or on the application of the legis
latures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention
for proposing amendments, which in either case shall be valid
to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when
ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states,
or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the
other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress5. No
amendment, however, can, without its consent, deprive any of
the states of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
Three distinct authorities have been entrusted with the powers
of the central government: executive, legislative and judicial.
The executive head is the President, who is elected for a term of
four years by electors chosen for that purpose from each of the
1 That is, the District of Columbia, in which Washington, the capital, is
situated.
EXAMPLES OF MAJOR UNIONS OF STATES 207
208 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
states. He chooses and dismisses his own cabinet, members of
which are responsible to the President and not to the Legislature.
I n case of his resignation or death, the Vice-President, ex officio
President of the Senate, assumes the presidency. The presidential
succession is regulated by an act of 1887. Beginning with the
Secretary of State, the succession goes according to the seniority
of the departments.
Legislative power is vested in a Congress consisting of two
houses: a House of Representatives, composed of representatives
in numbers proportionate to the population of each state. They
hold their seats for two years. The senior house is the Senate,
having two members from each of the states, elected for six years,
but in rotating thirds. The supreme judicial authority is vested
in a supreme court, which consists of a chief justice and eight
associate justices, all appointed for life by the President, subject
to confirmation by the Senate. The task of the Supreme Court is
to balance the rights of the citizens with the interpretation of the
constitution.
Defining briefly the nature of the Soviet Union, the constitu
tion sets out its role as the determinator and director of the union
economy, in which it safeguards the small private economy of
individual peasants and handicraftsmen based on their own
labour and precluding the exploitation of the labour of others.
I t also protects the personal property right of citizens in their
incomes, the savings from them and their personal effects,
including houses, and the right to inherit such property.
The Soviet Union consists of sixteen sovereign republics and
some hundred autonomous republics, autonomous regions and
areas. The first Soviet constitution, adopted in 1924, revised in
1936 and subsequently amended in certain respects, guarantees
equal rights for all citizens regardless of race or nationality.
Every citizen of a Union republic is also a citizen of the U.S.S.R.,
giving dual citizenship.
The Supreme Soviet is the highest organ of power. I t is elected
every four years and consists of two chambers: the Council of
the Union and the Council of Nationalities, both of which have
equal rights, and must approve legislation before it becomes
effective. Election to the Council of the Union is by direct vote
on the basis of one deputy for every 300,000 of the population.
The Council of Nationalities is elected on an equalitarian basis
of twenty-five deputies for each Union republic, eleven from
each autonomous republic, five each from the autonomous
regions and one from each autonomous area. The Supreme
Soviet meets at least twice a year for about ten days, but a small
number of members is elected to carry on its work between
sessions. This is called the Praesidium. I t does the major part of
the work of the supreme authority, but its actions must be
ratified by the Supreme Soviet. The Supreme Soviet, at a joint
sitting of the two chambers, appoints the Council of Ministers
of the U.S.S.R., which includes the heads of the various state
committees and also the chairmen of the Councils of Ministers
of the Union republics, by virtue of their office. The division
between All-Union ministers and republican ministers is defined
by the constitution.
The powers of the All-Union government are specifically
defined and include foreign affairs; defence and security;
finance, money and credit; the use of the land and its resources,
which are nationalized; the planning, administration and super
vision of the Union economy; education and health; the judicial
system and procedure; weights and measures; marriage and
family; rights of citizens and aliens; and many other matters.
Outside of the spheres of central authority set out in the con
stitution, the Union republics exercise independent authority
and are in great measure responsible for carrying out their parts
of the unified state programme. Specifically, the U.S.S.R.
protects the sovereign rights of the Union republics, whose
territory may not be altered without the consent of the republic
concerned. Since February 1944, each republic has the right:
( 1 ) t o h a v e i t s o w n n a t i o n a l a r m y f o r m a t i o n ;
( 2 ) t o e n t e r i n t o d i r e c t n e g o t i a t i o n s w i t h f o r e i g n g o v e r n m e n t s ,
t o c o n c l u d e a g r e e m e n t s w i t h t h e m a n d t o h a v e d i p l o m a t i c
a n d c o n s u l a r r e p r e s e n t a t i o n a b r o a d ; a n d
( 3 ) t o s e v e r r e l a t i o n s w i t h t h e U n i o n a n d s e c e d e f r o m i t . ( T h i s
r i g h t w a s a c a r d i n a l r i g h t g r a n t e d i n t h e f i r s t c o n s t i t u t i o n ,
b u t i s n o w m o r e c l e a r l y d e f i n e d . )
Each Union republic has its own constitution, which takes
account of the specific features of the republic and is drawn up
EXAMPLES OF MAJOR UNIONS OF STATES 209
210 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
in full conformity with the constitution of the U.S.S.R. I n the
event of divergence between a law of the Union republic and a
law of the Union, the Union law prevails. Laws of the Union are
published in the languages of all the Union republics.
The right to nominate candidates for election belongs to the
various social organizations and societies: the Communist Party,
trade unions, co-operatives, youth organizations and cultural
societies. However, only the Communist Party is tolerated, all
other organizations being classified as non-party.
The U.S.S.R., beginning wUh four republics, now comprises
sixteen. Few would have thought that so many different peoples
at various levels of social, political and economic development,
could have been welded into the mighty power which the Soviet
Union has become in a comparatively short space of time.
Similarly, in the case of North America, the original thirteen
states have grown to fifty and 1787 constitution, with various
amendments, still operates in the United States.
There is, however, a significant difference between the union
of the American states and that of the Soviet Socialist Republics,
in the historical circumstances that secured their combination.
Though originally conceived as a free union of sovereign states,
the United States of America, in its present form, was not
achieved as a free and voluntary union, but was imposed as the
result of the Norths victory over the South in the civil war. The
right to secede was brought into the open when some states broke
away in 1861, and President Lincoln, in order to maintain
the unity of the nation, began the civil war against the
secessionists.
