Editing Kwame Nkrumah (section)

==Return to the Gold Coast==

=== United Gold Coast Convention ===

The 1946 Gold Coast constitution gave Africans a majority on the [[Legislative council|Legislative Council]] for the first time. Seen as a major step towards self-government,{{sfn|Rooney|pp=26–27}} the new arrangement prompted the colony's first true political party, founded in August 1947, the [[United Gold Coast Convention]] (UGCC).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ghana pays tribute to founders' – Graphic Online|url=https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/ghana-pays-tribute-to-founders.html|access-date=5 August 2020|website=www.graphic.com.gh|date=4 August 2020 |language=en-gb|archive-date=14 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214131116/https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/ghana-pays-tribute-to-founders.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The UGCC sought self-government as quickly as possible. Since the leading members were all successful professionals, they needed to pay someone to run the party, and their choice fell on Nkrumah at the suggestion of [[Ebenezer Ako Adjei|Ako Adjei]]. Nkrumah hesitated but realized that the UGCC was controlled by conservative interests and noted that the new post could open huge political opportunities for him and accepted. After being questioned by British officials about his communist affiliations, Nkrumah boarded the MV ''Accra'' at Liverpool in November 1947 for the voyage home.{{sfn|Owusu-Ansah|p=316}}{{sfn|Rooney|pp=27–28}}

After brief stops in [[Sierra Leone]], [[Liberia]], and the [[Ivory Coast]], he arrived in the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]] where he briefly stayed and reunited with his mother in [[Tarkwa, Ghana|Tarkwa]]. He began work at the party's headquarters in [[Saltpond, Ghana|Saltpond]] on 29 December 1947 where he worked as a general secretary.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>{{sfn|Rooney|pp=30–31}} Nkrumah quickly submitted plans for branches of the UGCC to be established colony-wide, and for strikes if necessary to gain political ends. This activist stance divided the party's governing committee, which was led by [[J. B. Danquah]]. Nkrumah embarked on a tour to gain donations for the UGCC and establish new branches.{{sfn|Rooney|pp=36–37}}

Although the Gold Coast was more developed politically than Britain's other [[West Africa]]n colonies, there was considerable discontent. Postwar inflation had caused public anger at high prices, leading to a boycott of small businesses run by Arabs which began in January 1948. Local [[cocoa bean]] farmers were upset because trees exhibiting [[cacao swollen-shoot virus]], but still capable of yielding a crop, were being destroyed by the colonial authorities.<ref>{{Citation|title=VIII. "And although these men were rare and wonderful, they were nevertheless but men, and the opportunities which they had were far less favorable than the present; nor were their undertakings more just or more easy than this; neither was God more a friend of them than of you."|date=31 December 2016|work=How to Choose a Leader|pages=37–41|place=Princeton|publisher=Princeton University Press|doi=10.1515/9781400880409-009|isbn=978-1-4008-8040-9}}</ref> There were about 63,000 World War II veterans in the Gold Coast, many of whom had trouble obtaining employment and felt the colonial government was doing nothing to address their grievances. Nkrumah and Danquah addressed a meeting of the Ex-Service men's Union in Accra on 20 February 1948, which was made in advance of a planned march to present a petition to the governor. When the march took place on 28 February, three veterans were killed by police gunfire, prompting the [[1948 Accra riots]], which spread throughout the country.{{sfn|Rooney|pp=38–39}} According to Nkrumah's biographer, David Birmingham, "West Africa's erstwhile "model colony" witnessed a riot and business premises were looted. The African Revolution had begun."{{sfn|Birmingham|pp=18–19}}

