$Unique_ID{COW01423}
$Pretitle{353}
$Title{Ghana
Chapter 3B.   Colonial Administration}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{government
chiefs
british
members
councils
new
constitution
political
african
coast}
$Date{1970}
$Log{}
Country:     Ghana
Book:        Area Handbook for Ghana
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1970

Chapter 3B.   Colonial Administration

     Beginning in 1850 the Gold Coast Colony was administered by the governor,
who was assisted by the Executive Council and the Legislative Council. The
Executive Council was an advisory body, consisting of not more than five
senior European officials, that recommended laws and voted taxes, subject to
the governor's approval. The Legislative Council was composed of official
members, including those of the Executive Council, and unofficial members.
Initially, unofficial members were chosen from local British commercial
interests. After 1900 the Legislative Council included six Africans-three
chiefs and three prominent individuals from the Europeanized communities of
Accra, Cape Coast, and Sekondi. Until 1925 all members were appointed by the
governor. The official members always outnumbered the unofficial members by at
least one.

     The gradual emergence of centralized colonial government brought about
unified control by government departments over the services through which
local needs were supplied, although the actual administration of these
services was still delegated to local officials or councils. Specific duties
and responsibilities came to be clearly delineated, and the role of
traditional states in local rule was outlined in a series of successive
ordinances.

     The structure of local government had its roots in tradition. Village
councils of chiefs and elders dealt with the immediate needs of a locality and
provided for its required services. Traditional law and order had been almost
exclusively in the hands of these councils, which developed general
responsibility for the overall welfare of their locality. The councils,
however, ruled by consent rather than by right. The chiefs were elected by the
ruling strata of the society and required the approval of the commoners. The
unseating or destooling (see Glossary) of a chief by his elders was a fairly
common practice if he failed to meet the desires or expectations of the
community.

     The British authorities adopted a system known as indirect rule as an
economic means of administering the country and ensuring order. Until the
beginning of the twentieth century the major impact of colonial rule had been
to weaken traditional forms of government in order to build direct ties
between the British authorities and the population. After 1902, however, the
addition of Ashanti and the Northern Territories made this task too heavy. In
order to lighten the administrative load, the chiefs and elders were again
given wide latitude in running their own affairs. A fundamental difference in
the status of the traditional authorities was thus created. In the precolonial
system the chiefs and elders had been ultimately responsible to their people.
Under indirect rule they were responsible to the colonial authorities who
supported them. In many respects, therefore, the power of the chiefs was
greater than it had been before.

     Many of the chiefs involved came to regard themselves as a ruling
aristocracy, and their counsels were generally heeded by the government, which
often rewarded them with honors, decorations, and knighthood. Indirect rule
tended to preserve traditional forms and sources of power, however, and, by
its inherent conservatism, failed to provide opportunities for the growing
number of educated young men anxious to find a niche in their country's
development. Various interests saw other sources of dissatisfaction: there was
not sufficient cooperation between the councils and the central government;
the local authorities were felt to be too much under the domination of the
British commissioners; and the self-perpetuating authority in the hands of a
few particular families was viewed as failing to represent properly the true
interests of the people.

     In 1925 provincial councils of chiefs were established, partly to give
the chiefs a "national" function. This move was followed by the Native
Administration Ordinance in 1927, replacing a document of 1883. The aim of the
new ordinance was to define more clearly and regulate the powers and areas of
jurisdiction of the chiefs and councils. Councils were given specific
responsibilities over disputed elections and the unseating of chiefs; the
procedure for the election of chiefs was set forth; and judicial powers were
defined and delegated. Councils were entrusted with the role of defining
customary law in their areas (the government had to pass on their decisions),
and the provincial councils were empowered to become tribunals to decide
matters of customary law when the dispute lay between chiefs of different
hierarchies. Until 1939, when the Native Treasuries Ordinance was passed,
however, there was no provision for local budgets.

     In 1935 the Native Authorities Ordinance joined the central colonial
government and the local authorities in a single governing concept. New Native
Authorities, appointed by the governor, were given wide powers of local
government but were placed under the supervision of the central government's
provincial commissioners, who assured that their policies would be those of
the central government.

     The joint provincial councils and moves to strengthen them were not
popular. By British standards, the chiefs were not given enough power to be
effective instruments of indirect rule, whereas articulate Africans saw in the
reforms a British move to increase the power of the chiefs in order to utilize
them in a decreasingly democratic system of government.

