Page 87 - Afrika Must Unite

C H A P T E R NINE
B R I N G I N G U N I T Y I N G H A N A

T h e r e s o u n d i n g victory of the C.P.P. at the 1956 polls so
weakened the opposition that they decided to assert themselves
outside the democratic framework. Their agitation in Ashanti,
in the N orthern Region and in Togoland, had already led to
serious clashes, often developing into armed violence, in which
some C.P.P. workers were actually murdered. As our inde­
pendence dawned, we were placed in the anomalous position of
having to send the forces of law into now free Togoland to quell
arm ed disturbances. These outbreaks were fomented with the
purpose of discrediting me and my government. They gave the
impression that we were not in control of the country, that we
were not a popular government, that there was widespread dis­
content.
In a country just emerging from colonial rule, there are many
ills to right, many problems to solve. Time and money and expert
knowledge are required to deal with them. The end of the
colonial administration in Ghana left us, moreover, with a low
level of education among the bulk of our people, and no system
of universal education. Such a public is easy prey for un­
scrupulous politicians. It is amenable to demagogic appeals and
readily exploitable by eloquence that arouses the emotions rather
than reason. It was not difficult for the opposition in these con­
ditions to discover grounds of dissatisfaction in which to plant
and water the seeds of resentment and grievance. In Accra,
they worked upon the tribal feelings of the Ga people and
related them to the shortage of housing. They encouraged the
formation of the Ga Shifimo Kpee, a strictly tribal organization,
in our capital that was fast becoming cosmopolitan; they
fomented separatism in Ashanti and dissension in the North.
They tried to demonstrate to the world that they, the opposition,