The colonial government assumed that the UGCC was responsible for the unrest, and arrested six leaders, including Nkrumah and Danquah. [[The Big Six (Ghana)|The Big Six]] were incarcerated together in [[Kumasi]],{{sfn|Addo|p=85}} increasing the rift between Nkrumah and the others, who blamed him for the riots and their detention. After the colonial government learned that there were plots to storm the prison, the six were separated, with Nkrumah sent to [[Lawra]]; all six were freed in April 1948. Many students and teachers had demonstrated for their release and had been suspended; Nkrumah, using his own funds, began the [[Ghana National College]].<ref>{{Cite ODNB|last=Rathbone|first=Richard|title=Nkrumah, Kwame (1909?–1972), president of Ghana|date=23 September 2004|series=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31504}}</ref> This among other activities, led UGCC committee members to accuse him of acting in the party's name without authority. Fearing he would harm them more outside the party than within, they agreed to make him honorary treasurer. Nkrumah's popularity, already large, was increased with his founding of the ''[[Accra Evening News]]'', which was not a party organ but was owned by Nkrumah and others. He also founded the Committee on Youth Organization (CYO) as a youth wing for the UGCC. It soon broke away and adopted the motto "Self-Government Now".<ref>{{Citation|date=15 November 2007|work=Kwame Nkrumah. Vision and Tragedy|pages=52–72|publisher=Sub-Saharan Publishers|doi=10.2307/j.ctvk3gm60.9|isbn=978-9988-647-81-0|title=Secretary of the Ugcc}}</ref> The CYO united students, ex-servicemen, and market women. Nkrumah recounted in his autobiography that he knew that a break with the UGCC was inevitable, and wanted the masses behind him when the conflict occurred.{{sfn|Rooney|pp=40–43}}{{sfn|Addo|pp=86–87}} Nkrumah's appeals for "Free-Dom" appealed to the great numbers of underemployed youths who had come from the farms and villages to the towns. "Old hymn tunes were adapted to new songs of liberation which welcomed traveling [[Public speaking|orators]], and especially Nkrumah himself, to mass rallies across the Gold Coast."{{sfn|Birmingham|p=24}}

According to a public speech delivered by [[Aaron Mike Oquaye]], he claimed a meeting occurred in [[Saltpond]], a town in the Central region, between Nkrumah and the members of UGCC where Nkrumah was said to have rejected a proposal for the promotion of fundamental human rights.<ref>{{Cite web|date=6 August 2020|title=Sekou Nkrumah Fights Oquaye Over Founders' Day|url=https://dailyguidenetwork.com/283102-2/|access-date=7 August 2020|website=DailyGuide Network|language=en-US|archive-date=26 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926110957/https://dailyguidenetwork.com/283102-2/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Convention People's Party ===

[[File:CPP ‒ Convention People's Party logo.jpg|thumb|249px|Red cockerel, "Forward Ever, Backward Never": Convention People's Party logo and slogan]]

Beginning in April 1949, there was considerable pressure on Nkrumah from his supporters to leave the UGCC and form his own party.<ref name="mkgandhi.org">{{Cite web|title=Kwame Nkrumah: Non-Violence of Mahatma Gandhi in Ghana {{!}} Articles : On and By Gandhi|url=https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/nonviolence-of-Mahatma-Gandhi-in-Ghana.html|website=www.mkgandhi.org|access-date=27 May 2020|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803020635/https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/nonviolence-of-Mahatma-Gandhi-in-Ghana.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On 12 June 1949, he announced the formation of the [[Convention People's Party]] (CPP), with the word "convention" chosen, according to Nkrumah, "to carry the masses with us".{{sfn|Addo|p=88}} There were attempts to heal the breach with the UGCC; at one July meeting, it was agreed to reinstate Nkrumah as secretary and disband the CPP. But Nkrumah's supporters would not have it, and persuaded him to refuse the offer and remain at their head.{{sfn|Addo|pp=88–89}}

The CPP adopted the red [[cockerel]] as its symbol – a familiar icon for local ethnic groups, and a symbol of leadership, alertness, and masculinity.<ref name=Hagan2 />{{sfn|Fuller|pp=24–26}} Party symbols and colours (red, white, and green) appeared on clothing, flags, vehicles and houses.<ref name=Hagan2 /> CPP operatives drove red-white-and-green vans across the country, playing music and rallying public support for the party and especially for Nkrumah. These efforts were wildly successful, especially because previous political efforts in the Gold Coast had focused exclusively on the urban intelligentsia.<ref name=Hagan2 />

[[File:Kwame Nkrumah-TIME-1953.jpg|thumb|290x290px|Kwame Nkrumah on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', 9 February 1953]]

