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Ghana INTERNAL SECURITY CONCERNS
Ghana has a long history of internal division, rooted in
antagonisms and conflicts among the country's various ethnic
groups. For example, the Asante in the center of the country have
long been at odds with southern peoples such as the Ga, Fante,
Akwapim, Nzema, and Ewe. In the seventeenth century, the Asante
began conquering smaller northern states. The Asante then moved
south, where they came into contact with the Fante. Conflicts
between these two groups ultimately led to British intervention.
For much of the nineteenth century, the British battled the Asante
for control of most of the territory which became modern Ghana
(see Arrival of the Europeans;
The Colonial Era: British Rule of the Gold Coast
, ch. 1). Even after the country gained independence in
1957, ethnic divisions continued to trouble Ghanaian society.
Several dissident organizations, however, most of which had
been created by exiles during the 1980s, dedicated themselves to
deemphasizing ethnicity and to facilitating the growth of
nationalism. In April 1982, various members of Ghana's banned
political parties established the Campaign for Democracy in Ghana
and opened offices in Lagos and London. This group characterized
the Rawlings regime as "an instrument of terror" and urged all
Ghanaians to "employ all legitimate means to ensure that democracy
and constitutional order were restored in the country." In April
1984, J.H. Mensah, who had been the minister of finance Abrefa in
the Kofi Busia government (1969-71), formed the Ghana Democratic
Movement, which welcomed all Ghanaians who believed in "the
restoration of democracy in Ghana."
In precolonial Ghana, political opposition was tolerated only
up to point, after which retribution could be serve. During the
colonial period, the British jailed outspoken nationalists. Since
independence, Ghana's security policy toward dissidents and
political opponents has been harsh. During Kwame Nkrumah's
presidency (1960-66), security personnel permeated all levels of
Ghanaian society. Additionally, the Ghana Young Pioneers, created
in June 1960, regularly reported all suspected dissident activities
to the authorities. Nkrumah also encouraged rivalries among senior
officials to discourage them from taking united action against him.
Individuals who fell afoul of Nkrumah usually ended up in jail;
more dangerous people received long-term sentences in the maximum
security prison at Nsawam.
Since the downfall of Nkrumah, all governments, with the
exception of the regime of Hilla Limann (1979-81), have dealt
harshly with any individual or organization deemed to be a threat
to the established political order. Informants watched military
personnel, members of political parties, academics, students, and
ordinary citizens for signs of disloyalty, antigovernment activity,
or coup-plotting. During the early years of the second Rawlings
regime, the authorities also sought to prevent the emergence of
prodemocracy groups. In mid-1987, for example, the police arrested
members of the New Democratic Movement (NDM) and the Kwame Nkrumah
Revolutionary Guards (KNRG), supposedly for plotting to overthrow
the government. Gradually, however, Western and domestic pressures
persuaded the Ghanaian government to permit political competition
and to hold multiparty elections in late 1992.
Data as of November 1994
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