Building the Ghanaian Nation-State AFRICAN HISTORIES AND MODERNITIES Series Editors Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin Matthew M. Heaton, Virginia Tech Editorial Board Aderonke Adesanya, Art History, James Madison University Kwabena Akurang-Parry, History, Shippensburg University Nana Amponsah, History, University of North Carolina, Wilmington Tyler Fleming, History, University of Louisville Barbara Harlow, English and Comparative Literature, University of Texas at Austin Emmanuel Mbah, History, College of Staten Island Akin Ogundiran, Africana Studies, University of North Carolina, Charlotte This book series serves as a scholarly forum on African contributions to and nego- tiations of diverse modernities over time and space, with a particular emphasis on historical developments. Specifically, it aims to refute the hegemonic conception of a singular modernity, Western in origin, spreading out to encompass the globe over the last several decades. Indeed, rather than reinforcing conceptual boundaries or parameters, the series instead looks to receive and respond to changing perspectives on an important but inherently nebulous idea, deliberately creating a space in which multiple modernities can interact, overlap, and conflict. While privileging works that emphasize historical change over time, the series will also feature scholarship that blurs the lines between the historical and the contemporary, recognizing the ways in which our changing understandings of modernity in the present have the capacity to affect the way we think about African and global histories. Published in the series Contemporary Africa: Challenges and Opportunities (2014) Edited by Toyin Falola and Emmanuel M. Mbah African Postcolonial Modernity: Informal Subjectivities and the Democratic Consensus (2014) By Sanya Osha Building the Ghanaian Nation-State: Kwame Nkrumah’s Symbolic Nationalism (2014) By Harcourt Fuller Prisoners of Rhodesia: Inmates and Detainees in the Struggle for Zimbabwean Liberation, 1960–1980 (2014) By Munyaradzi B. Munochiveyi Building the Ghanaian Nation-State Kwame Nkrumah’s Symbolic Nationalism Harcourt Fuller BUILDING THE GHANAIAN NATION-STATE Copyright © Harcourt Fuller, 2014. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 ISBN 978-1-137-44856-9 All rights reserved. First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-49652-5 ISBN 978-1-137-44858-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137448583 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fuller, Harcourt, author. Building the Ghanaian nation-state : Kwame Nkrumah’s symbolic nationalism / by Harcourt Fuller. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–1–137–44856–9 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Nkrumah, Kwame, 1909–1972—Influence. 2. Nationalism—Ghana. 3. Symbolism in politics—Ghana. 4. Ghana—Politics and government— 1957–1979. I. Title. DT512.3.N57F85 2014 966.7051—dc23 2014020338 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: December 2014 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents List of Illustrations vii Foreword: Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah—His Symbolic Nationalism and Nation Building xv Acknowledgments xxi Abbreviations xxv Timeline of Important Dates in the Life of Kwame Nkrumah xxix Ghanaian Premiers, 1951—Present xxxi Introduction: The Symbolism of Ghanaian Nationalism 1 1 Banal Symbols of the New Nation-State 21 2 Philatelic Nationalism 39 3 Economic Nationalism 55 4 Civitatis Ghaniensis Conditor 69 5 Exhibiting the Nation 81 6 Monumental Nationalism 119 7 Pan-African Nationalism 133 8 The Downfall of Kwame Nkrumah 149 9 The Death and Symbolic “Resurrection” of Kwame Nkrumah 163 10 From “Redeemer” to Redeemed? 175 Conclusion 189 Notes 193 Bibliography 231 Index 251 This page intentionally left blank Illustrations MAP 0.1 Map of Ghana xxxii TABLES 1.1 Ghana’s national anthem (1957, original) 35 1.2 Ghana’s national anthem (1960, Republican version) 36 3.1 World price for cocoa, 1956–1965 64 3.2 Final designs for permanent independence stamps proposed by the Reconstituted Stamp Advisory Committee 67 PLATES AND FIGURES Plates and figures appear between chapters 5 and 6. All captions and sources for the corresponding figures are located on the recto side of the plate Plate 1 1.1 The Adinkra symbol Funtunfunefu-Denkyemfunefu (the Siamese Crocodile) 1.2 Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II, seated beside the Golden Stool (Sika Dwa Kofi) 1.3 The Golden Stool (Sika Dwa Kofi) 1.4 The “elephant and palm tree” flag of the colonial Gold Coast, 1877—1957 