AKWAABA - WELCOME TO GHANA

The national profile is a brief introduction about Ghana and what you can expect when you arrive in the country. This piece if information will enable you to be abreast with the Ghanaian society. I.C.D.C.E. believes that after you have read this information, you will enjoy your stay and have a rewarding experience.

We are looking forward to meeting you in Ghana soon.

INTRODUCTION
Ghana, republic in western Africa, bordered on the north and north-west by Burkina Faso, on the east by Togo, on the south by the Gulf of Guinea, and on the west by Côte d’Ivoire. Formerly a British colony known as the Gold Coast, Ghana was the first majority-ruled nation in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence, in 1957. The country is named after the ancient inland empire of Ghana, from which the ancestors of the inhabitants of the present country are thought to have migrated. The total area of Ghana is 238,500 sq km (92,090 sq mi). The capital is Accra.
CLIMATE
The climate of Ghana is tropical, but temperatures and rainfall vary with distance from the coast and elevation. Except in the north, two distinct rainy seasons occur, from April to June and from September to November. In the north the rainy season begins in March and lasts until September. Annual rainfall ranges from about 1,015 mm (40 in) in the north to about 2,030 mm (80 in) in the south-east. The harmattan, a dry desert wind, blows from the north-east from December to March, lowering the humidity and creating hot days and cool nights in the north. In the south the effects of the harmattan are felt in January. In most areas the highest temperatures occur in March, the lowest in August. The average annual temperature is about 26.1° C (79° F).
NATURAL RESOURCES
The chief mineral resources of Ghana include gold, silver, iron, manganese ore, bauxite, and diamonds. Forest resources are significant, and the offshore waters are rich in fish. Minor resources include oil, natural gas, beryl, tantalite-columbite, and chromite.
Ghana generates 99.9 per cent (1998 estimate) of its electricity through hydroelectric power, utilizing two dams built on the River Volta. Until the mid-1990s, Ghana was a regular exporter of electricity, but low water levels due to periodic drought have caused power shortages. Ghana has ratified international agreements protecting biodiversity, endangered species, tropical forests, wetlands, and the ozone layer. The country has also signed treaties limiting nuclear testing, ship pollution, and whaling.
POPULATION
The population of Ghana is divided into around 100 ethnic groups. The majority of the people depend on agriculture and lives on farms or in small villages.
POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS
Ghana has a population of 20,757,032 (2004 estimate), giving the country an average population density of about 90 people per sq km (234 per sq mi). The most densely populated parts of the country are the coastal areas, the Ashanti region in the south central part of the country, and the two principal cities, Accra and Kumasi. Seventy per cent of the total population lives in the southern half of the country. Life expectancy in 2004 was 55 years for men and 57 years for women.
The most numerous of the peoples belong to the Akan family: the Fanti, who live on the coast, and the Asante, who live in central Ghana. The Nizima and the Ahanta live in the south-west. The Accra plains are inhabited by the Ga. Most of the inhabitants in the northern region belong to the Moshi-Dagomba group of Volta peoples or to the Gonja group.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS
Ghana is divided into ten local government administrative regions: Northern, Eastern, Western, Central, Upper East, Upper West, Volta, Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, and Greater Accra. The regions are divided into 110 districts.
PRINCIPAL CITIES
Accra, the largest city and commercial centre, as well as the capital, has a population of 1,904,000 (1999 estimate). Kumasi, population 399,300 (1990 estimate), is the capital of the Ashanti region. Sekondi, 116,500 (1990 estimate), has an artificial harbour; it is the first modern port built in Ghana. Other major cities include Tamale, 151,100 (1988 estimate), Tema, 180,600 (1990 estimate), and Cape Coast, 57,224 (1984).
RELIGION
Traditional religions are adhered to by 38 per cent of the population. The Muslim population (about 30 per cent of the total) is located chiefly in the northern part of the country. The Christian community, which accounts for about 24 per cent of the total population and includes Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, and Presbyterians, is concentrated in the coastal region.
LANGUAGE