The British convened a selected commission of middle-class Africans, including all of the Big Six except Nkrumah, to draft a new constitution that would give the Gold Coast more self-government. Nkrumah saw, even before the commission reported, that its recommendations would fall short of full [[dominion]] status, and began to organize a [[Positive Action]] campaign.<ref name="Running away from our own shadows"/> Nkrumah demanded a [[constituent assembly]] to write a constitution. When the governor, [[Charles Arden-Clarke]], would not commit to this, Nkrumah called for positive action, with the unions beginning a [[general strike]] to begin on 8 January 1950. The strike quickly led to violence, and Nkrumah and other CPP leaders were arrested on 22 January, and the ''Evening News'' was banned.<ref name="BIRTH OF THE CPP">{{Citation|date=15 November 2007|work=Kwame Nkrumah. Vision and Tragedy|pages=74–90|publisher=Sub-Saharan Publishers|doi=10.2307/j.ctvk3gm60.10|isbn=978-9988-647-81-0|title=Birth of the CPP}}</ref> Nkrumah was sentenced to a total of three years in prison, and he was incarcerated with common criminals in Accra's [[Fort James (Ghana)|Fort James]].{{sfn|Rooney|pp=55–56}}

Nkrumah's assistant, [[Komla Agbeli Gbedemah]], ran the CPP in his absence; the imprisoned leader was able to influence events through smuggled notes written on toilet paper. The British prepared for an election for the Gold Coast under their new constitution, and Nkrumah insisted that the CPP contest all seats.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1 October 1953|journal=Parliamentary Affairs|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a053198|issn=1460-2482|title=The Gold Coast General Election of 1954}}</ref> The situation had become calmer once Nkrumah was arrested, and the CPP and the British worked together to prepare electoral rolls. Nkrumah stood, from prison, for a directly elected Accra seat. Gbedemah worked to set up a nationwide campaign organization, using vans with loudspeakers to blare the party's message. The UGCC failed to set up a nationwide structure, and proved unable to take advantage of the fact that many of its opponents were in prison.{{sfn|Rooney|pp=56–57}}

In the [[1951 Gold Coast legislative election|February 1951 legislative election]], the first general election to be held under universal franchise in colonial Africa, the CPP was elected in a landslide.{{sfn|Birmingham|pp=34–35}} The CPP secured 34 of the 38 seats contested on a party basis, with Nkrumah elected for his Accra constituency. The UGCC won three seats, and one was taken by an independent. Arden-Clarke saw that the only alternative to Nkrumah's freedom was the end of the constitutional experiment. Nkrumah was released from prison on 12 February, receiving a rapturous reception from his followers.{{sfn|Bourret|pp=175–177}} The following day, Arden-Clarke sent for him and asked him to form a government.{{sfn|Rooney|p=61}}

Nkrumah had stolen Arden-Clarke's secretary [[Erica Powell]] after she was dismissed and sent home for getting too close to Nkrumah. Powell returned to Ghana in January 1955 to be Nkrumah's private secretary, a position she held for ten years.<ref name=times>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/erica-powell-50f6gn8q9fb|title=Erica Powell|date=23 June 2007|work=The Times|access-date=2 November 2019|issn=0140-0460|archive-date=1 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101142141/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/erica-powell-50f6gn8q9fb|url-status=live}}</ref> Powell was very close to him and during their time together she largely wrote Nkrumah's (auto)biography, although this was not admitted until much later.<ref name=review>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishempire.co.uk/library/privatesecretary.htm|title=Private Secretary (Female)/Gold Coast|last=Luscombe|first=Stephen|website=britishempire.co.uk|access-date=2 November 2019|archive-date=25 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025081311/https://www.britishempire.co.uk/library/privatesecretary.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Leader of Government Business and Prime Minister ===

Nkrumah faced several challenges as he assumed office. He had never served in government, and needed to learn that art. The Gold Coast was composed of four regions, several former colonies amalgamated into one. Nkrumah sought to unite them under one nationality, and bring the country to independence.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=International Migration Outlook: SOPEMI - 2008 Edition - OECD 2008 – ISBN 9789264045651|title=Table B.1.6. Acquisition of nationality by country of former nationality, Denmark|doi=10.1787/432756801382}}</ref> Key to meeting the challenges was convincing the British that the CPP's programmes were not only practical, but inevitable, and Nkrumah and Arden-Clarke worked closely together.<ref name="mkgandhi.org"/> The governor instructed the civil service to give the fledgling government full support, and the three British members of the cabinet took care not to vote against the elected majority.{{sfn|Birmingham|pp=37–38}}

