28 SEPTEMBER 1962, Page 4

Ghana

DR. NKRUNIAll is the prisoner of his policy. The programme of Ghanaian leadership for the African cause throughout the continent, with ever-increasing austerity at home, is prov- ing too ambitious, if only because other emergent countries are proving understandably reluctant to be led. Now at home with the conferring of the Presidency for life and the plans for a real, as opposed to a theoretical, one-party system, the possibility of assassination has become more, not less, likely. Despite the President's apparent hold over his people, a country where Members have to be extensively searched for arms before enter- ing the Parliament building is not a happy place. Nor do the police appear to be having much suc- cess in finding culprits; the only man arrested known to possess information, an army officer in charge of an ammunition depot, committed sui- cide before he could be interrogated. The search no doubt will continue, with Dr. Nkrumah mak- ing increasing use of his enormous emergency powers. Meanwhile, if the President really is beginning to regret Ghana's isolation, it should not be out of the question for the British Govern- ment to consider giving some further help to its economy. The real danger is not so much of Ghana becoming Communist, but of lapsing into anarchy punctuated by outbreaks of violence. President Nkrumah may have his disadvantages, but he is probably the only Ghanaian statesman capable of leading the country.