Economic and Social Development

     The years of British administration of the Gold Coast during the
twentieth century was an era of significant progress in social, economic, and
educational development. Communications were greatly improved; new crops were
introduced and developed; minerals and timber were increasingly exploited; and
more schools were being built. The advantages of modern science and technology
were pushed into ever-widening spheres of the country's hinterland.

     The railroad, begun in 1898, was extended until it covered most of the
important commercial centers of the south. After the introduction of motor
vehicles at the beginning of the twentieth century, road construction moved
forward; by 1918, 1,200 miles of road had been built, and by 1937 there were
6,000 miles of road (see ch. 2, Physical Environment and Population).
Telegraph, telephone, and postal services were increased and improved, and
cable and radio services and air and steamship lines were developed to link
the country with the outside world.

     Cocoa, introduced in 1879, brought about the first major change among the
peoples of the interior as its cultivation quickly expanded into the mainstay
of the nation's economy. By the 1920s the country was exporting more than half
of the world's entire cocoa supply. Gold exports continued, and timber and
manganese further increased external earnings, stimulating and financing the
internal developments in infrastructure and social services. Only cocoa
production was in African hands, however; exports and imports were largely in
British hands, as was the limited manufacturing carried out within the
country. A good deal of local trade was conducted by Lebanese and Indian
immigrants. The Cocoa Marketing Board was formed in 1947 to assist the farmers
and stabilize the production and sale of their crops.

     One of the most progressive governors of the era was Sir Frederick Gordon
Guggisberg, who held office from 1919 to 1927. His far-reaching plans for the
colony were greatly assisted by the prosperous state of the country's economy
during his period of office. During his administration there was notable
progress along all fronts. Besides his work on all phases of communication,
he initiated the artificial harbor works at Takoradi, improved the health
services, built the Ghana Hospital of Korle Bu, and did much to promote
improvements in mining and agriculture. He founded Achimota College, which
developed into one of the finest secondary schools in Africa and produced
graduates that became outstanding political figures of modern Ghana.

     The most significant aspect of Guggisberg's administration was his
recognition of the requirements and desires of the native population. Under
his guidance, the concept of a progressive social and economic unit was first
injected into official government policy.

     The economic depression of the 1930s and the restrictions during World
War II combined to slow down somewhat the bright promise of progress that
Guggisberg had brought to Gold Coast affairs. Nevertheless, the colony moved
ahead, and the political atmosphere particularly underwent subtle changes.

     It was through education that an African elite gained the power and the
desire to strive for independence, and during the colonial years the country's
educational institutions made notable progress. From beginnings in missionary
schools, the early part of the twentieth century saw significant advances in
many fields and, although the missions continued to participate, the
government steadily increased its interest and support. In 1909 it established
at Accra a technical school and a teachers' training college; several other
schools were set up by the missions in various parts of the country. As the
years passed, the number of schools in various categories continued to grow;
the government steadily increased its backing and provided more and more of
the necessary funds. Several committees were appointed to investigate and make
recommendations in the field of education and in some cases made substantial
contributions to spur further progress. Among the more noteworthy were the
Education Committee of 1937 and the Elliot Commission of 1944. The Elliot
Commission made recommendations that resulted in the founding of University
College in 1948.

     The colony assisted Great Britain in both World War I and World War II.
From 1914 to 1918 the Gold Coast Regiment served with distinction in the
campaigns against the German forces in the Cameroons and then in East Africa,
where it served the longest period of any West African contingent. In World
War II Gold Coast troops emerged with even greater prestige after outstanding
service in Ethiopia and Burma. In the ensuing years, however, postwar problems
of inflation and instability made readjustment extremely difficult for the
returning veterans, who were in the forefront of developing popular discontent
and unrest. Their war service and associations had broadened their horizons
and made it difficult to return to humble and circumscribed positions.

Influence of Christian Missions

     The impact of outside religious influences on Ghana, although
substantial, has not been as pronounced as in other parts of the world. The
area has been subjected to the proselytizing influence of missionaries of many
faiths since its earliest history. Although these new teachings often clashed
with established local religious forms and beliefs, their proponents were
generally well received and achieved considerable success in acquiring new
adherents. Native religious heritage was strong, however, and the missions did
not always succeed in entirely eradicating rites and observances of the past.
The newly accepted religion often retained many of the forms and rituals of
the old one it had nominally replaced.