English is the official language of Ghana and is universally used in schools although it is not a mother tongue. In 1962 the government selected nine Ghanaian languages, in addition to English and French, for use in educational institutions: Akuapim-Twi, Asante-Twi, Dagaari, Dagbani, Ewe, Fante, Ga-Adangme, Kasem, and Nzema. A further five languages were selected for use in non-formal education circles and in radio broadcasting: Buli, Frafra, Gonja, Kusaal, and Sisaala. In total, 79 languages are spoken in Ghana, mainly African languages.
ECONOMY
The economy of Ghana, a country rich in natural resources, is based on the production of a few primary agricultural and mineral products. Following near economic collapse and hyperinflation in the early 1980s, drastic economic reforms, including successive devaluations, privatization programmes, increases in agricultural produce prices, and cuts in government spending led to sustained economic growth after the mid-1980s. Overall growth continued at a rate of approximately 5 per cent in 1995, due largely to increased gold, timber, and cocoa production, all major sources of foreign exchange. The economy, however, continues to revolve around subsistence agriculture. While Ghana has twice the per capita output of the poorer countries in West Africa, it remains dependent on international aid.
In 2002 Ghana’s GNP was US$5,505 million (World Bank estimate), yielding a per capita income of about US$270. The estimated national budget in 1993 showed revenues of about US$1,013 million and expenditures of about US$1,253 million.
MINING
Gold production increased significantly during the 1980s. In 2002 output was about 69,707 kg. About 363,000 tonnes of manganese ore and 684,000 tonnes of bauxite were also produced. Production of diamonds included about 193,000 carats of industrial quality and 770,493 carats of gem quality.
MANUFACTURING
Ghana has, compared to most other African countries, a relatively well-developed industrial sector. A major privatization programme was initiated after the mid-1980s. Manufacturing establishments are generally small. Printing and publishing plants are numerous, and the country has a number of sawmills and furniture producers. Large-scale operations are found mainly in those industries producing beer, cigarettes, soft drinks, edible oils, nails, oxygen and acetylene, and sheet aluminium. The industrial base at Tema, a port city east of Accra, includes an oil refinery. A large aluminium smelter utilizes energy generated by the Volta River Project. Other manufactured goods include textiles, footwear, iron and steel, sugar, flour, and glass.
ENERGY
Almost all of Ghana’s power is generated in hydroelectric facilities, such as the Volta River hydroelectric project, and the hydroelectric dam at Kpong. Total production of electricity in Ghana in 2001 was approximately 8.8 billion kWh. Significant amounts of electricity are exported.
CURRENCY AND BANKING
Recently, the bank of Ghana has redenominated the Ghanaian cedi to its lowest level. This is to enable the people of Ghana to handle the Cedi freely. Traveler’s check is accepted in all banks and Forex bureau. Visa cards can also be used in Ghana in some Banks..
WORKING HOURS IN GHANA
Monday-Friday, from 8:00 am to 5:00 Pm (12:30-1:30 Pm, Break ours)
Saturdays, from 8:00 am to 12:30 Pm
LABOUR
About 62 per cent of Ghana’s labour force is engaged in agriculture and fishing. Industry employs 10 per cent and services 28 per cent. The minister of labour certifies unions for collective bargaining. Uncertified trade unions may not strike. Public service, municipal, and local government employees are forbidden to strike and are not entitled to arbitration.
TRAVELING IN GHANA
There are Government Buses which operate in the Cities throughout the country. There are also some private Buses which operate along side the Government Buses but they belong to individuals are also operated by individuals. This makes the transportation system in Ghana very easy and fast.
COMMUNICATION
Radio, television, telegraph, and telephone services are owned and operated by the government of Ghana. Domestic radio programmes are broadcast in English and African languages. Programmes in English, Hausa, and French are broadcast to other parts of Africa as part of an international radio service. A television service was established in 1965. An estimated 13 million radios and 2 million television receivers were in use in 2000.
GOVERNMENT
A military council ruled Ghana by decree from 1972 until 1979, when a constitution providing for a popularly elected president was adopted. This constitution also provided for a directly elected parliament and for an independent judiciary headed by a supreme court. After a coup d’état on December 31, 1981, the 1979 constitution was suspended. The Provisional National Defence Council, led by a chairman, then ruled Ghana until 1992, when a new constitution was approved by popular referendum.
