Ghana (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Republic of Ghana Timeline: Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum OTL equivalent: Ghana
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  Freedom and Justice
Anthem:  God Bless Our Homeland Ghana
Location of Ghana (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum) Location of Ghana
Capital		Accra
Official languages		English
Ethnic groups		Hausa; Yoruba; Igbo; Akan; Fon; Fang; Ewe; Moré–Dagbani; Tem
Religion		Christianity; Islam; Traditional religions
Demonym		Ghanaian
Government		Unitary state; Constitutional parliamentary republic
-	President
-	Vice President
Legislature		Parliament of Ghana
Establishment
-	Independence from the United Kingdom	March 6, 1957
-	Founding of the Republic of Ghana	July 1, 1960
Currency		Ghanaian Pound (GHP)
Time zone		GMT (UTC)
Internet TLD		.gh
Calling code		+233

Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. Ghana is a parliamentary republic with an executive president. It is bordered by the West African Federation to the north, Ivory Coast to the west, Togo to the east and the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean to the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King" and is derived from the ancient Ghana Empire. With over 32 million inhabitants, Ghana is the second-most populous country in West Africa after Nigeria. Its capital and largest city is Accra.

Despite being ruled as an authoritarian one-party state between the 1960s and 1990s, Ghana has remained home to one of the most open and stable governments on the continent since the democratization process in the 1990s. It additionally scores fairly well in the areas of healthcare, economic expansion, and socioeconomic growth, giving it considerable influence over West Africa and all of Africa. Ghana held a distinction for having the best healthcare system in the continent which provides free medical treatment to all of its citizens. Ghana is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, African Union and a member of the United Nations, Economic Community of West African States, Group of 24 and Commonwealth Confederation.

History

Early years of independence (1957–1964)

Kwame Nkrumah (1909–72), the Prime Minister (1957–60) and, later, President of Ghana (1960–72)

At the passing of Ghana Independence Set 1957, on March 6, 1957, the Colony of Gold Coast, the Trust Territory of British Togoland, Ashanti Protectorate, and the Protectorate of Northern Territories were granted independence by the British; Prime Minister of Gold Coast, Kwame Nkrumah, declared before the crowd of thousands in Accra that at that point "the African people are capable of managing their own affairs." Four entities were merged into a single country called "Ghana" with Elizabeth II as its head of state. At that time, Ghana became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to attain its independence from European colonialism.

Nkrumah continued as the newly-independent country's head of government. He envisioned an ambitious economic development program for rapid industrialization of the country while at the same time remained pragmatic about how to achieve it. In 1959, Nkrumah adopted the Second Development Plan, aiming to raise industrial and agricultural outputs, combat illiteracy and poverty and expand education. To support the industrialization plan, the Volta River Project was launched in 1961 to construct a hydroelectric generator, the Akosombo Dam, on the Volta River in eastern Ghana. The dam was intended to power an aluminum smelter at Tema operated by VALCO, a joint venture with U.S.-based conglomerates Kaiser Aluminum and ALCOA.

Cocoa is one of the important agricultural commodities in Ghana. By far, Ghana is its 2nd largest producer in the world.

By 1960, the price drop of cocoa on the world market forced Nkrumah to concede with foreign capitals, offering them major concessions in order to make them willing to invest in Ghana. For example, Kaiser Aluminum had obtained favorable terms in exchange for the investment on dam such tax exemptions on trade and cheap purchases of electricity. Nkrumah also borrowed money to build the dam, and placed Ghana in debt. To finance the debt, he raised taxes on the cocoa farmers in the south, creating political opposition against him. In response, Nkrumah repressed dissents and increased powers and influences of his party, the Convention People's Party (CPP), to curb challenges against his public policies.

A plebiscite in April 1960 approved the new constitution to make Ghana a republic and elected Nkrumah as the first president of Ghana. He became increasingly authoritarian and heavy-handed in shaping the Ghanaian development. Nkrumah started to adopt socialist and Pan-Africanist rhetorics in his public speeches to justify his economic objectives. Driven by Pan-Africanism, he proposed for the creation of a Union of African States with Guinea, partly inspired by the formation of the United Arab Republic in 1958. While claiming himself a socialist, in reality, Nkrumah remained a pragmatic and his economic ideology was vague at its best. Between July–August 1961, Nkrumah had visited the USSR, Illyria and Romania to widen Ghana's trading partnerships. He visited Japan in September 1961 and secured a low-interest loan of US$25 million.

The welcoming ceremony for Nkrumah by Josip Broz Tito during the Non-Aligned Movement conference, Zagreb, 1961.

To detach Ghana from both the West and the USSR, along with the UAR's Gamal Abdel Nasser, Indonesia's Sukarno, India's Subhas Chandra Bose, and Illyria's Josip Broz Tito, Nkrumah participated in the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. Nkrumah was also instrumental in the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. Despite being condemned as an "imperialist power" by other African and non-aligned nations, Israel remained an important economic partner of Ghana; Nkrumah had successfully developed close personal relationships with many Israeli politicians. Ghana employed many Israeli contractors and technical experts to aid the country's development. In return, Ghana exported its commodities to Israel, amounting to $1 million in 1964.

Economic industrialization (1964–1972)

In the 1960s, Nkrumah imprinted his Pan-African socialist worldview and national development goal through education and youth movement, such as with these Young Pioneers, 1964.

Nkrumah suggested a constitutional amendment in 1964 that would have made the CPP the only legal party and made himself as president of Ghana for life. With an absurdly high vote total of 99.91 percent, the amendment was approved, prompting observers to declare the election "obviously rigged". Despite imposing authoritarian rule, Nkrumah had adopted some social democratic policies and practices for Ghana for the latter half of the 1960s. He created a welfare system, started various community programs, and established schools to expand human capital in Ghana and to reorient the nation along his ideological line. Education and health care were prioritized to support the industrialization efforts.

Vocational schools were founded across the country to train necessary workforce for industries. Also, in cooperation with the Kaiser Family Foundation, many young Ghanaians received scholarships to undertake studies aboard at the University of California, San Francisco. These students later contributed in developing of industrial and medical sectors when they were graduated. On other hand, all students entering college in Ghana were then required to attend a two-week "ideological orientation" at the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute to imprint Nkrumah's ideological understandings on younger generations of the Ghanaians. By 1972, the quality of Ghana's human capital was among the best in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The hydroelectric generator plant on Akosombo Dam.

On January 22, 1966, the Akosombo Dam was officially inaugurated, providing electricity needed for industrialization. Initially, Ghana was allowed only 20% of the power generated by the dam while the remaining 80% was used for VALCO smelters. However, in 1967, at the wake of the economic crisis due to war between the UAR and Israel, Ghanaian government pressured VALCO to alter the earlier agreed terms to increase output share for public use to 60%. After several negotiations, both parties eventually agreed that 50% of the electric output to be allocated for Ghanaian public and is also sold to neighboring Togo and the West African Federation. Rural electrification program covered almost 70% of Ghana's rural areas by 1975.

Further readings