     In the pre-European period, Islam had gained a foothold in the north. The
major impact of Islam was realized by the fifteenth century, however, and it
was the introduction of Christianity that exerted a predominantly lasting
influence on the development of the modern state.

     Although the main aim of the Christian missionaries was the conversion of
the inhabitants, their efforts in health improvement and education were
significant. Concern for the welfare of the African in the early years of
European penetration stemmed largely from the work of the missionaries.

     The earliest missionaries were Catholic priests who accompanied the
Portuguese expedition that settled at Elmina in 1482. The Dutch who drove the
Portuguese from the coast in 1642 were accompanied by Protestant ministers,
products of the Reformation, who served as chaplains for their own people but
made no effort to convert the Africans. In the middle of the eighteenth
century missionary activity again got underway, but the several isolated
efforts were mostly on a small scale.

     The nineteenth century saw the beginning of significant missionary
activity. Four major bodies-three Protestant and one Catholic-established
themselves in the area, and their members pursued their works despite
hardships, ill health, and alarmingly high mortality rates. The Basel Mission
of Switzerland in 1827 was the first, followed by the Wesleyan Methodist
Missionary Society in 1835 and the North German Missionary Society, or Bremen
Mission, in 1847. The Roman Catholic Society of African Missions established
itself in 1880.

     These missions were followed over the years by many others from both
Europe and North America. Most of them started in the coastal areas and spread
steadily throughout the south, but penetration of the north was impeded by
difficulties of transportation, problems of supply, and the established
position of Islam. Most of the missions set up schools; many established
hospitals and clinics, supplied doctors, and trained nurses and midwives.

     The missions took the lead in the study of local languages and, after
establishing a writing system, were able to instruct their pupils in their own
dialects on such subjects as child welfare, sanitation, first aid, and local
history, in addition to religion. The missions also expanded academic
curricula by teaching trades and crafts and establishing centers for
demonstrations of scientific farming. Some of the early roads were built by
the missionaries, and agriculture was given new stimulation by their
introduction of new products, such as mangoes, avocados, and coffee.

     In the earlier years the Christian converts generally stood apart from
the traditional life of the community. Differences among the missions of
various denominations often led to confusion and ill feeling. Regional
divisions were created or accentuated, and the contrast of outlook between the
traditional Muslim-influenced north and the Western-oriented south became more
acute. Nevertheless, the location of missions often had considerable influence
on the growth of communities, the "mission quarter" became a familiar feature
of most larger settlements, and the church school became a focus of social
life that rivaled the dwelling of the chief.

The Growth of Nationalism

     Keeping pace with the material development of the country was the
political evolution that, through a series of constitutional reforms beginning
in 1925, gradually shifted the focus of government power. From the hands of
the governor and his officials, control moved slowly in the direction of
greater participation by Africans. The changes resulted from an awakening
national consciousness that led to a strong spirit of nationalism and was to
result eventually in independence.

     The development of national consciousness accelerated quickly after World
War II, when a substantial group of Africans emerged to lend mass support to
the aspirations of a small educated minority. Once the movement had gotten
underway, events moved rapidly-not always fast enough to satisfy the
nationalist leaders but still at a pace that surprised not only the colonial
government but also many of the more conservative African elements as well.

     As early as the latter part of the nineteenth century a growing number of
educated Africans found increasingly unacceptable an arbitrary system that
reposed complete power in the hands in the governor through his appointment of
council members. Thus the foundations were laid for a movement that was
ultimately to lead to independence. In 1920 one of the African members of the
Legislative Council, Joseph E. Casely-Hayford, convened the National Congress
of British West Africa, which sent a delegation to London to urge on the
Colonial Office the principle of elected representation. The group acted for
all the British West African colonies and was the first expression of
political solidarity between progressive intellectuals and nationalists of the
area. Asserting that the congress represented only a small minority of
urbanized Africans, the secretary of state for colonies refused audience to
it. Nevertheless, the congress aroused considerable support among the African
elite at home, and its action brought the matter to the fore.

     The major early figures involved were British-educated intellectuals who
generally were at odds with the traditionalist chiefs. Despite their emphasis
on elected representation, they insisted on their loyalty to the British crown
and sought an extension of British political and social forms in Africa.
Notable leaders included Africanus Horton, Jr., J. M. Sarbah, and S. R. B.
Attah-Ahoma. Such men gave the nationalist movement a distinctly elitist
flavor that was to last until the late 1940s.