The new constitution established Ghana as a multi-party republic with a president elected by universal suffrage to a four-year term. It also provided for an elected legislature of 200 members, elected for four-year terms in single-seat constituencies, and for a prime minister to be chosen by the president from among the members of parliament. The ban on political parties was lifted, and the fourth republic was inaugurated, on January 7, 1993.
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Ghana is a member of the United Nations (UN), the Commonwealth of Nations, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the FAO, G-77, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the African Union, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
HISTORY
Although it gave its name to the modern state the ancient Kingdom of Ghana was, in fact, situated further north in the Sahelian region of Senegal, Mauritania, and Mali. The earliest known states in what is now Ghana were the Dogomba and Mamprussi kingdoms in the north, which flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries. About that time groups of Akan speakers—among them the Asante and the Fanti—migrated from the savannah and established their predominance below the forest line, forming a series of small states. By the early 15th century these communities carried on a lively trade with the sub-Saharan peoples to the north.
The first Europeans to visit the region, subsequently called the Gold Coast, were Portuguese explorers. In 1482 they established a trading settlement on the site of present-day Elmina. The region became the leading supplier of gold to Europe before the discovery of Latin America’s rich resources. In addition, the developing slave trade during the 16th century whetted the interest of several European nations. By 1642 the Dutch had forced the Portuguese out.
The ocean-directed European trade aided the ascendancy of the Asante, who had gradually moved and settled at the junction of trade routes around Kumasi—enabling them to dominate commerce both north and south. By 1670 their supremacy in the Kumasi area was unchallenged, and further expansion left the Asante Empire unquestionably predominant among the native states by the middle of the 18th century. See Ashanti (region).
BRITISH DOMINANCE
Among the European invaders who soon challenged the Dutch were the British, who established forts at Kormantine and Cape Coast. The ensuing rivalry between the two powers culminated in war, from which the Dutch emerged victorious. Government-sponsored British companies, however, continued to pursue their interest, developing by 1750 a flourishing slave trade. Forts were also established by the Danes at Christiansborg and elsewhere, but by the end of the 18th century the British dominated the region. In 1821, 14 years after the abolition of the slave trade, the British settlements were taken over by the Crown. The British purchased the Danish forts in 1850, and in 1871 the Dutch settlements were also transferred to them. The coastal area, by then entirely under British control, was designated a Crown Colony in 1874.
In the early 19th century Asante tribes had invaded the coastal territory inhabited by the Fanti, thereby posing a threat to British forts. This led to a series of Asante-British wars that continued sporadically until the end of the century. The boundaries of the colony were established in 1901; at the same time the Asante and the northern territories were annexed to the colony. Part of the German Togoland was added in 1922. Three years later the first elections for a legislative council were held.
Rapid political development, however, began only after World War II. The British, faced with sustained agitation for national independence, allowed increasing measures of self-government, with the object of gradually establishing an independent country. Accordingly, the British Parliament in January 1957 passed the Ghana Independence Act, and on March 6 of that year the National Assembly of Ghana issued a proclamation of independence. Two days later the newly independent country joined the UN.
The dominant political party of the new nation was the Convention People’s Party (CPP), headed by Kwame Nkrumah, who was the country’s first prime minister and the charismatic leader of the Pan-African movement. There was, however, marked dissension between the CPP and various disaffected political groups. A prime source of resentment was Nkrumah’s desire to create a centralized rather than a federated state. The government retaliated harshly against its critics; in October 1957 six opposition groups formed a coalition known as the United Party.
DR. KWAME NKRUMAH
The Ghana Constitutional Amendment Bill of 1958 made it possible for the National Assembly to alter the constitution by a simple majority. A new republican constitution was drafted early in 1960 and approved by the electorate. At the same time, Prime Minister Nkrumah was elected the first president. The country was proclaimed a republic on July 1, 1960.
