The\u00a0Republic of Ghana\u00a0is named after the\u00a0medieval\u00a0West African\u00a0Ghana Empire.\u00a0The empire became known in Europe and Arabia as the\u00a0Ghana Empire\u00a0after the title of its Emperor, the Ghana.\u00a0The empire appears to have broken up following the 1076 conquest by the\u00a0Almoravid\u00a0General\u00a0Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar. A reduced kingdom continued to exist after Almoravid rule ended, and the kingdom was later incorporated into subsequent\u00a0Sahelian empires, such as the\u00a0Mali Empire\u00a0several centuries later.\u00a0Geographically, the ancient Ghana Empire was approximately 500 miles (800\u00a0km) north and west of the modern state of Ghana, and controlled territories in the area of the\u00a0Senegal River\u00a0and east towards the\u00a0Niger\u00a0rivers, in modern\u00a0Senegal,\u00a0Mauritania\u00a0and\u00a0Mali.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
POLITICAL ERA\u2019S OF GHANA<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The\u00a0Political history of Ghana\u00a0recounts the history of varying political systems that existed in Ghana during\u00a0pre-colonial times, the colonial era and after independence. Pre-colonial Ghana was made up of several states and ethnic groups whose political system was categorized by 3 main administrative models;\u00a0Centralized, Non-centralized and\u00a0Theocratic\u00a0states. In the colonial era, the British Empire employed different forms of government among its\u00a0four territorial possessions\u00a0in the Gold Coast.\u00a0Indirect rule\u00a0was implemented in the late 19th century after its success in\u00a0Northern Nigeria. From the 1940s, native Ghanaians yearned for more autonomy. This resulted in the several constitutional reforms as well as the creation of the office of the\u00a0Prime Minister\u00a0in 1952.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The Gold Coast gained independence in 1957\u00a0under the legal name of Ghana. Prime Minister,\u00a0Kwame Nkrumah\u00a0was elected as the\u00a01st\u00a0President of Ghana\u00a0in 1960. The government of Kwame Nkrumah won the approval of a\u00a0constitutional referendum\u00a0in 1964, that made Ghana a\u00a0One-party state\u00a0and him,\u00a0president for life. The Nkrumah government was deposed in a Coup initiated by the\u00a0National Liberation Council. Ghana became a Republic once more on 1 October 1969 when the National Liberation Council handed power over to civilian rule. A new constitution was drafted based on the\u00a0parliamentary system\u00a0of government in the United Kingdom. Between\u00a01972 and 1979, Ghana fell under the rule of several military dictators.\u00a0John Jerry Rawlings\u00a0led\u00a0an uprising\u00a0on 4 June 1979 which transitioned the country to democratic rule by September 1979.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In 1981, John Rawlings seized the country in a Coup and the\u00a0military government\u00a0ruled Ghana until 1993, when a transition process was in place to hand over power from the military back to civilian rule. The 4th Republic was inaugurated on 7 January 1993.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n First Republic<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Between 1957 and 1960,\u00a0Charles Arden-Clarke\u00a0who was governor of the Gold Coast before its independence, became Governor-General and ceremonial head of state. He represented the\u00a0British Monarch. Kwame Nkrumah remained Prime Minister and\u00a0Head of government. In 1960, Kwame Nkrumah became president of the sovereign Gold Coast now called Ghana. The Republican constitution set up by the\u00a0Nkrumah government\u00a0that year further strengthened the position of President Nkrumah as the Executive president. The president was empowered to appoint and dismiss the\u00a0Chief Justice. Under Article 24, the president was empowered to give assent to every bill passed by\u00a0Parliament\u00a0either wholly or in part, as well as reject the bill. Following a\u00a0constitutional referendum on 31 January 1934, Ghana became a\u00a0One-party state\u00a0in 1964, with the CPP recognized as the only political party in the country. On 24 February 1966, the Nkrumah government was toppled in a military coup executed by Colonel\u00a0Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka\u00a0and Major\u00a0Akwasi Afrifa\u00a0they proclaimed the establishment of the\u00a0National Liberation Council\u00a0(NLC) which became the subsequent government of the country.<\/sup><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Second Republic<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The National Liberation Council established many commissions and advisory committees to make policies and engage with civil society. Various committees were assigned to areas such as the economy, public relations, foreign relations, law, farming, and the structure of government itself (which did indeed undergo frequent reorganization). Regional and local commissioners were replaced by “management committees”;\u00a0administrative districts\u00a0were consolidated from 168 to 47.The management committees were constituted mostly by civil servants as well as one private citizen nominated by the police. Many personnel from the old councils participated in the new committees.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The NLC certified its plans to transfer power to civilian rule. It lifted the ban on political activities in Ghana in May 1969. A date was fixed for general elections in order to hand over to civilian rule on 1 October 1969.\u00a0Five political parties participated in the\u00a0August 29 elections. Of these, the largest were the\u00a0Progress Party, led by\u00a0K.A. Busia, and the\u00a0National Alliance of Liberals, led by\u00a0K. A. Gbedemah.\u00a0Busia and the Progress Party won the sizeable majority of seats: 105 of 140.\u00a0A new constitution, passed on 15 August 1969,\u00a0provided for a judiciary, a\u00a0unicameral legislature, a prime minister, and a president.It introduced a\u00a0parliamentary system\u00a0of government similar to that of the\u00a0United Kingdom. The constitution held the view that the traditional\u00a0separations of power\u00a0are outdated and it is the job of the President to preserve the independence of institutions. The Second Republic Constitution used a\u00a0decentralized\u00a0form of government, where the local administrations served as extensions to the central government, which set the local administration’s prerogative. The Second Republic began on 1 October 1969 with K.A Busia as the Prime Minister and\u00a0Edward Akufo-Addo\u00a0as president and ceremonial head of state.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Third Republic<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The Busia administration and second Republic of Ghana came to an end in 1972, when the\u00a0National Redemption Council\u00a0enabled a\u00a0Coup D\u2019\u00e9tat\u00a0and became the new government on 13 January 1972.\u00a0Several\u00a0military juntas\u00a0took hold of administering the state between 1972 and 1979. They included the\u00a0Supreme Military Council\u00a0and\u00a0Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. The Armed Revolutionary Council led by\u00a0John Jerry Rawlings\u00a0rose to power in 1979 following\u00a0an uprising on June 4th. The Council initiated a transition process of handing over power to a civilian government. General elections were slated for 1979. Flag bearer of the\u00a0People’s National Party (Ghana)\u00a0(PNP),\u00a0Hilla Limann\u00a0became president after winning the general election. The\u00a0PNP government\u00a0of Hilla Liman marked the inauguration of the Third Republic on 24 September 1979.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The\u00a0Republic of Ghana\u00a0is named after the\u00a0medieval\u00a0West African\u00a0Ghana Empire.\u00a0The empire became known in Europe and Arabia as the\u00a0Ghana Empire\u00a0after the title of its Emperor, the Ghana.\u00a0The empire appears to have broken up following the 1076 conquest by the\u00a0Almoravid\u00a0General\u00a0Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar. A reduced kingdom continued to exist after Almoravid rule ended, and the kingdom was later incorporated into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[696,973],"class_list":["post-8319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","tag-history-of-ghana","tag-independence-of-ghana"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n