     The Constitution of 1925, promulgated by Guggisberg, was the first major
change since the Constitution of 1850. Provincial councils of paramount chiefs
were established for each of the western, central, and eastern provinces of
the colony. These councils in turn elected six chiefs as unofficial members
of the Legislative Council, which then consisted of fourteen unofficial
members and fifteen official members appointed by the governor.

     Although the new constitution recognized sentiments that had been set in
motion and were reflected by the National Congress of British West Africa,
Guggisberg was concerned primarily with British interests. In an effort to
counteract the effects of the congress by providing Africans a limited voice
in the central government, he attempted to ensure at the same time that such
representation was under official discipline. By limiting nominations to
chiefs, he helped drive a wedge between chiefs and educated intellectuals that
arrested effective agitation for self-government for twenty years.

     The new constitution met with considerable disapproval in most quarters
of the country. Opposition was particularly strong from the Gold Coast
Aborigines' Rights Protection Society, which had been formed in 1897 by the
Westernized elite in the coastal towns to protect African land rights against
European exploitation and had continued as a voice for the interests of
educated Africans. The group felt that the chiefs, in return for British
support, had allowed the provincial councils to come completely under the
control of the government. They denied that the councils were in a position to
defend African interests adequately. The resultant recriminations created
considerable disagreement and distrust of both government and chiefs, which
took some years to diminish. By the mid 1930s, however, a gradual
rapprochement between chiefs and intellectuals had begun.

     Agitation continued for more adequate representation, and the chiefs and
educated leaders laid constant demands before the government for a greater
share of control. African-owned and -managed newspapers played a major part in
stirring this agitation. Six were being published in the 1930s, one under the
editorship of Nnamdi Azikiwe, a Nigerian writer, educated in the United
States, who later became president of Nigeria (see ch. 7, Education,
Information, and the Arts and Sciences). One result was the addition, in 1943,
of two unofficial African members to the Executive Council. Changes in the
Legislative Council, however, had to await the Constitution of 1946.

     The 1946 Constitution, promulgated by the governor, Sir Alan Burns,
represented a bold step forward in that it abandoned for the first time the
concept of an official majority and handed political power over to the elected
members. The new Legislative Council consisted of six ex officio members, six
nominated members, and eighteen elected members, among whom the Ashanti were
represented for the first time.

     With the elected members in a decisive majority, a level of political
maturity was attained that was not then equaled anywhere in colonial Africa.
The constitution did not, however, grant full self-government; executive power
was still in the hands of the governor or his appointed officials, and the
Legislative Council was responsible to the governor.

     Although the Constitution was greeted with enthusiasm as a significant
milestone, it soon encountered a troubled path. World War II had just ended,
and the many Ghanaian veterans who had served in the British forces returned
to a country beset with shortages, inflation, black-market practices, and
unemployment. They formed a nucleus of discontent that was ripe for
disruptive action. They were joined by farmers who resented drastic
governmental measures required to cut out diseased cocoa trees in order to
control an epidemic of swollen shoot disease and by many others who were
perturbed that the end of the war had not been followed by economic
improvement.

     A national political group called the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC)
was formed in August 1947 under an intellectual, nationalist-oriented
leadership. In December of that year Nkrumah was appointed the UGCC's general
secretary. Although political associations had existed previously in the
colony, the UGCC was the first true political party, and theirs was the first
serious demand for self-government.

     The veterans and others instituted a boycott of imported goods and other
protests against economic conditions. Finally, in February 1948, widespread
rioting broke out in major towns. The trouble began in the capital with a
march by ex-servicemen attempting to present a petition to the governor at his
residence. Although permission to march on the castle had been officially
denied, the group, joined by a large number of nonveterans, left the
prescribed route and headed for the governor's residence. A short distance
from the castle the column was halted by armed police, who opened fire. Two
were killed and 5 were wounded, the dead including the foremost leader of the
group, Sergeant C. F. Adjetey. During the next few days serious rioting broke
out in several areas as well as the capital. Accra's central prison was
stormed, and the inmates were released. European and Asian stores were looted
and destroyed. Before the situation was brought under control, 29 people had
been killed and 266 injured. The end result was widespread politicization of
the population and increased hostility to the colonial government.

     The UGCC criticized the government for its failure to solve the problems
that had brought about the disturbances. It was able to make political capital
of the brief imprisonment of its leaders and, as a result, the UGCC expanded
rapidly-from 2 branches in 1947 to 209 by August 1948.