Prior to the CPP taking office, British officials had prepared a ten-year plan for development. With demands for infrastructure improvements coming in from all over the colony, Nkrumah approved it in general, but halved the time to five years.<ref>{{Cite report |last=Cipriani|first=Ralph J.|date=1 December 2014|title=SNL Five-Year Facilities & Infrastructure Plan FY2015-2019|doi=10.2172/1173199|osti=1173199}}</ref> The colony was in good financial shape, with reserves from years of cocoa profit held in London, and Nkrumah was able to spend freely. Modern trunk roads were built along the coast and within the interior. The rail system was modernized and expanded. Modern water and sewer systems were installed in most towns, where housing schemes were begun.<ref>{{Cite web|title=External Engagement Experiences from Ghana and Mozambique|url=https://media.africaportal.org/documents/REPORT_6_2005_-_EXTERNAL_ENGAGEMENT_-_EXPERIENCES_FROM_GHANA_AND_MOZAMBIQUE.pdf|last=Sidiropoulos|first=Elizabeth|date=2005|website=Media Africa|access-date=27 May 2020|archive-date=2 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802234800/https://media.africaportal.org/documents/REPORT_6_2005_-_EXTERNAL_ENGAGEMENT_-_EXPERIENCES_FROM_GHANA_AND_MOZAMBIQUE.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Construction began on a new harbour at [[Tema]], near Accra, and the existing port, at [[Sekondi-Takoradi|Takoradi]], was expanded. An urgent programme to build and expand schools, from primary to teacher and trade training, was begun.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} From 1951 to 1956, the number of pupils being educated at the colony's schools rose from 200,000 to 500,000.{{sfn|Rooney|pp=82–83}} Nevertheless, the number of graduates being produced was insufficient to the burgeoning civil service's needs, and in 1953, Nkrumah announced that though Africans would be given preference, the country would be relying on expatriate European civil servants for several years.{{sfn|Bourret|p=178}}

Nkrumah's title was Leader of Government Business in a cabinet chaired by Arden-Clarke. Quick progress was made, and in 1952, the governor withdrew from the cabinet, leaving Nkrumah as his prime minister, with the portfolios that had been reserved for expatriates going to Africans.<ref name=":1">Grimm, Kevin E., Symbol of Modernity: Ghana, African Americans, and the Eisenhower Administration. A dissertation: the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University. 27 May 2020</ref> There were accusations of corruption, and of nepotism, as officials, following African custom, attempted to benefit their extended families and their tribes.{{sfn|Birmingham|pp=40–43}} The recommendations following the 1948 riots had included elected local government rather than the existing system dominated by the chiefs. This was uncontroversial until it became clear that it would be implemented by the CPP. That party's majority in the [[Legislative Assembly of the Gold Coast|Legislative Assembly]] passed legislation in late 1951 that shifted power from the chiefs to the chairs of the councils, though there was some local rioting as [[rates (tax)|rates]] were imposed.{{sfn|Rooney|pp=181–182}}

