Pan-Africanism vs. Nationalism: The History of Ghana (2024)
Ghana, being located on the Western coast of the African continent, between Cote D’Ivoire (western border), Burkina Faso (northern border), and Togo (east border), is a country which has tapped into its potential while also adding to the Pan-African cause. Since the beginning of time, Ghana has shown a promising future, and has met opposition and oppression with strength for Africa, not just Ghana.
Much of the country’s potential comes from its natural resources. Ghana uses around 70% of its land for agriculture, growing and exporting produce like “cassava, yams, plantains, maize, oil palm fruit, taro, rice, cocoa, oranges, pineapples (“Ghana”).” It’s other exports include Gold, Diamonds, Oil/Petroleum, Cocoa, and ships/ship manufacturing.
Since the 12th century, Ghana has had a hand in the international gold trade. This was exploited by outside countries and nations, especially by the Portuguese, who named the region the “Gold Coast” in the late 15th century. This went on until the colonization was turned over to the Dutch, and ultimately the British.
Ghana officially received independence in 1957, separating from the British Crown after several uprisings, riots, and wars were fought. With this independence came the rule of Kwame Nkrumah. Nkrumah ruled Ghana with a Pan-African mindset as shown in his speeches. For example, he is quoted in 1963 as saying “Is not our unity essential to guard our own freedom as well as to win freedom for our oppressed brothers (Nkrumah)?”
Nkrumah’s rule would fall in 1966 when a Coup D’etat would rise against him. This coup would point out his focus being away from the national identity of Ghanaians, making it seem as if he failed to care about his people. More nationalism would rise up in 1969 with the Alien Expulsion. According to Margaret Peil, “…over Ioo,ooo aliens from Ghana can be seen as a major example of a disturbing trend (Peil).” This disturbing trend is one of nationalism, seen throughout several regions of Africa.
This expulsion was important because of the socio-economic impact of aliens or peoples of other ethnicities inside of Ghana. For example, Dr. Johnson Olaosebikan Aremu (Ph.D) and Dr. Adeyinka Theresa Ajayi (Ph.D) bring up that “The successful exploits of Nigerian migrants as traders, cocoa farmers, farm labourers and farm contractors, factory workers as well as menial workers in construction sites ensured a further influx of more Nigerians into Ghana between 1931 and 1960 (Aremu and Ajayi).” It should also be noted that the amount of persons deported through the 1969 expulsion reached around “140,000, out of an estimated 191,000 (Aremu and Ajayi).”The economic damage of this was not altered significantly, the GDP of Ghana had decreased minimally because of this. However small the decrease was would still be felt due to the already miniscule GDP of Ghana at the time (around 1.9B USD).
Continuing with history, the nationalistic ideas would slow down, and pan-africanism would return, still playing a major role in Ghana’s identity today. While there are still accusations of nationalism towards the nation today, it is nothing like that of the 1969 expulsion. In conclusion, nationalism made its mark on the country of Ghana, but in the end, the ideas that were shared by Kwame Nkrumah bled through to continue the legacy as the Ghanaian identity.
Works Cited:
Aremu, Johnson Olaosebikan, and T. A. Ajayi. "Expulsion of Nigerian immigrant community from Ghana in 1969: Causes and impact." Developing Country Studies 4.10 (2014): 176-186.
“Ghana”. The World Factbook 2021. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2021.
Nkrumah, Kwame. “Speech to the Organization of African Unity.” Organization of African Unity, 1963, May 24, Adis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Peil, Margaret. “The Expulsion of West African Aliens.” The Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, 1971, pp. 205–29. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/159441.