     As a result of the unrest, a British commission under the chairmanship
of Aiken Watson was sent from London to investigate conditions. One of its
recommendations was that the Africans be given a greater share in the
government. The governor appointed an all-African committee under Justice
Henly Coussey to study ways and means of carrying out the commission's
specific recommendations. The Coussey group consisted of thirty-six members
drawn from the territory's traditional and modernist leaders. Before the
Coussey Committee's task was completed, Nkrumah left the UGCC, where he had
found himself in opposition to the more conservative views of its leaders.

     In the years before 1948, a broad gap had opened between the African
intellectual elite and the workingmen and farmers. The UGCC was dominated by
the elite. Its early leaders included George Pa Brown, a leading Ghanaian
businessman; J. B. Danquah, the country's foremost political theorist; K. A.
Busia and Edward Akufo-Addo, future national leaders; and Ako Adjei, a fellow
student of Nkrumah in the United States. It was Adjei who had led the UGCC to
bring Nkrumah back from London to be the party's secretary general.

     None of the UGCC's leaders were capable of presenting an appeal to the
majority of the population. Although they sometimes made common cause with the
chiefs against the British, they were also divided from the traditionalist
authorities by cultural background and political aims. The product of coastal
families with 200 or more years of contact with the Europeans, many of them
saw themselves as black English gentlemen and as the colonial rulers' logical
successors. They sought to achieve self-government under the British crown
through logical persuasion rather than positive action and agitation. Their
political speeches stressed the moral right of the people of the Gold Coast
to self-determination.

     Nkrumah was of a different mold. His qualities of leadership attracted a
large following and brought him rapidly to the fore. In 1935 he had gone
abroad to study at Lincoln University and the University of Pennsylvania and
in London. His studies and his practical experience in Philadelphia and
London, organizing African students and observing political party and labor
union organizing efforts among both democratic and Communist bodies had made
him an astute political organizer.

     To outsiders his abilities as an orator seemed limited, but his style and
the promises he made appealed directly to the majority of those who heard him.
He was able to measure the pulse of his audience and to react to it
energetically. He appeared as the national leader on whom the people could
focus their hopes and desires. His appeal to the youth of the country was
particularly strong, and the lowering of the voting age in 1950 was of
substantial help to him and his party. Nkrumah also won the support of the
influential market women who, through their domination of petty trade, were
able to serve as effective channels of communications at the local level.

     The majority of the politicized population, stirred in the post-war years
by the outspoken newspapers, was separated from the Anglophile elite nearly as
much as from the British by economic, social, and educational factors. This
politicized group consisted primarily of literate persons who had left primary
school, ex-servicemen, journalists, and elementary school teachers who had
developed a taste for populist conceptions of democracy with which they had
come in contact. A growing number of uneducated but urbanized industrial
workers also formed part of this group.

     Nkrumah, after leaving the UGCC, was able to appeal to these people at
their own level. In June 1949 he formed his own party, the Convention Peoples
Party (CPP), with the avowed purpose of seeking immediate self-government.
The majority of the UGCC members joined him.

     A new constitution, the Constitution of 1951, followed the Coussey
Committee's report. In addition to the Executive Council, with a large
majority of African ministers, the constitution provided for an assembly,
half of whose elected members were to come from the towns and rural
districts and half from the traditional councils, including Ashanti and
the Northern Territories.

     Although it was a major step forward, it still fell far short of the
CPP's goal of full self-government. It further widened the breach between
Nkrumah and leaders of the UGCC, who had collaborated on the formulation of
the constitution in the Coussey Committee.

     With the increasing backing of the people, in early 1950 the CPP
initiated a campaign of "positive action," which resulted in widespread
strikes, nonviolent resistance, and some violent disorder. Nkrumah, along
with his principal lieutenants, was promptly arrested and imprisoned for
sedition, but this action increased his prestige and added the status of
martyr to his position as leader and hero of the cause.

     In February 1951 the first general elections were held for the
Legislative Assembly under the new constitution. Nkrumah, still in jail,
received a substantial plurality of the votes cast in his electoral district,
and the CPP won a major victory, with a two-thirds majority of the 104 seats.
Because of the indirect voting system then in use, however, the tribal
interests were able to fill 23 seats.