Though the seceding states wanted to break up the Union
because of the Norths growing opposition to slavery, Lincoln,
writing to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Herald Tribune,
in 1862, declared that my paramount object is to save the Union,
and not either to save or destroy slavery. I f I could save the
Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; if I could save
it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by
freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.1
The war was won and Lincoln was able to assert most solemnly
that I did all in my judgment that could be done to restore the
1Abraham Lincoln: Life, Public Service and State Papers.
Union without interfering with the institution of slavery. We
failed, and the blow at slavery was struck.5
The survival of the Union, however, required the abolition of
slavery. One was incompatible with the other, supporting our
Pan-African stand that complete freedom is imperative for
African unity. Within the United States, the continuance of the
Union paved the way for America's vital industrial advance:
T h e r i c h s e c t i o n , w h i c h h a d b e e n k e p t b a c k i n t h e g e n e r a l
d e v e l o p m e n t b y a s i n g l e i n s t i t u t i o n , a n d h a d b e e n a c l o g o n t h e
a d v a n c e o f t h e w h o l e , h a d b e e n d r a g g e d u p t o t h e l e v e l o f t h e
r e s t o f t h e c o u n t r y . F r e e l a b o u r w a s s o o n t o s h o w i t s e l f f a r
s u p e r i o r t o s l a v e l a b o u r i n t h e S o u t h . . . . T h e p o w e r o f t h e
n a t i o n , n e v e r b e f o r e a s s e r t e d o p e n l y , h a d m a d e a p l a c e f o r i t s e l f ;
a n d y e t t h e c o n t i n u i n g p o w e r o f t h e s t a t e s s a v e d t h e n a t i o n a l
p o w e r f r o m a d e v e l o p m e n t i n t o c e n t r a l i z e d t y r a n n y . A n d t h e
n e w p o w e r o f t h e n a t i o n , b y g u a r a n t e e i n g t h e r e s t r i c t i o n o f
g o v e r n m e n t t o a s i n g l e n a t i o n i n c e n t r a l N o r t h A m e r i c a , g a v e
s e c u r i t y a g a i n s t a n y i n t r o d u c t i o n o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l r e l a t i o n s ,
i n t e r n a t i o n a l w a r s a n d c o n t i n u e d w a r t a x a t i o n i n t o t h e t e r r i t o r y
o c c u p i e d b y t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . 1
Thus the American nation emerged stronger out of the civil
war to continue its road to its present eminence as the foremost
free enterprise state in the world.
I n the Soviet Union, the story was different. There the right
of secession was the crucial testing point of the Treaty of Union.
Lenin made this clear in the assertion that:
J u s t a s m a n k i n d c a n a c h i e v e t h e a b o l i t i o n o f c l a s s e s o n l y b y
p a s s i n g t h r o u g h t h e t r a n s i t i o n p e r i o d o f t h e d i c t a t o r s h i p o f t h e
o p p r e s s e d c l a s s , s o m a n k i n d c a n o n l y a c h i c v e t h e i n e v i t a b l e
m e r g i n g o f n a t i o n s b y p a s s i n g t h r o u g h t h e t r a n s i t i o n p e r i o d o f
c o m p l e t e l i b e r a t i o n o f a l l t h e o p p r e s s e d n a t i o n s , i . e . t h e i r
f r e e d o m t o s e c e d e . 2
On this, the third All-Russian Congress of Soviets amplified
L enin5s standpoint in its declaration of 24 J anuary 1918 that:
1Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1947. Article on The History of the United
States of Ajnerica, Vol. 22, p. 810.
2Lenin: Selected Works} Vol. V, pp. 270-1.
H*
EXAMPLES OF MAJOR UNIONS OF STATES 211
212 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
t h e S o v i e t R e p u b l i c i s e s t a b l i s h e d o n t h e b a s i s o f a f r e e u n i o n
c o m p o s e d o f f r e e n a t i o n s . I n o r d e r t o a v o i d m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g
o n t h e q u e s t i o n , t h e d e c l a r a t i o n o f f e r s t o t h e w o r k e r s a n d
p e a s a n t s o f e v e r y n a t i o n a l i t y t h e r i g h t t o m a k e t h e i r o w n d e
c i s i o n s i n t h e i r o w n a u t h o r i z e d S o v i e t c o n g r e s s : d o t h e y w i s h ,
a n d o n w h a t g r o u n d s , t o p a r t i c i p a t e i n t h e f e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t
a n d o t h e r f e d e r a l S o v i e t i n s t i t u t i o n s .
The strength of the Soviet Union has been proved in the
furnace of war. Even under the impact of fascist savagery, it
remained unbroken.
The union of Canada camt into being as an effort to resolve
the Anglo-French racial differences between the provinces of
Upper and Lower Canada, which were being fanned by the
rivalries between England and France. Though united in one
legislature after the conferment of self-government under a
governor, a deadlock was reached in government, and a union
was mooted. On i J uly 1867 four provinces united. They were
Upper Canada (now Ontario), Lower Canada (now Quebec),
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. With the new era that was
opening in America, following the civil war, the union of the
Canadian provinces offered the sole hope of successful growth5.
Ruperts L and was added in 1869 by purchase from the Hudson
Bay Company, and British Columbia joined in 1871. The
British Government transferred to Canada in 1878 all of British
North America except Newfoundland.
Theoretically, the executive consists of a governor-general
and privy council, but in practice it is a cabinet under a prime
minister. The governor-general is appointed for five years to
represent the sovereign in all matters of federal government.
There is a House of Commons elected by the different provinces
according to population. Lieutenant-governors of the provinces
are nominated by the governor-general. All local legislation is
carried on by the provincial parliaments of single houses, except
in the case of Quebec, which has two. The federal parliament
has jurisdiction over all matters not specifically assigned to the
local legislatures.
I n the Commonwealth of Australia, the federal parliament
exercises jurisdiction over those matters expressly assigned to it
by the constitution. The States retain control, accordingly, over
those subjects that are not withdrawn by constitutional defini
tion. Nevertheless, the central authority is quite extensive,
ranging over trade, industry, criminal law, taxation, quarantine,
marriage and divorce, weights and measures, legal tender, copy
rights and patents, naturalization and aliens. The federal
principle of equal representation of the states is practised by the
election of six members from each of the six states to the Senate,
for a period of six years, half retiring every three years. Election
to the House of Representatives is on a population basis, with
not less than five members from each of the States.
