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Towards Political Stability in Ghana: A Rejoinder in the Union Government Debate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Diddy R. M. Hitchens
Diddy R. M. Hitchens*
Affiliation:
University of Alaska—Anchorage
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Extract

One of the stated aims of the coup of 13 January 1972 was the restoration of a consultative democracy responsive to the needs of the people of Ghana. Thus the NRC (and later the SMC) government led by Colonel (now General) I. K. Acheampong from its inception was committed to a return to some form of democratic government at an unspecified future date. Demands for a return to civilian government started being voiced again in 1974 when it became apparent that, despite its initial appearance of decisive action (particularly in the matter of foreign debts), the NRC government was no more able to solve pressing economic problems than any other post-independence government had been. In the face of demands from the professional sector that civilian rule be restored by 1 July 1977, in January 1977, General Acheampong established a council to discuss what form a new civilian government should take. On 1 July 1977, faced with a strike by several professional groups, General Acheampong pledged to return Ghana to civilian rule on 1 July 1979, the format of civilian government to be determined on the basis of a referendum fixed for 30 March 1978, to be followed by a constitutional commission that would work out the details of the constitutional form chosen by the people in the referendum.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , April 1979 , pp. 171 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1979

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References

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