1.5 The Ethiopian imperial flag 1.6 The Ghanaian national flag 1.7 The flag of the Asante nation 1.8 The NLM flag 1.9 A Ghanaian coat of arms sculpture at Independence Square (Black Star Square) viii ILLUSTRATIONS Plate 2 2.1 Kofi Antubam and US Postmaster General 2.2 2d “Ghana Independence Commemoration 6th March 1957” stamp 2.3 1d “Nkrumah Statue Parliament House” stamp, 1958 2.4 2/- “National Founder’s Day 21st Sept. 1962” stamp 2.5 3d “National Founder’s Day 21st Sept. 1962” stamp Plate 3 3.1 2/- BWA coin (obverse and reverse sides), 1915 3.2 1/- BWA banknote (obverse side), 1918 3.3 20/- BWA banknote (obverse side), 1957 3.4 100/- (£5) BWA banknote (reverse side), 1954 3.5 £1 Ghanaian banknote (obverse and reverse sides), 1958 3.6 £5 Ghanaian banknote (obverse and reverse sides), 1962 3.7a 5p “Decimal Currency System 19–7-65” stamp 3.7b 2/- “Inauguration of Ghana Airways July 1958” stamp 3.7c 1d “Ghana Railway 1903–1963” stamp 3.7d 5/- “Inauguration of the Black Star Line 1957” stamp 3.7e 24p “Volta River Project” stamp, 1966 3.7f 2/6 “New Town & Harbour Tema” stamp, 1962 3.7g 6d “Oil Refinery Tema” stamp, 1964 3.7h 4d “Red Cross Centenary 1863–1963” stamp 3.7i 4d “The World United Against Malaria” stamp, 1962 3.7j 4d “Freedom From Hunger Campaign March 21st 1963” stamp 3.7k 6p “Herring and Fishermen” stamp, 1966 3.7l 2 1/2d “Cocoa” stamp, 1959 3.7m 3d “Harvesting Corn in a State Farm” stamp, 1964 3.7n 1/2d “Ambassador Hotel” stamp, 1958 3.7o 1 1/2d “Ghana Timber” stamp, 1959 3.7p 4d “Diamond” stamp, with overprint, 1965 Plate 4 4.1 Republic Day commemorative gold coin, 1960 4.2 ¢1 Ghanaian banknote (Obverse side), 1965 4.3 ¢10 Ghanaian banknote (obverse side), 1965 4.4 CPP Minister Paul Tagoe 4.5 CPP Minister Paul Tagoe ILLUSTRATIONS ix 4.6 CPP Minister Paul Tagoe 4.7 CPP Minister Paul Tagoe Plate 5 5.1 The main dome-shaped building of the Ghana National Museum 5.2 The Asante Cultural Centre Plate 6 6.1 The Independence Square Monument 6.2 The Independence Arch Monument 6.3a The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Monument 6.3b Close-up of Figure 6.3a 6.3c Another view of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Monument 6.4 The Three Marble Slab Cenotaph at Independence Square 6.5 Slab of Plaque-Monument 6.6 Memorial Plaque-Monument 6.7a Statue of Kwame Nkrumah at Parliament House, Accra 6.7b Front plaque of Nkrumah Parliament House statue 6.7c Side plaque of Nkrumah Parliament House statue 6.7d Side plaque of Nkrumah Parliament House statue 6.7e Back plaque of Nkrumah Parliament House statue 6.8 Statue of Kwame Nkrumah at the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute in Winneba Plate 7 7.1a Shield and spears given to Nkrumah by Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia 7.1b Close-up of shield in Figure 7.1a 7.2 The “Port Said,” given to Nkrumah by Egyptian President Nasser around 1965 7.3 Italian mortar captured in WWII and put on display at the GAFM 7.4 Belgian weapons, Congolese “juju mask” and guns captured by the Ghana Armed Forces in the Congo 7. 5a 2 1/2d “Conference of Independent African States Accra 1958” stamp x ILLUSTRATIONS 7. 5b 6d “First Anniversary of the Signing of the African Unity Charter” stamp, 1964 7.5c 24p “O.A.U. Summit Conference Accra 1965” stamp 7.5d 1d “Save the Monuments of Nubia” stamp, 1963 7.5e 1/2d “West African Football Competition 1959” stamp 7. 5f 15p “African Soccer Cup Competition 1965” stamp, with overprint 7. 5g 3d “1st Anniversary of the Death of Patrice Lumumba Premier of the Congo 12th February 1962” stamp 7. 5h 3d “1st Anniversary Casablanca Conference Jan. 4, 1962” stamp 7. 5i 3d “United Nations Human Rights Day 10th December 1960” stamp 7.5j 2 1/2d “Inauguration of the Black Star Line 1957” stamp 7.5k 2/- “15th April 1961 Africa Freedom Day” stamp 7.5l 6d “George Washington Carver” stamp, 1964 Plate 8 8.1 NLC-constructed 24th February 1966 Cenotaph-Plaque at Black Star Square 8.2 Original Parliament House statue of Kwame Nkrumah, dam- aged during the NLC coup 8.3 Headless, broken Kwame Nkrumah Winneba statue, damaged during the NLC coup 8.4 1Np “Ghana’s Revolution of 24th February 1966 1st Anniversary 1967” NLM commemorative stamp 8.5a 4np “2nd Anniversary of the 24th February Revolution” NLM commemorative stamp 8.5b 12 1/2np “2nd Anniversary of the 24th February Revolution” NLM commemorative stamp 8.5c 20np “2nd Anniversary of the 24th February Revolution” NLM commemorative stamp 8.5d 40np “2nd Anniversary of the 24th February Revolution” NLM commemorative stamp 8.6a 4np “Human Rights Year” NLM commemorative stamp, 1968, featuring Dr.