I f union did not bring to Canada and Australia, for example,
the tremendous surge forward that it gave to the United States
and the Soviet Union, it is because other factors were not equal.
Though Canada is considerably bigger than the United States,
her territory includes large stretches of wasteland where civilized
habitation has so far proved impossible. Australia, on her side,
has a great belt of arid country in the interior, and the population
is more or less confined to the coastal areas. Both Canada and
Australia are thinly populated and are encouraging a policy of
immigration from Great Britain and Europe.
Though both dominions remain tied to the British Common
wealth, Canadas contiguity with the United States has brought
her within the orbit of American monopoly capitalism, which
today has major investments in the growing Canadian economy,
to the chagrin of certain critics. Wool and gold helped to
accumulate early capital in Australia; but industrialization did
not really get under way on a large scale until fairly recently.
Here, again, American monopoly is sinking in its teeth. I n
Canada, there is still a certain amount of racial friction between
the French and English communities and this is aggravated by
the interference of the Roman Catholic Church.
A federal form of government operates in Venezuela, and the
provision of the constitution adopted in 1936 vests legislative
power in a national congress of two houses: the Senate and
Chamber of Deputies. I t meets every year at Caracas. The
Senate consists of two members from each of the nominally
independent, self-governing states. This gives forty members,
elected by the state legislatures for a period of four years.
Election to the Chamber is by direct vote of a suffrage limited to
EXAMPLES OF MAJOR UNIONS OF STATES 213
214
AFRI CA MUST UNITE
Venezuelan males, literate and over the age of twenty-one, in the
proportion of one deputy for every 35,000 of population. Each
state is entitled to send at least one deputy. The presidential
term is for five years and, constitutionally, the President cannot
immediately succeed himself. The President is assisted by a
cabinet of ministers and the governor of the federal district. The
nominally autonomous state governments consist of legislative
assemblies composed of deputies elected by ballot for a period of
three years, and for each a president and two vice-presidents
chosen by the legislative assembly for a period of three years.
I t has been said that Switzerland is a model of federal govern
ment. I t consists of twenty-two sovereign states or cantons. Two
legislative chambers constitute the apparatus of government.
They are the Senate or Council of States, in which each canton
has equal representation; and the National Council, chosen on
the basis of one member to every 20,000 of the population. The
two bodies form the Federal Assembly. An Executive Council of
seven members is elected by the Federal Assembly for a period
of three years, and one of its members is chosen annually, also
by the Federal Assembly, to be President of the Council. His
powers are no greater than those of his colleagues, although he is
President of the state and represents the nation on all ceremonial
occasions. The constitution provides that not more than one
councillor can come from any one canton, which carries the
federal principle into the structure of the executive. The Federal
Council is responsible to the Federal Assembly, but it does not
resign if its policy is rejected by the legislature. Of a coalition
character, it more nearly represents a council of permanent
heads of department than the cabinet of a parliamentary system.
I n order to improve effectively and quickly the serious damage
done to Africa as a result of imperialism and colonialism, the
emergent African States need strong, unitary States capable of
exercising a central authority for the mobilization of the national
effort and the co-ordination of reconstruction and progress. For
this reason, I consider that even the idea of regional federations
in Africa is fraught with many dangers. There is the danger of
the development of regional loyalties, fighting against each
other. I n effect, regional federations are a form of balkanization
on a grand scale. These may give rise to the dangerous interplay
not only of power politics among African States and the regions,
but can also create conditions which will enable the imperialists
and neo-colonialists to fish in such troubled waters. I ndeed, such
federations may even find objection to the notion of African
unity. We must look at the problem from the point of view of its
practical and immediate objectives. For example, whereas it
may be inexpedient geographically and otherwise for Ghana to
join an East African Federation, there would be no difficulty
for Tanganyika, let us say, joining a political union of Africa.
We must endeavour to eradicate quickly the forces that have
kept us apart. The best means of doing so is to begin to create a
larger and all-embracing loyalty which will hold Africa together
as a united people with one government and one destiny.
EXAMPLES OF MAJOR UNIONS OF STATES 215
C ON T I N E N T A L GOV E R N M E N T
F OR A F RI CA
CHAPTER TWENTY- ONE
W e have seen, in the example of the United States, how the
dynamic elements within society understood the need for unity
and fought their bitter civil war to maintain the political union
that was threatened by the reactionary forces. We have also
seen, in the example of the Soviet Union, how the forging of
continental unity along with the retention of national sovereignty
by the federal states, has achieved a dynamism that has lifted a
most backward society into a most powerful unit within a re
markably short space of time. From the examples before us, in
Europe and the United States of America, it is therefore patent
that we in Africa have the resources, present and potential, for
creating the kind of society that we are anxious to build. I t is
calculated that by the end of this century the population of Africa
will probably exceed five hundred millions.
Our continent gives us the second largest land stretch in the
world. The natural wealth of Africa is estimated to be greater
than that of almost any other continent in the world. To draw
the most from our existing and potential means for the achieve
ment of abundance and a fine social order, we need to unify our
efforts, our resources, our skills and intentions.
Europe, by way of contrast, must be a lesson to us all. Too
busy hugging its exclusive nationalisms, it has descended, after
centuries of wars interspersed with intervals of uneasy peace,
into a state of confusion, simply because it failed to build a sound
basis of political association and understanding. Only now, under
the necessities of economic stringency and the threat of the new
German industrial and military rehabilitation, is Europe trying
- unsuccessfully - to find a modus operandi for containing the
threat. I t is deceptively hoped that the European Community
will perform this miracle. I t has taken two world wars and the
break-up of empires to press home the lesson, still only partly
digested, that strength lies in unity.
