Godfrey Mwakikagile

The People of Ghana Godfrey Mwakikagile

This is a general survey of Ghana and its people. Subjects covered include the country's regions and their people; Ghana's identity as a nation and how it faced challenges to national unity during the struggle for independence; the nature of the post-colonial state; ethnic rivalries, the rivalry between the Ewe and the Ashanti being the best example; ethnic alliances, especially during presidential elections; the asymmetrical relationship between the north and the south rooted in the colonial era, a structural imbalance which continues to have a negative impact on the wellbeing of northerners and which could perpetuate inequalities between the two parts of the country; Ghana's place in the Pan-African world because of the leadership provided by the country's first prime minister - later president - Kwame Nkrumah; and its success in forging unity on the anvil of diversity. Among the people the author has covered include an African American community whose members were given some land in the Volta Region in the eastern part of the country for permanent settlement of the descendants of African slaves who want to return to the motherland. He describes it as a distinct ethnic group with the same attributes indigenous groups have and which they use to identify themselves as ethnic entities. The community has acquired an identity of its own and qualifies as an ethnic group because its members have a common history, language and culture as diasporans who lost their African identity under white domination in the United States and were forced to adopt a Euro-American culture and the English language. The author was closely associated with the founders of the African American community in Ghana, known as Fihankra, when he was a student in the United States and has written about them in some of his works including his autobiography, "My Life as an African." Members of the general public and students may find this work to be useful if they want to learn some facts about Ghana, the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to win independence.