During the following years Nkrumah became increasingly dictatorial. The opposition was severely limited in its freedom of action, leaders of the United Party were imprisoned without trial, and defamation of Nkrumah was made a crime. The government decreed a state of emergency in 1961, and again in 1962. In late 1963 Nkrumah began to limit the freedom of the judiciary. A one-party system was introduced in 1964.
POLITICAL INSTABILITY
On February 24, 1966, Nkrumah, who was on a state visit to China, was ousted in a military coup. He took refuge in Guinea, but his supporters in Ghana were arrested and Soviet and Chinese technicians, whom Nkrumah had brought in, were expelled from the country. For the next three years Ghana was ruled by a National Liberation Council. In 1969 power was transferred, under a new constitution, to a civilian government headed by Kofi A. Busia. Busia, however, was ousted by another army coup in 1972, headed by Colonel Ignatius K. Acheampong.
Acheampong suspended the constitution, banned political activity, and curbed freedom of the press and union activities. Military control was relaxed slightly in 1974, and a civilian political affairs advisory council and an economic planning council were set up. Acheampong, however, was forced to resign in 1978, giving way to General Frederick W. Akuffo, who ruled for less than a year before he was overthrown by Flight-Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings. Dedicated to uprooting corruption, Rawlings had both Acheampong and Akuffo executed for that offence. In September 1979 Rawlings stepped down in favour of an elected civilian president, Hilla Limann.
RAWLINGS ADMINISTRATION
When economic conditions worsened, Limann was deposed in a second coup led by Rawlings on December 31, 1981. Ruling as Chief of the Provisional National Defence Council, Rawlings imposed an austerity plan that helped control inflation and attract financial aid from the West, including support from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The Ghanaian currency was devalued many times in the early 1980s. Agricultural production increased, and Rawlings successfully rescheduled Ghana’s most pressing loans. Despite his popularity with the masses, however, Rawlings’s regime had to suppress many coup attempts during the decade. A referendum in April 1992 re-established constitutional government, and Rawlings, running as a civilian, won the presidency in multi-party elections in November of that year.
Legislative elections the following month gave his National Democratic Congress an overwhelming majority—largely because the poll was boycotted by the four main opposition parties. In 1994 land disputes in the north escalated into ethnic violence in June, involving seven ethnic groups. A state of emergency was temporarily imposed and a peace agreement negotiated between the participants. However, there was renewed ethnic violence in March 1995.
In the 1996 presidential election held in December, Rawlings won 57.2 per cent of the vote. Earlier that year the two main opposition parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the People’s Convention Party, had agreed to contest legislative elections on a united platform. Rawlings was sworn in for his second term in January 1997, the same month that Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan was sworn in as secretary-general of the United Nations.
The Ashanti king Opoku Ware II, who represented about 39 per cent of the population, died in March 1999 and was succeeded, in April, by Barima Kweku Duah, who was named as King Osei Tutu II.
In December 2000, President Rawlings’ two terms in office came to an end. NPP leader John Kufuor won the presidential elections, defeating Vice-President John Atta Mills after two rounds of voting; he was inaugurated on January 7, 2001.
At least 130 people died as the result of a stampede at a football match at the Accra Sports Stadium during a game between Ghana’s two leading teams, Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko, in May 2001.
The National Reconciliation Commission was created in May 2002 to investigate human rights abuses that took place during the military rule of Rawlings. The commission first sat in January 2003 and had already been petitioned by nearly 3,000 people claiming tortures and killings. In October 2003 the government approved a merger between two major gold-mining companies, Ghana’s Ashanti Goldfield and South Africa’s Anglo Gold, thus bringing to an end an international bidding war. In February 2004 former President Rawlings testified before the National Reconciliation Commission.
CALENDER
NEW YEARS DAY - 1ST JANUARY
FEBRUARY - ELD-AL-ADHA (For the Moslems)
INDEPENDENCE DAY - 6TH MARCH
GOOD FRIDAY - APRIL
EASTER HOLIDAY - APRIL
MAY DAY - 1ST MAY
AFRICA UNION DAY - 25TH MAY
REPUBLIC DAY - 1ST JULY
ELD-AL-FITIRI - NOVEMBER
NATIONAL FARMERS DAY - 1ST FRIDAY IN DECEMBER
CHRISTMAS DAY - 25TH DECEMBER
BOXING DAY - 26TH DECEMBER