While we in Africa, for whom the goal of unity is paramount,
are striving to concert our efforts in this direction, the neo
colonialists are straining every nerve to upset them by encourag
ing the formation of communities based on the languages of their
former colonizers. We cannot allow ourselves to be so dis
organized and divided. The fact that I speak English does not
make me an Englishman. Similarly, the fact that some of us
speak French or Portuguese does not make us Frenchmen or
Portuguese. We are Africans first and last, and as Africans our
best interests can only be served by uniting within an African
Community. Neither the Commonwealth nor a Franco-African
Community can be a substitute.
To us, Africa with its islands is just one Africa. We reject the
idea of any kind of partition. From Tangier or Cairo in the
North to Capetown in the South, from Cape Guardafui in the
East to Cape Verde I slands in the West, Africa is one and
indivisible.
I know that when we speak of political union, our critics are
quick to observe an attempt to impose leadership and to abro
gate sovereignty. But we have seen from the many examples of
union put forward, that equality of the states is jealously guarded
in every single constitution and that sovereignty is maintained.
There are differences in the powers allotted to the central
government and those retained by the states, as well as in the
functions of the executive, legislature and judiciary. All of them
have a common trade and economic policy. All of them are
secular, in order that religion might not be dragged across the
many problems involved in maintaining unity and securing the
greatest possible development.
We in Africa who are pressing now for unity are deeply con
scious of the validity of our purpose. We need the strength of our
combined numbers and resources to protect ourselves from the
very positive dangers of returning colonialism in disguised
forms. We need it to combat the entrenched forces dividing our
continent and still holding back millions of our brothers. We
need it to secure total African liberation. We need it to carry
CONTINENTAL GOVERNMENT FOR AFRI CA 217
2 l8 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
forward our construction of a socio-economic system that will
support the great mass of our steadily rising population at levels
of life which will compare with those in the most advanced
countries.
But we cannot mobilize our present and potential resources
without concerted effort. I f we developed our potentialities in
men and natural resources in separate isolated groups, our
energies would soon be dissipated in the struggle to outbid one
another. Economic friction among us would certainly lead to
bitter political rivalry, such as for many years hampered the
pace of growth and development in Europe.
At present most of the independent African States are moving
in directions which expose us to the dangers of imperialism and
neo-colonialism. We therefore need a common political basis
for the integration of our policies in economic planning, defence,
foreign and diplomatic relations. That basis for political action
need not infringe the essential sovereignty of the separate
African States. These States would continue to exercise in
dependent authority, except in the fields defined and reserved
for common action in the interests of the security and orderly
development of the whole continent.
I n my view, therefore, a united Africa - that is, the political
and economic unification of the African Continent - should seek
three objectives:
Firstly, we should have an over-all economic planning on a
continental basis. This would increase the industrial and
economic power of Africa. So long as we remain balkanized,
regionally or territorially, we shall be at the mercy of colonialism
and imperialism. The lesson of the South American Republics
vis-a-vis the strength and solidarity of the United States of
America is there for all to see.
The resources of Africa can be used to the best advantage and
the maximum benefit to all only if they are set within an over
all framework of a continentally planned development. An over
all economic plan, covering an Africa united on a continental
basis, would increase our total industrial and economic power.
We should therefore be thinking seriously now of ways and
means of building up a Common Market of a United Africa and
not allow ourselves to be lured by the dubious advantages of
association with the so-called European Common Market. We
in Africa have looked outward too long for the development of
our economy and transportation. Let us begin to look inwards
into the African Continent for all aspects of its development. Our
communications were devised under colonial rule to stretch out
wards towards Europe and elsewhere, instead of developing
internally between our cities and states. Political unity should
give us the power and will to change all this. We in Africa have
untold agricultural, mineral and water-power resources. These
almost fabulous resources can -be fully exploited and utilized in
the interest of Africa and the African people, only if we develop
them within a Union Government of African States. Such a
Government will need to maintain a common currency, a
monetary zone and a central bank of issue. The advantages of
these financial and monetary arrangements would be in
estimable, since monetary transactions between our several
States would be facilitated and the pace of financial activity
generally quickened. A central bank of issue is an inescapable
necessity, in view of the need to re-orientate the economy of
Africa and place it beyond the reach of foreign control.
Secondly, we should aim at the establishment of a unified
military and defence strategy. I do not see much virtue or
wisdom in our separate efforts to build up or maintain vast
military forces for self-defence which, in any case, would be in
effective in any major attack upon our separate States. I f we
examine this problem realistically, we should be able to ask our
selves this pertinent question: which single State in Africa today
can protect its sovereignty against an imperialist aggressor ? I n
this connection, it should be mentioned that anti-apartheid
leaders have alleged that South Africa is building a great
military force with all the latest weapons of destruction, in order
to crush nationalism in Africa. Nor is this all. There are grave
indications that certain settler governments in Africa have
already been caught in the dangerous arms race and are now
arming themselves to the teeth. Their military activities con
stitute a serious threat not only to the security of Africa, but also
to the peace of the world. I f these reports are true, only the unity
of Africa can prevent South Africa and these other governments
from achieving their diabolical aims.
CONTI NENTAL GOVERNMENT FOR AFRI CA 2 i g
220 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
I f we do not unite and combine our military resources for
common defence, the individual States, out of a sense of in
security, may be drawn into making defence pacts with foreign
powers which may endanger the security of us all.
There is also the expenditure aspect of this problem. The
maintenance of large military forces imposes a heavy financial
burden on even the most wealthy States. For young African
States, who are in great need of capital for internal development,
it is ridiculous - indeed suicidal - for each State separately and
individually to assume such a heavy burden of self-defence,
when the weight of this burden could be easily lightened by
sharing it among themselves. Some attempt has already been
made by the Casablanca Powers and the Afro-Malagasy Union
in the matter of common defence, but how much better and
stronger it would be if, instead of two such ventures, there was
one over-all (land, sea and air) Defence Command for Africa.
