"National Integration and the Vicissitudes of State Power in Ghana: the Political Incorporation of Likpe, a Border Community, 1945-19B6"
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
"National Integration and the Vicissitudes of State Power in Ghana: The Political Incorporation of Likpe, a Border Community, 1945-19B6", By Paul Christopher Nugent A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. October 1991 ProQuest Number: 10672604 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10672604 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract This is a study of the processes through which the former Togoland Trust Territory has come to constitute an integral part of modern Ghana. As the section of the country that was most recently appended, the territory has often seemed the most likely candidate for the eruption of separatist tendencies. The comparative weakness of such tendencies, in spite of economic crisis and governmental failure, deserves closer examination. This study adopts an approach which is local in focus (the area being Likpe), but one which endeavours at every stage to link the analysis to unfolding processes at the Regional and national levels. Part One of the thesis deals with the background to, and the trajectory of, the Togoland unification movement which surfaced after 1945. Both the appeal of the movement and its inherent limitations are attributed to the legacy of uneven development bequeathed by a minimalist colonial state. Having presented an overview of the movement, the third Chapter examines the intersection between local politics and the strength of opinion on the unification question in Likpe. The generational differences between the contending parties, which are related to educational indices, help to explain not only the victory of the Convention People's Party, but also the triumph of the integrationist ideal. Furthermore, it is possible to account for the greater receptivity of the Central Togo minorities in the light of the marks left by British administrative policy. Part Two assesses the impact of the deteriorating environment of the 1970s upon political consciousness in the Volta Region. The failure of the secessionist movement is examined, as is the contention that most rural communities preferred simply to retreat from the centre. Particular attention is paid to cross- border smuggling, which has been little studied, and to the political ramifications thereof. This section draws both on extensive interviews amongst the Bakpele, whose experience of these events is most distinctive, as well as on official documentation. Part Three considers the efforts of the Rawlings regime to more closely integrate centre and periphery, whilst returning to a nonstatist model of governance. The revolutionary phase and the subsequent change of direction are both examined through the prism of Likpe. An analysis is made of government efforts to stamp out smuggling with the active cooperation of border communities. The final Chapter evaluates local reactions to the political reform programme, which turned out to be supportive yet at variance with the official perspective. The introductory and concluding Chapters endeavour to tease out the implications of the study for the wider debate concerning the interaction between state and civil society in contemporary Africa. 1 Acknowledgements: As this thesis has slowly ground towards completion, I have accumulated a vast arrays of debts: some of them intellectual, others of them personal and not a few of them pecuniary! In Likpe, so many people gave of their time that it is practically impossible to mention every act of kindness. Partly in compensation for this, I have included a list of individuals who granted me in-depth interviews, although even this is by no means exhaustive. It would be gross ingratitude not to mention a select number of people who put up with me for the best part of a year. Nana Soglo Alio III provided me with accommodation in his house, which offered the ideal surroundings in which to observe the workings of Bakpele politics. My thanks go to himself, 'Auntie1 and other members of the household. Without the services of Jacob Torddey as interpreter, doctor, friend and tutor in some sadly lacking social skills, I would never have achieved a fraction of the research that I eventually did. John Boateng and Awoonor Bokor furnished much needed assistance with the task of administering a large batch of questionnaires. Others who helped out in a variety of ways were Nana Akototse IV, the late Nana Agyeman II, F.M. Aniewu, Obed