THE GEOGRAPHY (Foreign Office UK)
Area: 239,000 sq km
Population: 18,845,265 (according to
the census conducted in March 2000)
Capital City: Accra, 1.7 million
People and languages: There are 75
spoken languages, each associated with
a distinct ethnic group. The largest are
the Akan which comprises
approximately half the population. This
is followed by the Mossi, Ewe and
Ga-Adangme. Other significant groups
and languages are Twi Fante, Ga and
Hausa. The official language is English.
Religion(s): 69% Christian, 16% Muslim,
9% other traditional and indigenous
religions (latest census)
Currency: Cedi
Major political parties: New Patriotic
Party (NPP), National Democratic
Congress (NDC)
Government: The government is
elected on the basis of Presidential and
Parliamentary elections held every
four years.
GEOGRAPHY
Ghana is situated on the southern west
African coastline. It is bordered by
Togo in the east, Burkina Faso in the
north and Cote d'Ivoire in the west. A
narrow grassy plain stretches inland
from the coast, widening in the east.
The south and west are covered by
dense rain forest. To the north are
forested hills, beyond which is dry
savannah and open woodland. The Black
and White Volta rivers enter Ghana
from Burkina Faso and lead to the
largest man-made lake in the world,
Lake Volta.
THE HISTORY (Foreign Office UK)
British colonial rule in the Gold Coast
(as Ghana was then known) was
established from 1874. It was extended
under a League of Nations mandate to
include part of the former German
colony of Togoland in 1919. In 1957,
following elections won by Dr Krame
Nkrumah and his party in the early
1950s, the Gold Coast became the
independent state of Ghana - the first
British dependency in sub-Saharan
Africa to attain independence under
majority rule.
Longer Historical Perspective
The modern state of Ghana was once
the home of the powerful Ashanti
kingdom, which fought a series of
wars against the British colonialists
during the 19th century. In 1901 the
Ashanti kingdom and Northern
Territories Protectorate were
amalgamated into the existing Gold
Coast colony. Neighbouring German
Togoland was put under Gold Coast
administration after the end of World
War I. In 1957 the Gold Coast became
the first African state to achieve full
independence from Britain.
Ghana's first post-independence
ruler, Kwame Nkrumah, was the
pioneer of 'African socialism' and
advocated the application of European
socialism, modified to take account of
the circumstances of Africa. Nkrumah
gradually developed close ties with the
Soviet bloc. Nkrumah was overthrown
in a military coup in 1966. The new
rulers aim of rectifying Ghana's
problems before returning it to civilian
rule were undermined by deep-rooted
political and economic malpractice. The
pattern of fledgling civilian government
aborted by military intervention
continued to dog Ghana, culminating in
the coup of 1979 led by Flight
Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.
Recent History
Recent history has been a marked by
the rise to power of Flight Lieutenant
Jerry Rawlings. In 1979 he seized
power in a military coup. On that
occasion Ghana was returned to a
civilian government after a few
months. However, another coup in 1981
saw him overthrow the civilian
government of Dr Hilla Limann and take
power again. He assumed chairmanship
of the ruling Provisional National
Defence Council (PNDC), abolished the
Constitution, dissolved Parliament and
proscribed opposition political parties.
However, by the mid-1980s stability
had returned to Ghana and its economy
had started to recover. Following
pressure for political reform, Rawlings
lifted the ban on opposition parties. A
new Constitution was drawn up and
approved in a referendum in April 1992.
The Constitution follows the
presidential executive system and
guarantees democratic freedoms.
In November 1992, the first
presidential elections for 13 years
were held. Rawlings, standing for the
National Democratic Congress (NDC)
won with 58% of the vote. The
elections were declared free and fair
by international observers, including
the Commonwealth and Organisation
for African Unity. However, opposition
leaders were unhappy with the conduct
of the elections and subsequently
boycotted the parliamentary election in
December 1992. As a result the NDC
swept the field, winning 189 of the 200
seats.
In December 1996, President Rawlings
was re-elected for a second term with
57.5% of the vote. His nearest rival,
John Kufuor of the New Patriotic
Party (NPP), gained 39%. The
opposition Grand Alliance (NPP and
Peoples Convention Party) contested
the parliamentary elections, winning 65
seats on the National Assembly. The
ruling NDC won 133. The turnout was
76% and international observers agreed
that the conduct of the elections was a
credit to the development of
democracy in Africa.
