Page 96 - Afrika Must Unite

OUR GHANAIAN CONSTITUTION 8l
it symbolized an hierarchical pinnacle that no longer had
reality in the Ghana-Britain relationship. It injected a falsity
into our relationship with the states on our continent. We are
committed to the pursuance of an African Union. We are
obliged in our affiliations to consider their effects upon our
progress towards this cardinal goal. Numbers of our people,
moreover, believe it to be the height of incongruity for the in­
habitants of the Ghanaian town of Tam ale, for instance, to find
the Head of their State living in Buckingham Palace, London.
The H ead of the West African State of G hana should be a
Ghanaian having his residence in Ghana.
It seemed tendentious, therefore, to find myself dubbed a
dictator by some and an enfant terrible by others when rumours
of my intention began to appear in the British press. A dis­
interested consideration of the facts would have produced a more
sober reaction. However, as I mentioned earlier, people in other
countries tend to interpret the actions of foreigners in terms of
their own experience. Hence the irresistible tem ptation of
Britishers to say that what is good for Britain is good for Ghana.
But how could a Queen resident abroad, or her representative
who was a national of a foreign State, seek to symbolize the people
of Ghana ? They were such obvious strangers to our country, to
our way of life, to the spirit of our people. The very presence of
a Governor-General in the official position which he occupied
was an affront to the sovereignty which we had fought for and
achieved. It would have been equally an affront had the
Governor-General been an African.
It is no discourtesy to Queen Elizabeth II if I and my people
harbour the same conscientious objection to taking an oath to
her as we would to swearing allegiance to the President of the
United States, or the President of the Soviet Union.
Nor should anything I have said be taken as reflecting the
slightest disrespect to our two Governors-General. It was largely
due to their tact and understanding allied to their broad liberal
views that our relationship was so free from friction.
The President, according to our Republican Constitution, is
not only the Head of State but also the chief executive and head
of government. This formula was not reached by us without
keen examination and comparative study of the many different