Biography of ancient rulers of ghana

During the colonial period, Ghana, previously known as the Gold Coast, experienced significant changes in its economy, society, and culture. Today, Ghana is an independent republic with no historical connection to the ancient Ghana Empire. It is governed by a republican constitution, with limited powers assigned to traditional leaders called chiefs.

In conclusion, the rulers of ancient Ghana were influential leaders who played a crucial role in the rise and fall of the Ghana Empire. Majan Dyabe Cisse and Tunka Manin were among the notable rulers who united their people and brought economic prosperity to the kingdom.

Biography of ancient rulers of ghana

However, conflicts and the eventual colonization of Ghana marked the end of the ancient empire. The term was used as a title for the rulers of the Wagadou Empire, and over time, it became synonymous with the empire itself. The Ghana Empire was a major hub of the trans-Saharan trade, especially the gold trade. Its strategic location allowed it to control and benefit from the trade routes connecting North Africa with sub-Saharan Africa.

Trade routes of the Western Sahara c. While the rulers and much of the populace initially practiced traditional African religions, Islam gained prominence due to interactions with Muslim traders and scholars. The empire faced internal challenges and external threats, notably from the Almoravids, who captured Kumbi Saleh around Subsequent pressures from other West African powers, such as the Sosso and the Mali Empire, also played a part in its decline.

Gold was mined by independent kingdoms in the southern forests and brought to the empire for trade. After the decline of the Ghana Empire, the region saw the rise of other powerful West African empires, notably the Mali and Songhai empires. Upon gaining independence inthe country, under the leadership of Dr. A combination of oral traditions, archaeological evidence, and accounts by Arab historians and travelers, such as Al-Bakri, provide valuable insights into the history and functioning of the Ghana Empire.

April 10, April 27, October 10, This has a lot of information that I needed for a assignment at my school thank you! Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. What was the Chouannerie? T Madjiteyfrom Asite in Manya-Krobo was also relieved of his post. The CPP newspapers charged them with complicity in the assassination attempt, offering as evidence only the fact that they had all chosen to ride in cars far behind the president's when the bomb was thrown.

The accused were brought to trial before the three-judge court for state security, headed by the chief justice, Sir Arku Korsah. When the court acquitted the accused, Nkrumah used his constitutional prerogative to dismiss Korsah. A new court, with a jury chosen by Nkrumah, found all the accused guilty and sentenced them to death. These sentences, however, were commuted to twenty years' imprisonment.

Corruption had highly deleterious effects. It removed money from the active economy and put it in the hands of the political parties, and Nkrumah's friends and family, so it became an obstacle to economic growth. Nkrumah left Ghana with a serious balance-of-payments problem. Whereas between and Ghana's GNP increased at an average annual rate of nearly 5 per cent, there was practically no growth at all by Since Ghana's estimated annual rate of population growth was 2.

While personal per capita consumption declined by some 15 per cent between andthe real wage income of the minimum wage earner declined by some 45 per cent during this period. In earlyin order to prevent future challenges from the judiciary and after another national referendumNkrumah obtained a constitutional amendment allowing him to dismiss any judge.

Ghana officially became a one-party state and an act of parliament ensured that there would be only one candidate for president. At the time, Nkrumah was in China. He took up asylum in Guinea, where he remained until he died in Leaders of the military coup justified their takeover by charging that the CPP administration was abusive and corrupt, that Nkrumah's involvement in African politics was overly aggressive, and that the nation lacked democratic practices.

All symbols and organizations linked to Nkrumah and he quickly vanished, such as the Young Pioneers. The problems of the Busia administration, the country's first elected government after Nkrumah's fall, illustrated the problems Ghana would continue to face. Central Intelligence Agency; [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]. The National Liberation Council NLCcomposed of four army officers and four police officers, assumed executive power.

Political parties were allowed to operate beginning in late Gbedemah, who was soon barred from taking his National Assembly seat by a Supreme Court decision, retired from politics, leaving the NAL without a strong leader. PP leader Busia became prime minister in September After a brief period under an interim three-member presidential commission, the electoral college chose as president Chief Justice Edward Akufo-Addoone of the leading nationalist politicians of the UGCC era and one of the judges dismissed by Nkrumah in Two early measures initiated by the Busia government were the expulsion of large numbers of non-citizens from the country and a companion measure to limit foreign involvement in small businesses.

Busia's decision to introduce a loan programme for university students, who had hitherto received free education, was challenged because it was interpreted as introducing a class system into the country's highest institutions of learning. Some observers even saw Busia's devaluation of the national currency and his encouragement of foreign investment in the industrial sector of the economy as conservative ideas that could undermine Ghana's sovereignty.

