The Colonial Secretary's statement in the Commons brings the Gold Coast - or Ghana, as we must soon learn to call it - within measurable distance of full self-government. But if the objective is in sight, there is still a crevasse to be crossed before reaching it.
The country is racked with an internal dissension so acute as to imperil the next step forward; and it remains to be seen whether Mr Lennox-Boyd's condition of a general election will serve to bridge the gap, or widen it. The Convention People's party, which forms the Government, stands opposed to the National Liberation Movement, rooted in the ancient kingdom of Ashanti. Their quarrel is in form over the respective powers of central and regional authority. In fact, it goes deeper.
The CPP stands (in spite of its anti-imperialist views) for the Westernising, liberal, and levelling elements in the country, the "new men". The NLM is on the side of indigenous tradition, particularly the authority of the chiefs. By good fortune Mr Gbedemah, Finance Minister in the Gold Coast Government, was in London yesterday, and was able at once to put a doubt at rest by saying that his Government accepted the British Government's view on the need for an election before the formal declaration of independence.
The proposals seem fair enough in themselves. They give a good deal of latitude to regional sentiment, where it is strong, without going so far as to federalise a country really too small for a federal system. But what sticks in the throats of the NLM is not so much the constitutional plan as the State Councils (Amendment) Ordinance 1955, which made disputes over the Ashanti chiefdoms subject to appeal, not as heretofore to the supreme Ashanti chief but to the Governor in Council, which means in effect the Cabinet. If the CPP could see its way to soften this ill-starred amendment there should not be much difficulty in settling the other matters.
Mr Lennox-Boyd was able to refer to indications of a more moderate attitude on the part of the Asanteman Council. One hopes that they may be encouraged to do so by a statesmanlike remark by the Mr Gbedemah in London yesterday. Speaking of the election, he said that the CPP would expect to win, but that "if the CPP is defeated we shall be glad to see our opponents, the NLM, take over. We should try to work effectively as an opposition party. If we are successful, we hope they will do the same and respect the authority of the Legislature". This is in contrast with the attitude sometimes taken by CPP members who have not unjustly been accused of an almost totalitarian outlook towards their political opponents.