The third objective which we should have in Africa stems
from the first two which I have just described. I f we in Africa
set up a unified economic planning organization and a unified
military and defence strategy, it will be necessary for us to adopt
a unified foreign policy and diplomacy to give political direction
to our joint efforts for the protection and economic development
of our continent. Moreover, there are some sixty odd States in
Africa, about thirty-two of which are at present independent.
The burden of separate diplomatic representation by each State
on the Continent of Africa alone would be crushing, not to
mention representation outside Africa. The desirability of a
common foreign policy which will enable us to speak with one
voice in the councils of the world, is so obvious, vital and im
perative that comment is hardly necessary.
I am confident that it should be possible to devise a constitu
tional structure applicable to our special conditions in Africa and
not necessarily framed in terms of the existing constitutions of
Europe, America or elsewhere, which will enable us to secure
the objectives I have defined and yet preserve to some extent
the sovereignty of each State within a Union of African States.
We might erect for the time being a constitutional form that
could start with those states willing to create a nucleus, and leave
the door open for the attachment of others as they desire to join or
CONTI NENTAL GOVERNMENT FOR AFRI CA 221
reach the freedom which would allow them to do so. The
form could be made amenable to adjustment and amendment
at any time the consensus of opinion is for it. I t may be that
concrete expression can be given to our present ideas within a
continental parliament that would provide a lower and an upper
house, the one to permit the discussion of the many problems
facing Africa by a representation based on population; the other,
ensuring the equality of the associated States, regardless of size
and population, by a similar, limited representation from each of
them, to formulate a common policy in all matters affecting the
security, defence and development of Africa. I t might, through
a committee selected for the purpose, examine likely solutions
to the problems of union and draft a more conclusive form of
constitution that will be acceptable to all the independent
States.
The survival of free Africa, the extending independence of
this continent, and the development towards that bright future
on which our hopes and endeavours are pinned, depend upon
political unity.
Under a major political union of Africa there could emerge a
United Africa, great and powerful, in which the territorial
boundaries which are the relics of colonialism will become
obsolete and superfluous, working for the complete and total
mobilization of the economic planning organization under a
unified political direction. The forces that unite us are far greater
than the difficulties that divide us at present, and our goal must
be the establishment of Africas dignity, progress and prosperity.
Proof is therefore positive that the continental union of Africa
is an inescapable desideratum if we are determined to move
forward to a realization of our hopes and plans for creating a
modern society which will give our peoples the opportunity to
enjoy a full and satisfying life. The forces that unite us are
intrinsic and greater than the superimposed influences that
keep us apart. These are the forces that we must enlist and
cement for the sake of the trusting millions who look to us, their
leaders, to take them out of the poverty, ignorance and disorder
left by colonialism into an ordered unity in which freedom and
amity can flourish amidst plenty.
Here is a challenge which destiny has thrown out to the
222 AFRI CA MUST UNITE
leaders of Africa. I t is for us to grasp what is a golden oppor
tunity to prove that the genius of the African people can sur
mount the separatist tendencies in sovereign nationhood by
coming together speedily, for the sake of Africas greater glory
and infinite well-being, into a Union of African States.
I N DE X
Abbas, Ferhat, 143
Abdulla Osman, President of Somalia,
147
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Alhaji Sir,
Prime Minister of Nigeria, 147
Accra Assembly (1962), 199
Accra Evening News, 55
Achimota College, Ghana, 44, 46; and
see Legon University
Africa, .
islands of, xin
scramble for, xii-xiii, 6-7
dawn of civilization in, 2
early Chinese contacts with, 3
exploration of, 3-4
European exploitation of, 4-6, 23,
29>3i
mineral resources, 23-4, 25, 150-1,
!52. .
roll of independent countries, 52
dangers of disunity, 75-6
agricultural and forestry resources,
150-1, 152
provider of low-priced primary
materials, 160-1
and see United States of Africa
African Development Institute, Dakar,
157
Africans, status of, 1-2
African traditional customs,
family obligations, 100
polygamy, 104
expenditure on festivals, 104-5
Afro-Malagasy Union, 148, 220
Agricultural resources,
of Ghana, 25-6, 29-30
mono-crop economies, 25-6, 108-9
research into, 29-30, 125
of Africa, 150-1, 152
Algeciras Conference (1906), 6
Algeria,
French policy in, 10
Ghana supports liberation of, 10
and Accra Conference of i960, 138
F.L.N. at Casablanca Conference,
143 .
not invited to Lagos Conference, 148
All-African Peoples Conference,
(Accra, 1958), 137
(Cairo, 1961), 139
All-African Trade Union Federation,
128, 137
Angola, 11-12
1961 revolt, 12
forced labour in, 38-40
Angola Diamond Co., 42
U.N. resolution on, 42
political parties in, 52
and see Portuguese colonies
Apartheid, 13-15
Ashanti and the Asantehene, 62-5, 71,
84
Ashanti Goldfields Ltd, 25
Assimilation policies,
French, 9-10
Portuguese, 11-12
Atta, Nana Sir Ofori, 25
Australia, union of, 212-13
Azikiwe, Dr Nnamdi,Governor-General
of Nigeria, 55-6
Balkanization policies, 157-8, 173-4,
179-S0
Bandung Conference, 144-5
Barnes, Leonard, 45
Basel Mission, 45
Basutoland, 36
Belgrade Conference (1961), 197, 198
201
Berlin Conference (1884-5), 7
Bevin, Ernest, 16
Black Star Shipping Line, 113-14
Boigny, Houphouet, 179
Bolivar, Simon, 188-9
Bourguiba, Habib, President of Tunisia,
55 .