On 7 December 2000, President
Rawlings stood down in accordance
with the terms of the Constitution
which allows for just two terms of
office. In the Presidential elections
which followed, his NDC party was
represented by the vice-president,
Professor John Atta Mills and the
opposition NPP party was lead by John
Kufuor. In a second round of elections,
Kufuor won with 57% of the vote. He
was formally sworn in as President on
7 January 2001.
The Parliamentary elections were run
in tandem. Kufuor's NPP won 101of the
200 seats, the NDC took 92. The
turnout for both elections was 62%.
POLITICS
Ghana is now an African success story.
It has a pluralistic political system. The
strength of this was underlined in
December 2000 when, for the first in
its history, Ghana witnessed the
election of an opposition party. What
followed was a smooth transition of
power.
Ghana is situated on the southern west
African coastline. It is bordered by
Togo in the east, Burkina Faso in the
north and Cote d'Ivoire in the west. A
narrow grassy plain stretches inland
from the coast, widening in the east.
The south and west are covered by
dense rain forest. To the north are
forested hills, beyond which is dry
savannah and open woodland. The Black
and White Volta rivers enter Ghana
from Burkina Faso and lead to the
largest man-made lake in the world,
Lake Volta.
THE ECONOMY (Foreign Office UK)
GDP: Approximately US$ 6bn (2002)
GDP per head: US$ 250 (2003)
Annual Growth: 4.5% (2003)
Inflation: 15.2% (2002)
Unemployment: 20% (2000)
Major Industries: Cocoa, Gold and
timber
Major trading partners: United
Kingdom, United States, France, Italy,
Nigeria, Togo
Exchange rate: 13,980 cedis = £1 (24
June 2003)
The Kufuor administration inherited an
economy in decline. They have made
tackling this a priority. Tough
measures have been taken, including
the raising of fuel duties by over 90%.
In 2001, Ghana applied to the IMF for
heavily indebted poor country (HIPC)
status in order to obtain debt relief.
After much delay the application was
finally approved in February 2002.
In its first year, the new government
achieved some success. The recovery
in the price of gold and cocoa prices
helped Ghana reach macro-economic
stability. But problems remain.
Unemployment remains high and whilst
poverty is declining, it is also deepening
among more vulnerable groups,
particularly food crop farmers. To
handle this Ghana will require the
necessary technical expertise to tackle
the economy and its financial
management.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Ghana's Relations with Neighbours
Ghana maintains close relations with its
West African neighbours, largely
through the regional organisation
ECOWAS – Economic Community of
West African States. Through this
organisation Ghana has pursued
regional economic integration and
freer trade. In contributing to the
stability of the region, Ghana has
supplied troops for peacekeeping and
peace monitoring operations in Liberia,
Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of
Congo, and Sierra Leone.
Ghana's Relations with the
International Community
Ghana has sought to develop a positive
image abroad, particularly with its role
in conflict prevention. An experienced
peacekeeper, they are the fifth largest
contributer to UN operations. Military
personnel have been deployed in areas
such as Lebanon, Bosnia Iraq/Kuwait,
Western Sahara, Croatia and Tajikistan.
GHANA'S RELATIONS WITH THE UK
Ghana's relations with the UK are
close and friendly.
High level bilateral visits and contacts
are a feature of our relations. Her
Majesty The Queen and Prince Philip
paid a State Visit to Ghana on 7-9
November 1999.
On 8 February 2002, the Prime
Minister became the first British
leader to visit Ghana since Harold
MacMillan in 1960. He paid a one-day
visit while on a tour of the West Africa
region.
Visits by senior government ministers
in recent years include two by the
Foreign Secretary Robin Cook (March
and November 1999) and Clare Short,
Secretary of State for International
Development (February 2001). Other
visitors have included Sir Martin Laing,
Chairman of the British Overseas
Trade Board, and FCO Ministers Tony
Lloyd, Peter Hain, Brian Wilson and
Baroness Amos, in addition to Michael
Meacher as Environment Minister. The
most recent official visit was in May
2003, by Rt. Hon. Paul Boateng, Chief
Secretary to the Treasury.
President Kufuor and the then Foreign
Minister Owusu-Agyemang visited the
UK in September 2001 and met with
the Prime Minister, Clare Short and
Baroness Amos and other African
leaders for informal talks at Chequers.
The UK is a second home for many
Ghanaians with some estimates putting
the diaspora as high as one million.
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