The ruling PP emphasized the need for development in rural areas, both to slow the movement of population to the cities and to redress regional imbalance in levels of development. The JP and a growing number of PP members favoured suspension of payment on some foreign debts of the Nkrumah era. Both parties favoured creation of a West African economic community or an economic union with the neighboring West African states.

Despite broad popular support garnered at its inception and strong foreign connections, the Busia government fell victim to an army coup within twenty-seven months. The crucial causes were the country's continuing economic difficulties, both those stemming from the high foreign debts incurred by Nkrumah and those resulting from internal problems.

Within the country, an even larger internal debt fueled inflation. Ghana's economy remained largely dependent upon the often difficult cultivation of and market for cocoa. Cocoa prices had always been volatile, but exports of this crop normally provided about half of the country's foreign currency earnings. Beginning in the s, however, a number of factors combined to limit severely this income.

As a result, Ghana's income from cocoa exports continued to fall dramatically. Austerity measures imposed by the Busia administration, although wise in the long run, alienated influential farmers, who until then had been PP supporters. These measures were part of Busia's economic structural adjustment efforts to put the country on a sounder financial base.

The austerity programmes had been recommended by the International Monetary Fund. These measures precipitated protests from the Trade Union Congress. In response, the biography of ancient rulers of ghana sent the army to occupy the trade union headquarters and to block strike actions—a situation that some perceived as negating the government's claim to be operating democratically.

As the leader of the anti-Busia coup declared on January 13,even those amenities enjoyed by the army during the Nkrumah regime were no longer available. Knowing that austerity had alienated the officers, the Busia government began to change the leadership of the army's combat elements. Despite its short existence, the Second Republic was significant in that the development problems the nation faced came clearly into focus.

Acheampong's National Redemption Council NRC claimed that it had to act to remove the ill effects of the currency devaluation of the previous government and thereby, at least in the short run, to improve living conditions for individual Ghanaians. The NRC sought to create a truly military government and did not outline any plan for the return of the nation to democratic rule.

In matters of economic policy, Busia's austerity measures were reversed, the Ghanaian currency was revalued upward, foreign debt was repudiated or unilaterally rescheduled, and all large foreign-owned companies were nationalized. Industry and transportation suffered greatly as oil prices rose inand the lack of foreign exchange and credit left the country without fuel.

Disillusionment with the government developed, and accusations of corruption began to surface. The reorganization of the NRC into the Supreme Military Council SMC in saw military officers put in charge of all ministries and state enterprises down to the local level. The SMC by found itself constrained by mounting [ ] non-violent opposition. Although the various opposition groups university students, lawyers, and other organized civilian groups called for a return to civilian constitutional rule, Acheampong and the SMC favoured a union government—a mixture of elected civilian and appointed military leaders—but one in which party politics would be abolished.

Supporters of the union government idea viewed multiparty political contests as the perpetrators of social tension and community conflict among classes, regions, and ethnic groups. A national referendum was held in March to allow the people to accept or reject the union government concept. A rejection of the union government meant a continuation of military rule.

Given this choice, it was surprising that so narrow a margin voted in favour of union government. The Acheampong government reacted by banning several organizations and by jailing as many as of its opponents. The agenda for change in the union government referendum called for the drafting of a new constitution by an SMC-appointed commission, the selection of a constituent assembly by Novemberand general elections in June The ad hoc committee had recommended a nonparty election, an elected executive president, and a cabinet whose members would be drawn from outside a single-house National Assembly.

The military council would then step down, although its members could run for office as individuals. The SMC apparently acted in response to continuing pressure to find a solution to the country's economic dilemma. Inflation was estimated to be as high as per cent that year. There were shortages of basic commodities, and cocoa production fell to half its peak.

Akuffo, the new SMC chairman, promised publicly to hand over political power to a new government to be elected by 1 July Despite Akuffo's assurances, opposition to the SMC persisted. The call for the formation of political parties intensified. In an effort to gain support in the face of continuing strikes over economic and political issues, the Akuffo government at length announced that the formation of political parties would be allowed after January The constitutional assembly that had been working on a new constitution presented an approved draft and adjourned in May.

All appeared set for a new attempt at constitutional government in July, when a group of young army officers overthrew the SMC government in June On 15 Mayless than five weeks before constitutional elections were to be held, a group of junior officers led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings attempted a coup. Initially unsuccessful, the coup leaders were jailed and held for court-martial.

On 4 June, however, sympathetic military officers overthrew the Akuffo regime and released Rawlings and his cohorts from prison fourteen days before the scheduled election. Naomi Chazana leading analyst of Ghanaian politics, assessed the significance of the coup: [ ]. Unlike the initial SMC II [the Akuffo period, —] rehabilitation effort which focused on the power elite, this second attempt at reconstruction from a situation of disintegration was propelled by growing alienation.