Bourne, Sir Frederick, 58
Brazzaville States, Conference of
(Bangui, 1962), 186-7
British colonial policy, 15-19
indirect rule, 18, 62
Colonial Development and Welfare
Corporation, 24
224
INDEX
(British colonial policy, cont.)
in Ghana, 58-63
neo-colonialism, 176
British Commonwealth of Nations,
185-6
Brogan, D. W., 155
Bryce, James, 205
Caisse Centrale de Cooperation Economique
(C.C.G.E.), 175
Caisse Centrale de la France dOutremer
(C.C.O.M.), 175
Cameron, James, 70
Cameroon, 145
Canada, union of, 212, 213
Casablanca Conference (1961), 143-4,
146-7
African Charter of Casablanca, 144-5
common defence policy, 220
Central African Federation, 75, 176,
190-1; and see Nyasaland;
Rhodesias
Ceylon, 143
Chiefs,
under indirect rule, 18
under Ghanaian Constitution, 83-4
and see Ashanti and the Asantehene
China,
industrialization of, 37
advice on revolution, 55-6
potentialities of, 164-5
Civil service,
after independence, 84-5
retention of British officials, 87-92,
94, 9? .
Africanization of, 90-1, 94-5
dynamism required, 92-4
selection and training, 94-5
Institute of Public Administration, 95
Ghana ready to help in training, 96
Clemenceau, Georges, 133
Cold War, see Non-Aligned Countries
Colonial Development and Welfare
Corporation, 24
Colonial government,
forms of, 8
British, 15-19
and see Assimilation policies; Euro
pean settlers
Colonialism, conditions under,
forms of rule, 15-19
overseas investment, 22
supply of raw materials, 22-3, 112
profits taken out of country, 23, 29, 31
industrialization discouraged, 23-4,
26-8
concessions to foreign companies,
24- 5
(Colonialism, cont.)
single-crop agriculture, 25-6
fluctuating export prices, 25-6
communications, 28
income tax kept low, 28-9
agricultural and veterinary research,
29-30
welfare development, 31
housing, 33-4
building societies, 33
rural water supply, 34-5
health services, 35-6
malnutrition, 36-7
lack of incentive to work, 37
trade unions, 37
forced labour, 37-41
settlers, 40
vested international financial in
terests, 41-2
education, 43-9
reluctance to grant independence,
57-8
and see Neo-colonialism
Colonialist powers, motives of, xii-xiii,
7-8, 20-1
Colour bar, see Racialism
Common Market, African, 143, 162-4,
218-19
common currency, 163
common selling policy, 163
Common Market, European,
and Africa, 143, 158, 163
inimical to African industrialization,
159-60, 181-2
neo-colonialism of, 161, 181-2
linked with N.A.T.O., 162
raison d'etre of, 164
Eurafrica, 187
Communications,
railways and roads, 28, 154-5
airtransport, 112-13, 156-7
shipping, 113-14
ports and waterways, 114, 117,
155- 6
Conakry Conference (i960), 141-2
Congo, Belgian,
establishment of, 12-13
Union Miniere, 42
Congo, Republic of,
asks for U.N. aid, 138, 191-2
conference at Leopoldville (i960),
139
Casablanca Conference and, 144
at Lagos Conference, 148
Inga dam, 169-70
Congo Free State, 6-7, 12-13
Conseil de lEntente, 179
Convention Peoples Party (Ghana),
i7>5>5i
I NDEX 225
(Convention Peoples Party, cont.)
relations with other African parties,
53
contrast with U.G.C.C., 54-5
struggle with N.L.M., 57-8
electoral strength in Ashanti and the
North, 71
and trade unions, 127-8
role of, 128-9
Council of African Economic Unity
(C.U.E.A.), 146
Cox, Prof. Oliver C., 165n
Davidson, Basil, 4-5
De la Mahotiere, Stuart, 15971, 161
Democracy, see Parliamentary demo
cracy; Press
Disarmament, 198-9
DuBois, W. E. B., 132, 133, 135
Economic Commission for Africa
(E.C.A.), 167-8
Education,
in Northern Rhodesia, 43
in Kenya, 43-4
universities and university colleges,
44 j 46
technical, 46-7, 124-5
grants to mission schools, 47, 48
teacher training, 48
text-books, 49
Egypt, see United Arab Republic
Eisenhower, President D. W., 115
Ethiopia, 136, 147
i960 conference at Addis Ababa, 138
not at Casablanca Conference, 145
Eurafrica, 187
European Community, 216-17
European Development Fund, 158-9,
161, 163
European settlers, 10-11, 40
Executive Councils, 16
Fashoda crisis (1898), 6
Federation,
unsuitable for Ghana, 57-8, 62-5
forms of, 205-14
regional federations dangerous, 214
15
Ferry, Jules, 20-1
Finance, international,
motives for, 20-1
profitability of, 22
vested interests of, 41-2
difficulty in finding, 97, 98
loans with political and economic
strings, 101-2
and see European Development Fund
Fissionable raw materials, 151
Fluctuating markets, see World market
price fluctuation
Fonds dAide et de Cooperation (F.A.C.),
*75 .
Fonds d'Investissement et Development Econo -
mique et Social (F.I.D.E.S.), 175
Food and Agriculture Organization
(F.A.O.), 98
Forced labour in Portuguese colonies,
12, 37-41
Forest resources,
in Ghana, 111
research on, 125-6
in Africa, 152
Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, 44
French colonies,
Rassemblement Democratique Afri-
cain, 51
assimilation policy, 9-10
nuclear tests in Sahara, 144
neo-colonialism in, 174-6, 177-9, *82
French Community, 178-9, 186
Galvao, Capt. Henrique, 39-40, 201
Garvey, Marcus, 133
Ga Shifimo Kpee, Ghana tribal
organization, 72
Gaulle, Gen. de, 178
Ghana, ancient state of, 2
Ghana, Republic of,
cocoa, 25-6
women retail agents, 26
agriculture, 29-30
fishing industry, 30-1, 110
National Liberation Movement
(N.L.M.), 57-8, 63, 75
Constituent Assembly, 58
independence won, 59
minority rights, 59-60
Ghana (Constitution) Order-in-
Council (1957), 60-1
Regional Assemblies, 62-5
Asantehenes position, 63-4
Opposition tactics after independence
72-5
Avoidance of Discrimination Bill, 74
United Party, 74
becomes a republic, 80-1
the Presidency, 81-3
and African unity, 85-6
United Ghana Farmers Council, 100
external trade, 108
diversification of crops, 108-9
industrialization, 111-12
forestry development, 111
Development Plans, 111
Volta River Project, i n , 114-16
Tema harbour, i n , 116-17
Ghana Airways, 112-14
226 I NDEX
(Ghana, cont.)