     The governor, Sir Charles Arden-Clarke, released Nkrumah and invited him
to form a government as leader of government business, a position similar to
that of prime minister. Nkrumah accepted and took office as the head of a
government dominated by his own party. A major milestone had been passed on
the road to self-government and independence.

     Although the CPP agreed to work with the new constitution, it was plainly
far short of the ultimate aims of the party. The ministries of defense,
external affairs, finance, and justice were still held by European officials
who were not responsible to the legislature. Furthermore, by providing for a
sizable representation of traditional tribal chiefs, the constitution served
to accentuate the cleavage between the modern political leaders and the
traditional authorities of the councils of chiefs.

     A majority of the country's population was still under the partial
control of the chiefs and the tribal councils that had been recognized as a
part of the administrative structure of government under the British. This
indirect rule had brought about complex and profound changes in the country's
thought and orientation, without abrupt breaks in the social structure. The
blending of traditional authority and social organization with Western
structures permitted the emergence of groupings that went beyond traditional
boundaries toward the creation of larger political units and, eventually, a
national concept. In the process, it educated one stratum of the society in
administration.

     The start of Nkrumah's first term as leader of government business was
marked by cordiality and cooperation between him and the British governor. In
the course of the next few years there was a gradual transformation of the
1951 Constitution into a system of full parliamentary government. The change
was opposed almost entirely by the more traditionalist African elements,
particularly in Ashanti and the Northern Territories. This opposition,
however, proved ineffective in the face of the continuing and growing popular
support for independence at an early date.

     In 1952 the position of prime minister was created, and the Executive
Council became the cabinet. The prime minister was made responsible to the
assembly, which duly elected Nkrumah prime minister.

     A new constitution, written in 1954 at Nkrumah's insistence, brought
about the end of election of assembly members by the tribal councils. The
assembly, which had been provided with a Speaker in 1951, was increased in
size, and all members were chosen by direct election from equal, single-member
constituencies. Although matters of defense and foreign policy remained in the
hands of the governor, the elected assembly now had control of virtually all
the internal affairs of the colony.

     The CPP faced serious opposition in Ashanti to its policies of
centralization. Shortly after the 1954 election, a new party, the National
Liberation Movement (NLM), was formed in Ashanti. The NLM advocated a federal
form of government, with increased powers for the various regions. Its leaders
criticized the CPP for dictatorial tendencies, and the NLM gained many
adherents from among disaffected CPP members, as well as chiefs and supporters
of the traditional order in Ashanti and the Northern Territories.

     The new party worked in cooperation with another regionalist group, the
Northern People's Party, and the growth of the movement began to alarm the
CPP. When the opposition walked out of the discussions on the new draft
constitution, the march toward independence appeared to be definitely
threatened. The CPP feared and the NLM hoped that the government in London
might consider such a demonstration of disunity as an indication that the
colony was not yet ready for the next phase along the path of self-government.

     The British government's constitutional adviser, however, backed the CPP
position. The opposition declared that public opinion had swung away from
Nkrumah's government, which no longer represented the people. The governor
dissolved the assembly in order to test the popular support for the demand for
immediate independence. The crown agreed to grant independence if requested by
a two-thirds majority of the new legislature. New elections were held in July
1956, with the CPP the victor. Although it obtained only 57 percent of the
votes cast and Nkrumah was supported by only a third of the voters in his own
district, the fragmentation of the opposition allowed the CPP to win every
seat in the south as well as a minority of seats in Ashanti and the Northern
Territories and 8 of the 13 seats in the Trans-Volta Region-a total of 70
seats out of 104.

     Shortly before the parliamentary election in July, an important
plebiscite in Togoland was held in May 1956. British Togoland, the western
portion of the former German colony, although a League of Nations mandate and
later a United Nations trusteeship, had been administratively and economically
linked to the Gold Coast and was represented in its parliament. The British
government wanted to settle its status before the Gold Coast became
independent and prepared to hold a plebiscite under United Nation auspices to
let the Togolese decide whether they wished to remain under trusteeship or
join an independent Gold Coast. The important ethnic group in the area was the
Ewe, who were divided between the Gold Coast proper and the two Togos. Many
Ewe in the southern part of Togoland opposed union with Ghana and preferred to
wait for eventual union with the Ewe of French Togo, while the CPP, supported
by most of the Ewe of the Gold Coast, campaigned vigorously for union. The
vote showed a clear majority in favor of union with the Gold Coast, and the
area was absorbed into the country's Volta Region.