Page 103 - Afrika Must Unite

88 AFRICA MUST UNITE
machine that had a general staff and other ranks but was devoid
of officers.
M y cabinet, my general staff, would come from among the
Party, and down below was the rank and file of our army - the
people. These were our own. But what of the group in between,
the officers and the N.C.O.s, who would be responsible for the
execution of policy laid down from above ? W here were our tried
and loyal African commanders? W here were the African
directors of our campaign for clearing away the debris of
colonialism and erecting our own G hanaian edifice more in keep­
ing with our wider, progressive perspective ? The finest plans we
could conceive for our country would never leave the blue-print
stage unless we had first-class civil servants whose outlook was
attuned to our African aspirations and upon whose loyalty we
could depend unquestioningly.
The civil service, being the administrative arm of government,
is the instrument for putting into effect the economic and social
programme of the government. It is through its machinery that
the political platform of the party in power is given effective
implementation. O ur civil service, the one which we inherited
during our spell of internal self-government between 1951 and
M arch 1957, was the machine that had been formed by the
imperial power to carry out its colonial policy. Though we had
joint control, it was as a junior partner. We were, it is true, the
ruling party, but the imperial government still reigned supreme,
and we were subordinate to its colonial pro-consul, the Governor.
Two courses of action lay open to me and my party. We could
boycott the existing colonial government machinery, the civil
service, the police, the judiciary. O r we could co-operate with it,
meanwhile strengthening the position of myself and my col­
leagues in the cabinet and so advance the date for full inde­
pendence.
In choosing the second, we did not forget, but tried to bury,
past differences and sought co-operation writh the existing exe­
cutive machinery of government. Two major aims impelled
this decision: the speeding up of Africanization, and the pre­
vention of a breakdown in administration through a wholesale
exodus of British officials. There was no regret for the departure
of those officials who were so opposed to our aims as to render