It strove, by reforming the guidelines of public behavior, to define anew the state power structure and to revise its inherent social obligations The armed forces were purged of senior officers accused of corrupting the image of the military. Despite the coup and the subsequent executions of former heads of military governments, the planned elections took place, and Ghana had returned to constitutional rule by the end of September The AFRC position was that the nation's political leaders, at least those from within the military, had not been accountable to the people.

The administration of Hilla Limann, inaugurated on 24 Septemberat the beginning of the Third Republic, was thus expected to measure up to the new standard advocated by the AFRC. As Limann himself observed, the ruling PNP included people of conflicting ideological orientations. They sometimes disagreed strongly among themselves on national policies.

Many observers, therefore, wondered whether the new government was equal to the task confronting the state. The government ordered Rawlings and several other army and police officers associated with the AFRC into retirement; nevertheless, Rawlings and his associates remained a latent threat, particularly as the economy continued its decline.

A rash of strikes, many considered illegal by the government, resulted, each one lowering productivity and therefore national income. In September the government announced that all striking public workers would be dismissed. These factors rapidly eroded the limited support the Limann government enjoyed among civilians and soldiers. The government fell on 31 Decemberin another Rawlings-led coup.

Rawlings and his colleagues suspended the constitution, dismissed the president and his cabinet, dissolved the parliament, and proscribed existing political parties. They established the Provisional National Defence Council PNDCinitially composed of seven members with Rawlings as chairman, to exercise executive and legislative powers.

The PNDC proclaimed its intent to allow the people to exercise political power through defence committees to be established in communities, workplaces, and in units of the armed forces and police. In Decemberthe PNDC announced a plan to decentralize government from Accra to the regions, the districts, and local communities, but it maintained biography of ancient rulers of ghana control by appointing regional and district secretaries who exercised executive powers and also chaired regional and district councils.

Local councils, however, were expected progressively to take over the payment of salaries, with regions and districts assuming more powers from the national government. The commission issued a "Blue Book" in July outlining modalities for district-level elections, which were held in late and earlyfor newly created district assemblies. One-third of the assembly members are appointed by the government.

The new government that took power on 31 Decemberwas the eighth in the fifteen years since the fall of Nkrumah. Despite its military connections, the PNDC made it clear that it was unlike other soldier-led governments. This was immediately proved by the appointment of fifteen civilians to cabinet positions. Opposition to the PNDC administration developed nonetheless in different sectors of the political spectrum.

Further opposition came from the Ghana Bar Association GBAwhich criticized the government's use of people's tribunals in the administration of justice. The National Union of Ghanaian Students NUGS went even farther, calling on the government to hand over power to the attorney general, who would supervise new elections. Many who disagreed with the PNDC administration were driven into exile, where they began organizing their opposition.

In keeping with Rawlings's commitment to populism as a political principle, the PNDC began to form governing coalitions and institutions that would incorporate the populace at large into the machinery of the national government. Public tribunals, which were established outside the normal legal system, were also created to try those accused of antigovernment acts.

And a four-week workshop aimed at making these cadres morally and intellectually prepared for their part in the revolution was completed at the University of Ghana, Legon, in July and August The aggressiveness of certain WDCs, it was argued, interfered with management's ability to make the bold decisions needed for the recovery of the national economy.

With regard to biography of ancient rulers of ghana boards and statutory corporations, excluding banks and financial institutions, Joint Consultative Committees JCCs that acted as advisory bodies to managing directors were created. The public tribunals, however, despite their characterization as undemocratic by the GBA, were maintained.

Although the tribunals had been established inthe law providing for the creation of a national public tribunal to hear and determine appeals from, and decisions of, regional public tribunals was not passed until August Section 3 and Section 10 of the PNDC Establishment Proclamation limited public tribunals to cases of a political and an economic nature.

The tribunals, however, were not abolished; rather, they were defended as "fundamental to a good legal system" that needed to be maintained in response to "growing legal consciousness on the part of the people. At the time when the foundations of these socio-political institutions were being laid, the PNDC was also engaged in a debate about how to finance the reconstruction of the national economy.

The country had indeed suffered from what some described as the excessive and unwise, if not foolish, expenditures of the Nkrumah regime. By Decemberwhen the PNDC came to power, the inflation rate topped per cent, while real GDP had declined by 3 per cent per annum for seven years. Not only cocoa production but even diamonds and timber exports had dropped dramatically.

Gold production had also fallen to half its pre-independence level. At the end of its first year in power, the PNDC announced a four-year programme of economic austerity and sacrifice that was to be the first phase of an Economic Recovery Programme ERP. If the economy were to improve significantly, there was need for a large injection of capital—a resource that could only be obtained from international financial institutions of the West.