Nkrumah's re-titling as prime minister had not given him additional power, and he sought constitutional reform that would lead to independence. In 1952, he consulted with the visiting [[Secretary of State for the Colonies|Colonial Secretary]], [[Oliver Lyttelton]], who indicated that Britain would look favorably on further advancement, so long as the chiefs and other stakeholders had the opportunity to express their views.<ref name=":0" /> Initially skeptical of Nkrumah's socialist policies, Britain's [[MI5]] had compiled large amounts of intelligence on Nkrumah through several sources, including tapping phones and mail interception under the code name of SWIFT.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Walton |first1=Calder |title=British Intelligence, the Cold War, and the Twilight of Empire |publisher=[[The Overlook Press]] |isbn=978-1468307153 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f2cjCQAAQBAJ&q=mi5%20swift%20gold%20coast&pg=PT156 |access-date=18 January 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170127091745/https://books.google.com/books?id=f2cjCQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT157&ots=rBl1byBn3w&dq=mi5%20swift%20gold%20coast&pg=PT156 |archive-date=27 January 2017 |date=29 October 2014 }}</ref> Beginning in October 1952, Nkrumah sought opinions from councils and from political parties on reform, and consulted widely across the country, including with opposition groups. The result the following year was a [[White Paper]] on a new constitution, seen as a final step before independence.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Manning|first1=Carrie|title=Political party formation by former armed opposition groups after civil war|date=7 December 2018|work=From Bullets to Ballots|pages=4–21|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-315-11220-6|last2=Smith|first2=Ian|doi=10.4324/9781315112206-2|s2cid=239577237|url=https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/3187882|access-date=5 September 2021|archive-date=18 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018133341/https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Political_party_formation_by_former_armed_opposition_groups_after_civil_war/3187882|url-status=live}}</ref> Published in June 1953, the constitutional proposals were accepted both by the assembly and by the British, and came into force in April of the following year. The new document provided for an assembly of 104 members, all directly elected, with an all-African cabinet responsible for the internal governing of the colony. In [[1954 Gold Coast legislative election|the election]] on 15 June 1954, the CPP won 71, with the regional [[Northern People's Party]] forming the official opposition.{{sfn|Bourret|pp=183–186}}

A number of opposition groups formed the [[National Liberation Movement (Ghana)|National Liberation Movement]]. Their demands were for a federal, rather than a unitary government for an independent Gold Coast, and for an upper house of parliament where chiefs and other traditional leaders could act as a counter to the CPP majority in the assembly.<ref>{{Citation|last=Ferrell|first=Thomas H.|title=What If There Were a Unitary Rather Than a Federal System?|date=24 February 2015|work=What if the American Political System Were Different?|pages=23–44|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9781315698212 |isbn=978-1-315-69821-2}}</ref> They drew considerable support in the Northern Territory and among the chiefs in Ashanti, who petitioned the British queen, [[Elizabeth II]], asking for a [[Royal Commission]] into what form of government the Gold Coast should have.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ninsin|first=Kwame A.|title=Ghana'a Transition to Constitutional rule|publisher=Ghana Universities Press|year=1991|isbn=9964-3-0199-5|location=Accra|pages=35–58}}</ref> This was refused by her government, who in 1955 stated that such a commission should only be used if the people of the Gold Coast proved incapable of deciding their own affairs. Amid political violence, the two sides attempted to reconcile their differences, but the NLM refused to participate in any committee with a CPP majority. The traditional leaders were also incensed by a new bill that had just been enacted, which allowed minor chiefs to appeal to the government in Accra, bypassing traditional chiefly authority.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Vogel|first=Gretchen|date=19 April 2018|title=A new dengue vaccine should only be used in people who were previously infected, WHO says|journal=Science|doi=10.1126/science.aat9362|issn=0036-8075}}</ref> The British were unwilling to leave unresolved the fundamental question as to how an independent Gold Coast should be governed, and in June 1956, the Colonial Secretary, [[Alan Lennox-Boyd]] announced that there would be another general election in the Gold Coast, and if a "reasonable majority" took the CPP's position, Britain would set a date for independence.{{sfn|Bourret|pp=187–191}} The results of the [[1956 Gold Coast legislative election|July 1956 election]] were almost identical to those from four years before, and on 3 August the assembly voted for independence under the name Nkrumah had proposed in April, [[Ghana]]. In September, the Colonial Office announced independence day would be 6 March 1957.{{sfn|Birmingham|p=58}}{{sfn|Owusu-Ansah|p=lii}}

The opposition was not satisfied with the plan for independence, and demanded that power be devolved to the regions. Discussions took place through late 1956 and into 1957. Although Nkrumah did not compromise on his insistence on a unitary state, the nation was divided into five regions, with power devolved from Accra, and the chiefs having a role in their governments.<ref>{{Citation|last=Mills|first=James H.|title='The British Compromise': Devolved Power and the Domestic Consumer, 1971–1997|date=29 November 2012|work=Cannabis Nation|pages=155–185|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199283422.003.0007|isbn=978-0-19-928342-2}}</ref> On 21 February 1957, the [[British prime minister]], [[Harold Macmillan]], announced that Ghana would be a full member of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] with effect from 6 March.{{sfn|Bourret|pp=200–201}}