Colonial Rule in Ghana
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Colonial Rule In Ghana
In several important ways, the British colonial system in West Africa differed from the neighbouring French pattern. Being contiguous, the entire French West Africa were placed under one administration, headed by a governor-general at the headquarters in Dakar. On the other hand, probably because her four territories in West Africa were each separated by non-British possession, Great Britain set up a colonial system in West Africa aimed at local self-determination, by instituting them as separate colonies, independent of one another. They were made to be self-supporting, subject, however, to the overall control of a minister in the British government in London.
At the head of the colonial administration in Ghana, as in other British colonial territories, was the governor appointed by and representing the British Crown and answerable to the metropolitan government through the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The governor administered the territory with the advice of two important arms of government, the executive council and the legislative council. The evolution of these two bodies was set out in constitutions drawn up from time to time.
In 1942, the country took the lead in British colonies in Africa and the Caribbean when, in response to incessant demands made by the people, the governor, Sir Alan Burns, appointed two distinguished Ghanaians to serve on the executive council. One was a traditional ruler, Nana Sir Ofori Atta I, a paramount chief of Akyem Abuakwa; the other unofficial member was a leading lawyer, Sir Arku Korsah who became the first Ghanaian Chief Justice after the country re-gained independence. In spite of this innovation, the people did not gain real effective participation on the executive council until 1951, when a new constitution made it possible for as many as eight Ghanaian members of the Convention People's Party to three white top officials in the legislative assembly to be appointed as ministers of state; one of them, Kwame Nkrumah, became leader of Government Business and in the following year, 1952, became prime minister.
Local Administration
Throughout the colonial days, there were two types of local government. The first to be developed were town councils, which were followed by what was called native administration. A characteristic feature of the two types of local government was that while the traditional rulers or the chiefs played the leading role in the native authorities which the various ordinances created, the people's own elected representatives together with some ex-offcio government officers managed the affairs of the town or municipal councils.
Town Councils
As early as 1858, an ordinance was promulgated setting up councils in Cape Coast, then headquarters of the British on the coast, and James Town, Accra. In 1894, the government enacted the Town Council Ordinance, creating municipal councils not only for Cape Coast and Accra as before, but also for Sekondi. Their main functions included conservancy and public health. While Accra and Sekondi town councils started to operate, the ordinance remained a dead letter in Cape Coast.
One objectionable aspect about membership on the town councils for many years was that not only did the nominated members on these councils form half of the total membership, but the presidents of the council were also the white district commissioners of the area concerned. An ordinance introduced by Governor Guggisberg in 1924 reducing the nominated membership from half to one-third and granting more autonomy to the councils had to be withdrawn in the face of strong protest against the stringent high voter's qualification and the imposition of up to 20% rates.
Indirect Rule and the Native Authority
Before colonialism took firm roots in the country, the indigenous ruler occupied a unique position in his realm; he was accepted by his subjects as religious, political and judicial head of the kingdom, the spirit and embodiment of the nation, and the custodian of the people's ancestral cultural heritage.
The British colonial system did not do away with the traditional role of kings, but made them the central figures for local administration. Considering these rulers as the body, which represented the public views and wishes, the colonial system granted the 'commoners' practically no place in the relationship between the indigenes and the colonial government or in the administration at the local level. This policy was backed by what was known in the colonial system as 'indirect rule', first introduced by Lord Lugard in Uganda, and then in Nigeria from 1914. in Ghana, indirect rule was introduced fully under Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg. The system of indirect rule in the country worked as follows. Within a traditional state, or a group of smaller states, the paramount chief, their leading sub-chiefs and important counsellors were constituted into a Native Administration, later named a native Authority, presided over by a paramount chief. The powers and functions of the Native Authority covered matters relating mainly to traditional and customary institutions and practices. These authorities operated under the general direction and control of the colonial district commissioner. An important feature of all these ordinances was that the chiefs were granted powers of controlling local tribunal, with limited jurisdiction relating to customary and testamentary matters, and to make by-laws which did not go counter to the British concept of law. In 1927, Governor Guggisberg promulgated the Native Administration Ordinance. Among other things, the new ordinance set out the processes of the election and disposal of chiefs and the hierarchy of traditional rulers in the country.
Each level of authority had courts, and the final court of appeal within the area was that of the Native Administration headed by the paramount chief.
The 1924 Ordinance also established the Joint-Provincial Council comprising elected representatives of the three provincial councils created in 1925 for southern Ghana, which met at Dodowa. In 1935, having restored the occupant of the Golden Stool, Nana Sir Agyeman Prempe II, as the paramount ruler of the entire Asante kingdom, a body similar to the Joint-Provincial Council of Chiefs in the south named the Asanteman Council was established; it comprised all the paramount chiefs of Asante and present day Bono Ahafo.
These councils of chiefs were, in theory at least, set up as super traditional authorities through which the people's views on government policy were sounded and consulted.
A new Native Authority Ordinance passed in 1944 introduced a revolution in respect of the position of the traditional rulers. Native Authorities were to be appointed by the government, and members remained in office at the pleasure of the governor. Furthermore, actions taken by the native Authorities could be nullified by the government; the governor could also direct the local administration to initiate actions they had not thought of or even opposed to.