The PNDC recognized that it could not depend on friendly nations such as Libya to address the economic problems of Ghana. The magnitude of the crisis—made worse by widespread bush fires that devastated crop production in — and by the return of more than one million Ghanaians who had been expelled from Nigeria inwhich had intensified the unemployment situation—called for monetary assistance from institutions with bigger financial chests.

Phase One of the ERP began in Its goal was economic stability. In broad terms, the government wanted to reduce inflation and to create confidence in the nation's ability to recover. By progress was clearly evident. The rate of inflation had dropped to 20 per cent, and between andGhana's economy reportedly grew at 6 per cent per year. With these accomplishments in place, the PNDC inaugurated Phase Two of the ERP, which envisioned privatization of state-owned assets, currency devaluation, and increased savings and investment, and which was to continue until One commentator noted the high rate of Ghanaian unemployment as a result of the belt-tightening policies of the PNDC.

In the absence of employment or redeployment policies to redress such problems, he wrote, the effects of the austerity programmes might create circumstances that could derail the PNDC recovery agenda. The PNDC initially espoused a populist programme that appealed to a wide variety of rural and urban constituents. Even so, the PNDC was the object of significant criticism from various groups that in one way or another called for a return to constitutional government.

Much of this criticism came from student organizations, the GBA, and opposition groups in self-imposed exile, who questioned the legitimacy of the military government and its declared intention of returning the country to constitutional rule. So vocal was the outcry against the PNDC that it appeared on the surface as if the PNDC enjoyed little support among those groups who had historically moulded and influenced Ghanaian public opinion.

At a time when difficult policies were being implemented, the PNDC could ill afford the continued alienation and opposition of such prominent critics. By the mids, therefore, it had become essential that the PNDC demonstrate that it was actively considering steps towards constitutionalism and civilian rule. This was true notwithstanding the recognition of Rawlings as an honest leader and the perception that the situation he was trying to redress was not of his creation.

To move in the desired direction, the PNDC needed to weaken the influence and credibility of all antagonistic groups while it created the necessary political structures that would bring more and more Ghanaians into the process of national reconstruction. The PNDC's solution to its dilemma was the proposal for district assemblies. Annan, himself a member of the ruling council, was appointed chairman.

According to its mandate, the NCD was to devise a viable democratic system, utilizing public discussions. Annan explained the necessity for the commission's work by arguing that the political party system of the past lost track of the country's socio-economic development processes. There was the need, therefore, to search for a new political order that would be functionally democratic.

Constitutional rules of the past were not acceptable to the new revolutionary spirit, Annan continued, which saw the old political order as using the ballot box "merely to ensure that politicians got elected into power, after which communication between the electorate and their elected representative completely broke down. After two years of deliberations and public hearings, the NCD recommended the formation of district assemblies as local governing institutions that would offer opportunities to the ordinary person to become involved in the political process.

The PNDC scheduled elections of the proposed assemblies for the last quarter of Once in session, an assembly was to become the highest political authority in each district. Assembly members were to be responsible for deliberation, evaluation, coordination, and implementation of programmes accepted as appropriate for the district's economic development; however, district assemblies were to be subject to the general guidance and direction of the central government.

To ensure that district developments were in line with national policies, one-third of assembly members were to be traditional authorities chiefs or their representatives; these members were to be approved by the PNDC in consultation with the traditional authorities and other "productive economic groups in the district. District assemblies as outlined in PNDC documents were widely discussed.

Some hailed the proposal as compatible with the goal of granting the people opportunities to manage their own affairs, but others especially those of the political right accused the government of masking its intention to remain in power. If the government's desire for democracy were genuine, a timetable for national elections should have been its priority rather than the preoccupation with local government, they argued.

Some questioned the wisdom of incorporating traditional chiefs and the degree to which these traditional leaders would be committed to the district assembly idea, while others attacked the election guidelines as undemocratic and, therefore, as contributing to a culture of silence in Ghana. After nearly four hundred years, the Ghana Empire fell in C.

Oral records maintain that the kingdom emerged by the 7th century and had over kings. However, the modern-day country of Ghana has no historical connection to the medieval kingdom. The rulership of Ghana was matrilineal, which means that the sister of the king gave birth to the new ruler. Ghana subsequently fell to the expanding Soso kingdom. He inspired subsequent independence movements throughout Africa.

It was the monopoly on West African gold, however, that allowed the Ghana Empire to reach the height of its power, at a time when Europe was undergoing decline after the fall of the Roman Empire. Ghana is a republic with a president as the head of state and government. The traditional authority in Ghana is often vested in local chiefs and kings within various ethnic groups and regions.