Black Star Line, 113-14
Valeo, 116
adoption of socialism, 119-21
economic reconstruction plans, 121-4
technical education, 124-5
Academy of Sciences, 125
Cocoa Research Unit, 125
Timber Utilization Research Unit,
125-6
unemployment, 126
Workers Brigade, 126
trade unions, 126-7
democratic socialist control, 129-30
Young Pioneers Movement, 130
Kwame Nkrumah Institute, 130-1
union with Guinea Republic, 141
and the Union of African States,
Mi- 3
and the Casablanca Conference, 143
surrend of sovereignty, 149
attachment to the Commonwealth,
i85-6 . . .
membership of Security Council, 195
and Congo crisis, 195
and see Civil service; Convention
Peoples Party; Gold Coast Colony
Githunguri College, Kenya, 44
Gold Coast Colony,
foundation of, 6
motion for independence (1953),
17-18
education in, 45-9
United Gold Coast Convention, *1,
54-5, 135
Goodspeed, Capt., 192
Gordon College, Khartoum, 44
Greeley, Horace, 210
Guinea, Republic of,
surrender of sovereignty, 86, 149
union with Ghana, 140
and Union of African States, 141-2
at Casablanca Conference, 143
voted against French Community,
178
Gunther, John, 42
Haile Selassie 1, Emperor of Ethiopia,
147
Hailey, Lord, 25
Hanna, A.J., 20
Health services, 35-7
Henry, Paul-Marc, 177
Hodson, Sir Arnold, 25
Housing, 33-4
Hydro-electric potential, 151
Inga dam, 169-70
and see Volta River Project
Ibadan University, Nigeria, 44
Ibn Battuta, 3
Imperialism,
Marxist-Leninist views on, 22
thrives on disunity, 75-6
and war, 202-4
Independence, problems of,
finding investment capital, 97, 98,
101-2, and technicians, 97-8
land tenure reform, 98-9, 104-5
savings, 99-100, 104-5
neo-colonialism, 102
inflation, 103
Welfare State, 105-6
sustaining enthusiasm, 107
world price fluctuations, 109-10
Independent African States,
Accra Conference (1958), 136-7
Addis Ababa Conference (i960), 138
Community of, 141
India, 145
Indirect rule, 18, 62
Indonesia, 145
potentialities of, 164
Industrialization,
under colonial rule, 23-4, 26-8
in U.S.S.R., 37, 165-7
in Ghana, n 1-12
European Common Market unlikely
to promote, 159
in a united Africa, 163-4, 167-72
Inga dam (Congo), 169-70
International African Service Bureau,
!34 . .
Investment, overseas capital, see Finance
Irrigation, 153
Japan, family unit defined by law, 105
Kaiser (Henry J.) Company, 115
Kanem, ancient state of, 3
Kaunda, Kenneth, 5m
Keita, Modibo, President of Mali, 141,
179
Kenya,
local councils, 19
education in, 43-4
Kenya African Union, 51
Kenyatta, Jomo, 44
Kikuyu Independent Schools Associa
tion, 43-4
Koinange, Peter, 43-4
Kwame Nkrumah Institute, 130-1
Kwame Nkrumah University, 48
Lagos Conference of Independent
States (1962), 148
Land tenure,
and credit, 98-9
I NDEX 227
(Land tenure, cont.)
Stool lands in Ghana, 99
English law of primogeniture, 104-5
Leakey, L. S. B., 2
Legislative Councils, 16-17
Legon University, Ghana, 46
Lenin,
on imperialism, 22
on British position in Portugal, 174
on freedom to secede, 211
Leopold 11, King of the Belgians, 7, 12
Liberia, 135-6
and Community of Independent
African States, 141
sponsors Monrovia Conference, 145,
147
Libya, 136, 143
Lincoln, Abraham, 189, 210-n
Lovanium University, Congo, 44
Lugard, Lord, 154
Lumumba, Patrice, 138,139,147-8,191
Makerere College, Uganda, 44
Malagasy Republic, 148, 220
Mali, ancient state of, 2-3
Mali Federation, 179
Mali Republic, 86
and Union of African States, 141-2
at Casablanca Conference, 143
surrender of sovereignty, 149
Mandated territories, 7
Marketing Boards, 26
Marxist-Leninist theory, see Lenin
Mauritania, 147
Mill, J. S., 91
Mineral resources, 23-4, 25, 150-1, 152
Missions,
bookshops, 45-6
grant-aided schools, 45, 47, 48
Mobutu, Col., 144
Monrovia Conference (1961), 143,
145- 7
Morocco,
French government in, 10
Istiqlal movement, 10
at Accra Conference, 136
at Casablanca Conference, 143
King Mohammed V and Crown
Prince, 144
Mozambique, n - 12
labour supply for South Africa, 40-1
education in, 42
Muhammed Hasan el-Ouezzani, 55
Munoz, Dr J. A., 36
Myrdal, Gunnar, 109-10, 161
N a ti o n a l Liberati on Movement
(Ghana), 57-8, 63, 75
Neo-colonialism, 102
All-African Peoples Conference on,
139
balkanization the chief weapon,
173- 4, i 79- 8o
French, 174-6, 177-9, *82
British, 176 .
mother-country ideology, 177, 179
backing of moderates against ex
tremists, 180-1
European Common Market and,
161, 181-2
foreign aid and, 183-4
African leaders who connive at, 184-5
covert campaign against Pan-Afri
canism, 187-8
N.A.T.O. states and, 191-2
need to eliminate, 202-4
Nepotism 104
Neutralism, negative, 200
and see Non-Aligned Countries
Nigeria,
National Council of Nigeria and the
Cameroons, 51
sponsors Monrovia Conference, 145,
147
Lagos Conference, 148
regionalism in, 5, 173, 176
Nkrumah, Kwame,
visits Eisenhower, 115
work for Pan-African Congresses, 134,
! 35 .