TOURIST ATTRACTION IN GHANA

THE NATIONAL MUSUEM: Barnes Road- Establish 1957 to preserve Ghana’s historical treasures and that of other ancient Africa empire.

KWAME NKRUMAH MAUSOLEUM & MEMORIAL PARK: High Street Dedicated to the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president.

CAPE COAST CASTLE: Cape Coast Town- From Dutch lodge in 1637 to Swedes Fort in 1652 and British Castle as well as seat of colonial administration form 1664-1877.

ELIMINA CASTLE: Elmina Town- Portuguese Fort, built in 1482, was the first European edifice in Africa south of the Sahara. Became Dutch Fort in 1637 and British Castle in 1911

KAKUM NATIONAL PARK: 30km north of Cape Coast - patchwork of rain forest of 360km including the Assin Attandaso Resources Reserve with medicinal trees, birds and monkeys. There is a canopy walkway.

BRENU BEACH: 15 minutes drive west of Elmina - 13km stretch of palm fringed virgin beach with cool and clear water. Has peaceful migratory bird sanctuary.

LAKE BOSOMTWI: 40KM Southwest of Kumasi - Natural circular lake believed to have been formed by the impact of a meteorite.

OWABI BIRD SANCTUARY: 15KM west from Kumasi - Winter home for variety of migratory birds.

BONWIRE: 20km northeast of Kumasi – Home of Kente cloth.

BOTI FALLS: HUHUNYA near Koforidua- In the reserve of Huhunya is the seasonal Boti Falls with caves, cascades and umbrella rocks surrounding it.

BOABENG–FIEMA MONKEY SANCTUARY: 22km from Nkuranza - Monkeys like the Colobus the Mona and many more are seen moving about freely in the village as early as 9:00am.

KINTAMPO FALLS: 75km north of Takyiman in the Brong Ahafo Region. A collection off several waterfalls flowing and disappearing underground and resurfacing 200metres ahead.

YEJI PORT -VOLTA LAKE: Small but beautiful and scenic town with fishing as the main occupation. The port, 47km north of Akosombo, is also a link between the north and south.

VOLTA LAKE: Borders Eastern and Volta regions, spans over 400km North-South. Largest man-made lake, with facilities for cruising to Sogakope and Azizanya at the estuary where the paradise Beach hotel offers facilities for all type of water sport.

TAFI MONKEY VILLAGE: 260km north east from Accra- sacred monkey sanctuaries with hundreds of species of monkeys in a tropical forest.

AFADJATO MOUNTAIN: 260km northeast of Accra- Ghana’s highest mountain. 2905 feet high, ideal for climbing.

WLI FALLS: 20 km south – west of Hohoe in the Volta region. The most beautiful waterfalls in Ghana all year round in the midst of the Agumatsa Forest. Ideal for adventure.

MOLE NATIONAL PARK: 130km west of Tamale - The only developed national park with accommodation facilities. A wide range of animals including Elephants, Lions, antelopes, Monkeys, etc can be found.

PAGA CROCODILE POND: 35km North of Bolgatanga-Burkina Faso border- At the pond the Crocodiles can be enticed out with a live fowl and be stroked by those daring enough.

BUSUA PLEASURE BEACH: 25km off Takoradi-Tarkwa road –wide golden sand beach ideal for swimming with ultra modern chalets.