Gold Coast Progress
By LORD HEMINGFORD• HOW has the Gold Coast Constitution worked ? It has now been in operation just two years this month, and its further advance „towards Dominion status is to be under discussion this year. When Mr. Lyttelton visited the Gold Coast last June, he was informed by the Prime Minister, Dr. Nkrumah, and the other representative Ministers of their desire for self-government within the Commonwealth; and he agreed that " when proposals had been formulated by the Gold Coast Government after consultation with the Chiefs and people . . . they would be examined and discussed between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the Gold Coast."
The principal features of the constitution are a Legislative Assembly and an Executive Council, in each of which there is a large majority of representative Africans. Of the 84 members of the Assembly, 38 are popularly elected, 37 are elected by Territorial Councils (which mainly consist of Chiefs), 6 are elected by the Chambers of Commerce and Mines, and 3 are the ex-officio Ministers of Defence and External Affairs, of Justice and Finance. The eight representative Ministers are approved by the Assembly after nomination by the Governor, who consults the Prime Minister before nominating any of the other seven. Portfolios are assigned to them by the Governor after consultation with the Prime Minister. The present ex-officio Ministers are British Colonial Servants, appointed by the Governor. Ministers-are assisted by Minis- terial Secretaries, drawn from the Assembly; and by Civil Servants, whose interests and impartiality are protected by safeguards in the constitution. How, it may be asked again, has this constitution worked ? The Gold Coast's first general election was conducted peace- fully, and the victory of the C.P.P. (Convention People's Party) undoubtedly expressed the will of the electorate. The Terri- torial Councils, unlike the constituencies, elected many non- C.P.P. members; including some Chiefs. The Assembly, although containing many members who had no previous knowledge of parliamentary procedure and little inclination to make their speeches brief, has worked with dignity and increas- ing competence. Its Speaker, an African lawyer, has never had to suspend_a member. The Governor has never had to veto any Bill sent to him by the Assembly." The non-C.P.P. members have not been ineffective; and once, with assistance from some C.P.P back-benchers, they defeated a Government Bill. Last year several groups united to form the Ghana Congress Party, which in time may provide a strong Opposition, but at present is handicapped by the fact that some of its leaders lack seats in the Assembly.
Only one of the representative Ministers appointed in 1951 proved to be a " misfit," and he has been replaced. In general there has evidently been harmonious co-operation between the two types of Minister, and between 'Ministers and Civil
• Rector of Achimota College, Gold Coast, till 1952.
Servants. The Africanisation of the Civil Service has pro- ceeded apace. In 1949 there were 229 Africans in senior- service appointments; in December, 1952, there were 620; and if any reduction in the efficiency of the Service has resulted it has not been apparent to the public. Vague charges of bribery, which admittedly has been all too common in the Gold Coast, have produced no evidence that members of the Government are guilty of it. The charge that the C.P.P., which certainly uses violent language, has suppressed free speech is largely disproved by the emergence of the Ghana Congress Party. The achievements of the Government, though naturally controversial, have been impressive in scope and energy; and it is noteworthy that the responsibility of office has led the C.P.P. Ministers to modify some of their views, for example on the employment of expatriates and the cutting out of diseased cocoa-trees. On the whole, the Gold Coast has enjoyed two peaceful but very busy years.
What constitutional changes may be expected ? Last October Dr. Nkrumah, in a speech to the Assembly, listed certain features of the constitution and invited public bodies and political parties to submit written statements on them by the end of March. He said that, after considering such statements, his Govern- ment would formulate its views for presentation to the Assembly in June. A recent C.P.P. conference, presided over by Dr. Nkrumah, is reported to have demanded " immediate " legis- lation to make the Gold Coast, under the name of Ghana, a sovereign State with the Queen at its head. Other parties may follow suit. It seems likely, however, that the agreed goal of sovereignty within the Commonwealth will be approached by a series of steps rather than by a single bound.
One step may be the replacement of the ex-officio Ministers of Justice and Finance by representative Ministers, who could get expert advice from an Attorney-General and a Financial Adviser. To replace the Minister of Defence and External Affairs would be less easy. Dr. Nkrumah has said that " one implication would be that the Gold Coast was prepared to take over immediately full responsibility for its own defence." This could not be done satisfactorily, and would discourage oversea investors, whose capital is required for development schemes such as the Volta River project. Perhaps External Affairs might be split from Defence, and the former alone be handed over to a representative Minister. The nomination of Ministers and the assignment of portfolios are powers that might be transferred to the Prime Minister, with an obligation to consult the Governor; but the dependence of ministerial appointments on resolutions by the Legislature might well be retained, as a democratic safeguard calculated to secure the stability of a Government.
There is a case for the creation of a second chamber. Apart from the familiar advantages of bi-cameral Legislature, it would provide a more suitable milieu for Chiefs than the Assembly does. The Chiefs' valuable symbolic and social functions are hardly compatible with partisanship in the two- party system which is developing in the Assembly. Yet it would be a pity if Chiefs had no place in the central Legislature. Should they and other representatives of Territorial Councils go to a Senate, the places that they left in the Assembly would facilitate an increase in the popularly-elected members. As to the Civil Service, the Government is unlikely to desire any constitutional change. It will doubtless accelerate Africanisa- tion by making early retirement more attractive for expatriates holding non-technical posts; but it recognises that, for many years, the Gold Coast will need to recruit technical staff from overseas in increasing numbers. It has lately advertised in The Times for an air-traffic control officer, surveyors, district valuers, mechanical engineers and a petrologist.
It would be presumptuous and indeed mischievous to fore- cast in this article the date by which the Gold Coast will achieve independence within the Commonwealth; but three suggestions of a general nature may be permitted. The first is that the date should be fixed; the second, that it should not be " immediate "; the third, that it should be early. The date should be fixed because, like a growing youth, a growing nation needs to know when it will 'come of age," so that it may make preparations with a sense of security and content- ment. The early announcement of a date might prevent politicians from outbidding one another in demands that it should be sooner and sooner. It would steady nationalist emotion and unify national effort. The date should not be " immediate," for many preparations remain to be completed and none of them should be stamped. The greater a youth's self-respect, the greater the care with which he plans for the future. In a matter that will vitally affect the future not only of the Gold Coast but of the whole African race, no big mistake can be afforded. As Aggrey said, " Only the best is good enough for Africa."
Nevertheless the date should be an early one, for the consti- tutional experiment of the last two years has revealed remark- able capacities in the people of the Gold Coast, and shown that generous treatment evokes from them a generous return, and responsible position a deepened sense'of responsibility. British people of conservative temperament, not necessarily supporters of the Conservative Party, are inclined, often from a genuine concern for African welfare, to raise the objection, " But democ- racy took us centuries." Their objection is irrelevant to a nation growing up in an age of text-books and newspapers, cinemas and wireless, motor-cars and aeroplanes: Besides, the essence of conservatism is not slowness but caution;_and, as every wise parent of an adolescent knows, there are times when the most cautious policy is speed.
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