secretary of West African National
Secretariat, 135
general secretary of the U.G.C.C., 135
at Sanniquellie Conference, 141
at Conakry Conference, 141-2
speech at Casablanca, 145
at Belgrade Conference, 197
Non-Aligned Countries, Conference of
(Belgrade, 1961), 197, 198-201
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(N.A.T.O.), 42, 162
Congo, Angola and, 191-2
General Military Review, 192
Nuclear tests, 144, 203
Nyasaland, political parties in, 51
and see Central African Federation
Nyerere, Julius, 69-70
Padmore, George, 134
Pan-Africanism, 132-3
Pan-African Congresses, 133-5
Pan-African Federation, 134
Declaration to the Colonial Peoples
of the World, 134
Positive Action and Security in Africa,
Conference on (i960), 137-8
opposition to, 187-8
1
228 INDEX
(Pan-Africanism, cont.)
and see All African Peoples Confer
ence; United States of Africa
Parliamentary democracy, adaptation
to local conditions, 66-8, 76-8
role of opposition, 68-9
and nationalist parties, 69-71
Pedler, F. J., 27-8
Planning and laissez-faire, 165
Political parties, 50-5
Peoples Parties, 52-5
need to co-operate, 52-3
and see Parliamentary democracy
Portugal, 174
dictatorship in, 201-2
Portuguese colonies,
assimilation policy, n -12
forced labour, 12, 37-41
and see Angola; Galvao; Mozambique
Press,
role of, 55-6
freedom of, 76-7
Primary products, see Raw materials
Racialism,
bom of slavery, 1
African governments eschew, 32-3
in industry, 36-7
Raw materials,
colonialism and, 22-3, 112
fissionable, 151
Africa as provider of low-priced,
160-1
and see Agricultural resources;
Mineral resources; World market
price fluctuation
Regionalism, see Federation; Nigeria
Rhodesias, the, 138
education in, 43
parties in, 51
and see Central African Federation
Rostow W. W., 183
Sanniquellie Conference (1959), 141
Sarraut, Albert, 21
Segal, Ronald, 63
Self-government before economic via
bility, 50-1
Senegal and Mali Federation, 179
Senghor, Leopold, President of Senegal,
159-60, 179
Sierra Leone, 135-6
Slavery,
slave trade, 5-6
in U.S.A., 211
Socialist economies,
Ghana adopts, n 9-21, 129-30
and regionalism, 164-5
Somalia, 145,147
Songhai Empire, 3
South Africa, Republic of,
menace of, xvii, 191
apartheid, 13-15
Progressive Party, 14
ripe for revolt, 15
boycott of, 15, 144
dependence on Portuguese African
labour, 40-1
and Accra Conference (i960), 138
South American States, Union of, 188-9
South West Africa, 15
Spain, 201
Sudan, Republic of the, 136
not at Casablanca, 145, or Lagos
Conferences, 148
and see Mali, Republic of
Suffrage, universal,
as test of right to rule, 11
refusal to grant, 17
Switzerland, federal government in, 214
Sylvester-Williams, Henry, 132
Tanganyika,
T.A.N.U., 18, 51
Tanganyika Concessions Ltd., 41-2
at Lagos Conference, 148
Technicians,
shortage of, 97-8
technical education, 46-7, 124-5
Tema harbour, i n , 116-17
Togo, Republic of, 145
Togoland, 71
Tour, Skou, President of Guinea,
141, 178
Trade unions, 37
in Ghana, 126-8
All-African Federation, 128,137
Transport, see Communications
Trevelyan, G. M., 104
Tsetse fly, 153
Tshombe, Moise, 191
Tunisia, 86n, 136
not at Casablanca, 145
and surrender of sovereignty, 149
Uganda National Congress, 51
Union of African States (U.A.S.), 141-3
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(U.S.S.R.),
industrialization of, 37, 165-7
constitution of, 208-12
United Arab Republic, 86n, 136
at Casablanca, 143
surrender of sovereignty, 149
United Gold Coast Convention (U.G.
C.C.), 51, 54-5, 135
I NDEX 229
United Nations Organization,
resolutions on Angola, 42, and Congo,
138, 191-2
Technical Assistance Board (U.N.
T.A.B.), 98
African representation in, 194-5
Ghana as member of Security
Council, 195
influence of small states on, 196
need to reorganize, 197
Declaration on the granting of
Independence to Colonial Coun
tries, 200-1
United States of Africa, 85-6, 142
African leaders views on, 147-8
surrender of sovereignty, 149, 220
pooled investment capital, 163
best basis for rapid industrialization,
163-4, 167-72
political strength of, 193
regional federations dangerous,
214-15 . .
problems of political unity, 217-18
unified economic planning, 218-19
unified defence strategy, 219-20
unified foreign policy, 220
programme for formation of, 220-1
and see Common Market, African;
Pan-Africanism
United States of America,
economic evolution of, 165
unification of, 189, 190
Constitution of, 205-8
Upper Volta, customs agreement with
Ghana, 157
Uranium deposits, 151
Venezuelan Constitution, 213-14
Veterinary research, 29-30
Volta River Project, 111, 114-16, 169
Water-supply, rural, 34-5
Welfare development, 31
West African National Conference,
135- 6
West African National Secretariat, 135
The New African, 135
The Circle', 135
West Indies, British, 189-90
Williams, Dr Eric, 1
Woddis, Jack, 36-7
Women, Conference of African (Accra,
i960), 138
Workers Brigade, 126
World Health Organization (W.H.O.),
98
World market price fluctuation, 25-6,
109-10, 160, 161, 163
\
1
KWAME NK RUMA Hs first book was his
autobiography, Ghana, published on
I ndependence Day, 1957. I n 196 0, his
speeches were collected, edited, and issued
as a book of his political and social beliefs,
I Speak o f Freedom. Africa Must Unite is a
natural sequel to the story of his fight for
Ghanas independence.
FREDERICK A. PRAEGER, Publisher
New Y ork London '