Honu, Emilson Kwashie, Kate Soglo and ’Don't Mind1, Kwami Tay kindly put me up in Hohoe on numerous occasions, as did George Agbeti in Ho. Harry Asimah, from the CDR Regional Secretariat, gave me some first-hand experience of the workings of that organization by letting me tag along on a tour of the northern sector of the Region. I should also express my thanks for the co-operation extended by Mr. U.S. Clarke and Mr. Frank Gyamwodie, the Jasikan and Hohoe District Secretaries respectively. At the University of Ghana, the Department of Political Science gave me a home. I would like to record my appreciation to Kwame Ninsin, Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, Kwesi Jonah, E. Essuman-Johnson and to the secretarial staff who tolerated my incessant forays in search of mail. I would like to acknowledge the considerable forbearance of Dr. Richard Jeffries, my long-suffering supervisor, who was promised work more often than he 2 received it. Others who have either lent me material or furnished me with useful references over the years are Gareth Austin, Jan-Georg Deutsch, Jeff Haynes, Richard Rathbone, Christopher Fyfe (including a sizeable chunk of his library) and Robert Alloh. Special thanks go to Pip Austin for taking charge of many of my affairs while I was away on fieldwork and for keeping me abreast of the latest news and gossip. I owe a tremendous debt to Martin Dent who made my period at Keele University such an enjoyable one. Finally, I should thank my parents who prefaced every telephone conversation with the disheartening words: "So, how is the thesis getting along?". Hamish Maxwell-Stewart managed to present me with a skilfully crafted map in the midst of everything else he was busy with. Yet more appreciation goes to Kirsty Reid for assistance with maps, for the occasional cup of coffee (fewer than she imagines, anyway) and, as a flatemate, for preserving the appropriate ambiance of insanity. Finally, I am most grateful to Fiona Carmichael of the Edinburgh University Language and Humanities Microlab for helping me to retrieve from the computer everything that I had put into it. The research was assisted at various stages by the award of grants administered through the Postgraduate Research Scholarships Committee of the University of Cape Town: The Max and Lillie Sonnenberg Scholarship, The Harry Crossley Bursary and the Sir Robert Kotze Scholarship. I also received funding for one year from the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust. Finally, I received fieldwork assistance from the Central Research Fund of the University of London and a Travel Grant from SO AS. I am grateful to each of these bodies for the assistance, without which the research would have been impossible. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS: Pages: Title Page: Abstract: 1 Acknowledgements: 2 Table of Contents: 4 Inventory of Tables and Figures: 7 List of Maps: 8 List of Abbreviations: 9 Chapter One: Introduction: The Issues and the Setting 11 1.1. Clearing the Decks: The Debate About State and Society 11 1.2. The Scope of Research 20 1.2.1. The Locality 20 1.2.2. Methodology and Structure 25 Footnotes to Chapter One 27 Part One: The Integration of British Togoland, 1945-1969 31 Chapter Two: "So Much For Mandates! The Political Economy of 31 the Togoland Unification Movement Revisited 2.1. British Policy Towards Togoland, 1920-1939 32 2.2. The Politics of Unification, 1939-1956 43 2.2.1. The Ewe Unification Phase 43 2.2.2. From Ewe to Togoland Unification 46 2.2.3. 'Ablode' Versus Cipipification' 51 2.3. Conclusion 58 Footnotes to Chapter Two 61 Chapter Three: 'T he Bakpele are Not Ewe": The Invention of Tradition and the Politics of Unification in Likpe, 1945-1957" 69 3.1. Factionalism in Likpe 69 3.1.1. The Issue of Localism 69 3.1.2. The Discourse of Politics in Likpe 73 3.1.3. The Schisms of the 1940s 77 3.1.3.1. Boundaries and Identities 77 3.1.3.2. The Amalgamation Question 83 3.1.3.3. The Eruption of the Atando Dispute 85 3.2. Likpe and the Politics of Togoland Unification 91 3.2.1. Atando and the Surfacing of Party Divisions 91 3.2.2. The Levels of Political Debate 95 3.3. Conclusion 102 Footnotes to Chapter Three 104 4 Chapter Four: ’The Parties Have Fought and Settled It": The Triumph of Integration in Likpe 111 4.1. A Post-Mortem of the Unification Movement 111 4.2. The Ascendancy of the Convention People's Party in Likpe 121 4.2.1. Coercion From Above, Desertion From Below 121 4.2.2. The Politics of the Likpe Stool Dispute 127 4.3. The Rebuff of the Unificationists 134 4.3.1.