Abibisem: Journal of African Culture and Civilization

Facilitating colonial exploitation of resources of the Gold Coast: The role of the Police force, 1894-1914

Emmanuel Ankomahene, Kassim Asimah — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Euro-African interactions between the 15th and 20th centuries were mainly motivated by the desire to exploit the economic resources of Africa. To ensure a peaceful exploitation of resources in the Gold Coast, the British policed their forts and castles for the peaceful conduct of trade. Even though policing in the Gold Coast was not a structured institution before its official establishment in 1894 by the British, it was an important institution in the administration of the colony. After the enactment of the 1894 ordinance, the Gold Coast Constabulary was renamed the Gold Coast Police Force. The police institution from this period operated under a standardized structure in the British-controlled areas of the Gold Coast. Using information from archival and secondary sources, this paper explores within a historical context, the extent to which the colonial Police Force facilitated the exploitation of the resources of the Gold Coast between 1894 and 1914. To achieve this, the study looks at the changing structure andfunctions of the Gold Coast Police Force from 1894 to 1914. One key argument of this paper is that to ensure a peaceful exploitation of colonial resources, the colonial government upon investing heavily in infrastructure (roads, railways, and communication), set up the Police Force to protect these investments. Moreover, the British economic interest and policy outcomes (acquisition of resources of the Gold Coast) between 1894 and 1914 dictated the structure and functions of the Police Force for the peaceful conduct of trade. The paper finally demonstrates that through the performance of the Gold Coast Police Force, the British by the end of 1914 had vastly exploited the resources of the Gold Coast to their advantage.

Before Allah created human beings, there was a marijuana tree”: marijuana myths and culture in the “Ghettoes” of Maamobi Zongo community, Accra

Charles Prempeh — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The objective of my paper is to deploy marijuana etiological myths in the “ghettoes” of Maamobi, Accra, to explain the persistence of the marijuana culture in Ghana. The fact that marijuana is a criminalized herb and yet remains a widely consumed herb by some of the youth leads to what I refer to as the ‘marijuana paradox ’. Consequently, rather than constructing myths as irrational, self-indulgent and relics of a pre-scientific past or antiquated, concocted fairytales, 1 use marijuana myths to explain how it informs the marijuana culture in Maamobi and also betrays the construction of the marijuana culture as a fad and a craze that could be controlled with laws. Using ethnographic research techniques such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussion, informal conversation, and participant observation, I argue that the over-reliance on external reasons, without digging into how marijuana myths inform the cultogenic and sociogenic of marijuana culture in the “ghettoes” of Maamobi, will continue to frustrate the efforts of stakeholders to stem the t ide against the consumption of the herb in Ghana.

Health care and population growth in Ghana: A catalyst for development in New Dwaben

Seth Kwadwo Frimpong — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Health care is one of the important elements in the development of every nation. In view of that eveiy government makes it a priority to provide efficient health care to its people through the establishment of facilities, providing medication and also training health workers. The construction of modern health care facilities by the colonial government in New Dwaben, Koforidua, in 1926, represents a serious attempt to provide for the health needs of the people of the Gold Coast. The advent of the hospital helped to improve the health of the people of the community and, to a large extent, contributed to the development of social and economic activities in New Dwaben. This article examines the factors that led to the establishment of the hospital and how it contributed to growth of social and economic activities in New Dwaben, Koforidua. There was growth in social and economic activities including employment, agriculture, transportation, population, entertainment, trade, sanitation, jobs partly due to the advent of the Koforidua Government Hospital in New Dwaben.

The contribution of Muslim Women’s Associations to the development of Kumasi, 1970-2019

Victoria Agyare Appiah, Edmund Abaka — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This paper investigates the contribution of Muslim Womens Associations towards the development of Kumasi. It argues that the urbanization of the Kumasi increased the number of women in Kumasi as in other cities and, eventually, resulted in the emergence of Women’s Organizations that, from the mid twentieth century, became advocates for women and women’ issues and rights. In the process, they negotiated a space for selfexpression as Muslim women. In this case, the Muslim Women s groups advocated for Muslim Women and played important roles in the development of Kumasi. They empowered women, offered seminars and skills-training programmes and provided opportunities for personal growth, religious and self-identity and self fulfillment through a deeper stiidy of the Qur ’an. They assisted with education for the young and sponsored people to study locally and in Saudi Arabia. The paper groups the,women’s association into five and highlights their contribution to the development of Kumasi.

The Ghana Commercial Bank and Agriculture financing in Ghana, 1960s — 1980s

Isaac Kyere — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The British Bank of West Africa (BBWA) now renamed Standard Chartered Bank Limited and Barclays Bank Ghana Limited were the two prominent foreign Commercial Banks first established in the Gold Coast in 1897 and 1917 respectively. In the colonial era, these British banks only dealt with large businesses and did not extend credit to individual Gold Coast farmers because they were tagged as not credit-worthy or could not arrange suitable collateral for loans. Essentially, lack of access to credit continues to be a key factor contributing to the poor performance of the agriculture sector in general.1 In 1953, the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) was established as the first indigenous commercial bank to serve the people of the nation.1 Since 1953, the Ghana Commercial Bank has made agriculture financing its priority and has extended loans to its agricultural customers. This paper, which is multi-sourced, uses archival documents, Government Records, Annual Reports and scholarly secondary works, to examine the approaches and strategies used by GCB to support agriculture in Ghana from the late 1960s to 1980s. The paper specifically sheds light on the measures adopted by the bank to transform agriculture in the country.

Origin, migration and settlement history of the Konkomba of Northern Ghana, ca. 1400-1800

Joseph Udimal Kachim — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This article contributes to the depth of our historical knowledge about the origins and migrations of the Konkomba. Using Konkomba oral traditions collected by the author between 2009 and 2014, and supplemented with a range ofother written sources, the article presents a detailed account of Konkomba origins and migration. It traces Konkomba origins to areas outside the boundaries of modern Ghana and examines clan settlement histories to throw light on how the Oti valley was populated by the Konkomba in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In doing so, the article interrogates the prevailing view that the Konkoma have no history beyond their encounter with the Dagomba in the Yendi area. At a general level, this article makes the case that it will be extremely beneficial for historians to revisit the oral traditions of hitherto neglected groups in Africa for the reconstruction of their histories.