Page 95 - Afrika Must Unite

8o AFRICA MUST UNITE
change was the conversion of Ghana from a monarchy to a
republic. Since people have an essentially personal attitude
towards the monarchy, I decided that in addition to introducing
a Bill to parliam ent for its abolition and securing the necessary
two-thirds majority, I would also submit the issue to the nation
in a referendum. The National Assembly passed the Bill with an
overwhelming majority. The referendum was held in three
stages over the country during an eight-day period and resulted
in an equally heavy majority for the republican constitution and
the continuance of the C.P.P. government under my presidency.
I well knew what a hornet’s nest I would be stirring up when
I decided that it was incompatible with full independence for
Ghana to continue to pay allegiance to the British Cnnvn as
Head of State. I knew that my action would be understood by
all the republics of the world, and they form the bulk of the
United Nations’ members. I also knew that this action would
find little sympathy in Britain and in the other countries of the
Commonwealth.
It cannot be claimed that the people in those countries have
always shown sympathetic understanding of every major act of
policy which Ghana has followed since it became independent.
There are of course among them many men of goodwill, but
quite a lot seem still to resent the fact that we are no longer
governed from W hitehall. We have the impression that sub­
consciously they would like us to fail. At all events, they are
quick to ascribe uncharitable motives to any of our actions
which they feel touch them on a tender spot. And the monarchy
in Britain is a very tender spot. There is a certain mystique about
the British monarchy, whose influence is intangible but very
real. I would venture the thought that there is hardly a serious
anti-royalist in Britain. There appears to be no conscious­
ness of anything paradoxical in a highly advanced democracy
m aintaining an hereditary monarchy. If I were a Briton living
in the United Kingdom, I might feel the same.
However, I am an African, a member of a country which has
but recently broken the shackles linking it to Britain. We had,
however, retained the link with the monarchy, but our orienta­
tion towards the continent of Africa made it an anachronism. It
was out of keeping with the full meaning of our independence: