Ghana’s Pan-African Policy in 1960

Grilli, Matteo

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-91325-4_4

Matteo Grilli⁴

Part of the book series: African Histories and Modernities ((AHAM))

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Abstract

This chapter covers the year 1960. The Pan-African institutions of Ghana were reformed by the African Affairs Committee, one of Nkrumah’s advisory bodies, and their powers were strengthened. The Bureau of African Affairs was established as the successor of Padmore’s Office and it emerged as a more independent and better financed institution. Barden, new acting director of the BAA, became one of Nkrumah’s closest advisers on African affairs and set up a wide net of agents on the entire continent, operating particularly in Congo and Southern Africa. The chapter will include the testimony of a Masotho freedom fighter hosted in Accra around the time of the proclamation of the republic (1 July 1960).

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Notes

1.
Biney, The Political and Social Thought of Kwame Nkrumah, p. 87.
2.
MSRC, KNP, series J, b. 154–41, f.14, Letter from George Padmore to Kwame Nkrumah, 10 May 1954.
3.
Archive of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies [henceforth ICS], Political Parties [henceforth PP]/Ghana [henceforth GH]/CPP, Kwame Nkrumah, “The Dynamic CPP – Ten Years Old, Full Text of Dr. Nkrumah’s Arena Speech”, 1959; Austin, Politics in Ghana, p. 405.
4.
Biney, The Political and Social Thought of Kwame Nkrumah, p. 87.
5.
Nugent, Africa Since Independence, p. 173.
6.
Ibid., p. 173.
7.
Dei-Anang, The Administration of Ghana’s Foreign Relations, p. 50.
8.
Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, p. 107.
9.
Dei-Anang, The Administration of Ghana’s Foreign Relations, p. 27.
10.
See PRAAD, RG 17/1/465, “4th Meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on November 9th 1959 at 12 P.M., ‘Director to the Bureau’”. The post of Director was to be re-established later and Barden was going to be appointed.
11.
Dei-Anang, The Administration of Ghana’s Foreign Relations, p. 84 (n. 21).
12.
Interview with Asante, 4 September 2011, Accra. At the time Asante was a young diplomat, acting as chargé d’affaires at Tel Aviv. During one of his trips, Padmore had the chance to meet him. The two men discussed African affairs for hours. At the end of a long night of discussions, Padmore was convinced of the potentialities of Asante and requested his transfer to Accra.
13.
Interview with Asante , 4 September 2011.
14.
Dei-Anang, The Administration of Ghana’s Foreign Relations, p. 25.
15.
Ibid., p. 27.
16.
The complete list of the personalities who attended at least one meeting of the Committee comprises the following: A.Y.K. Djin , Amoah Awuah, Joe Fio Meyer, T.R. Makonnen, Edwin DuPlan, A.K. Barden, N.A. Welbeck, P.K. Yankey, Kofi Baako, Abdoulaye Diallo, Kwaku Boateng, Mbiyu Koinange , Kojo Botsio, Ako Adjei, S.A. Dzirasa , John Tettegah, Tawia Adamafio, Eric Heymann, A. L. Adu, Alfred Hutchinson, J.A. Maimane, James Markham and, obviously, Kwame Nkrumah. List elaborated from: GPRL, uncatalogued/BN-African Affairs Committee Bulletin [henceforth AACB] and PRAAD, RG/17/1/465.
17.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BN-African Affairs Committee Bulletin, Minutes of African Affairs Committee Meeting held at Flagstaff House on 16 October 1959.
18.
Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, p. 107.
19.
GPRL, uncatalogued/SPC (BAA/1A), Letter from Barden to Loft, 28 December 1959.
20.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BN-AACB, Minutes of African Affairs Committee Meeting held at Flagstaff House on 16 October 1959, “All-African People’s Conference Secretariat”.
21.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BN-AACB, Minutes of African Affairs Committee Meeting”, 16 October 1959, “Appointment of Officers”.
22.
Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, p. 107 (n. 241).
23.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BN-AACB, Minutes of African Affairs Committee Meeting”, 16 October 1959, “Finance and Management Committee”. The members of the committee were Makonnen, Awuah, Adu , DuPlan and Barden.
24.
GPRL, uncatalogued/ BN-African Affairs Committee, Letter from Dyer-Ball (Minister of the Interior) to Padmore, 16 May 1959 and Letter from Goodwin (Min. of the Interior) to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, 15 May 1959.
25.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BN-AACB, Minutes of African Affairs Committee Meeting”, 16 October 1959, “Issue of Passports”.
26.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, 4th Meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on 9 November 1959, “Passport for Freedom Fighters”.
27.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Manga and Bei to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the BAA, 12 September 1960.
28.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/370, Letter (handwriting) from S.N. and K.B. to Nkrumah, 30 July 1960; GPRL, BAA/370, Letter from BAA to S.N. and K.B. (Bechuanaland), 13 September 1960.
29.
GPRL, uncatalogued/Particulars of Residents in the African Affairs Centre, 1959, “Particulars of Residents in the African Affairs Centre – Accra”.
30.
On the alleged British spy see GPRL, BAA/RLAA/961, Aide Memoire n. 1 and n. 2 by Barden. On the alleged Portuguese spy see GPRL, BAA/RLAA/961, Report, Title: “Mr. Oliveira Moita de Deus Luis Carlos” by Barden. See in the same file a profile of Mr. Oliveira sent to the Bureau by the Ministry of External Affairs. The date is 4 May 1959.
31.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BB-SPC, Letter from Barden to Peake (South Africa), 14 December 1959; GPRL, uncatalogued/BB-SPC, Letter from Hommel to Barden, 4 November 1959.
32.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BN-AACB, Minutes of African Affairs Committee Meeting, 16 October 1959, “Screening Committee”. The members of the committee were Makonnen, Welbeck, Yankey, DuPlan and Barden.
33.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the Finance and Management Committee meeting held on Wednesday 17 February 1960.
34.
Mensah, “The Bureau of African Affairs”, 84.
35.
Makonnen and King, Pan-Africanism from Within, p. 223.
36.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BN-Letters for Action by the African Affairs Committee, Letter from Yacuba and two other Sawaba members to the Chairman of the Finance and Management Committee, 28 October 1959. See also PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, 4th Meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on 9 November 1959, “Sawaba party”.
37.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/370, Report from the Minister of External Affairs to the Bureau of African Affairs, “Political Survey of Nyasaland”, 22 November 1960.
38.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the Third of the African Affairs Committee meeting held on Thursday, 22 October 1959, “Mr. Koinange”.
39.
In PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Fourth Meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on 9 November 1959, “South African Zone”.
40.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Fourth Meeting of the African Affairs Committee, 9 November 1959, “Information”.
41.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the Fifth meeting of the African Affairs Committee held on 19 November 1959 at Flagstaff House, “The Situation of Congo”.
42.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the Fifth meeting of the African Affairs, 19 November 1959, “Intelligent [sic] Service”.
43.
PRAAD, RG 17/1/465, Minutes of the Tenth meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on Thursday 14 January 1960, “Political Attachés”.
44.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the Tenth meeting of the African Affairs Committee, 14 January 1960, “Political Attachés”.
45.
GPRL, BAA/uncatalogued/BB-SPC, Letter from David Kimble to Edwin DuPlan (AAC), 24 December 1959.
46.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the Fifth meeting of the African Affairs Committee, 12 November 1959 “Winneba College”.
47.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the Tenth meeting of the African Affairs Committee, 14 January 1960, “Winneba School”.
48.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the Tenth meeting of the African Affairs Committee, 14 January 1960, “Political Attachés”.
49.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BN-AACB, Minutes of African Affairs Committee Meeting held at Flagstaff House on 16 October 1959, “News Bulletin”.
50.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BN-AACB, Minutes of African Affairs Committee Meeting, 16 October 1959, “News Bulletin”.
51.
GPRL, BAA/14, “Information Bulletin on African Affairs”, vol. 2, n. 21, undated.
52.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the Tenth meeting of the African Affairs Committee, 14 January 1960, “Platform Speeches”.
53.
PRAAD, RG 17/1/465, Minutes of the Fifth meeting of the African Affairs Committee held on 19 November 1959 at Flagstaff House, “Establishment of NASSO in the University and Secondary Schools”.
54.
Ibid.
55.
Ibid.
56.
PRAAD, RG 17/1/465, Fourth Meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on 9 November 1959, “Commentary”.
57.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Odoi to Barden, 20 June 1960, and, in the same file, Letter from Barden to Odoi, 14 July 1960.
58.
PRAAD, RG 17/1/465, Minutes of the Tenth meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on Thursday 14 January 1960, “Manuscripts for Broadcasting”.
59.
PRAAD, RG 17/1/465, Minutes of the 14th meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on Thursday 10 March 1960, “News Commentary – African Affairs”.
60.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Fourth Meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on 9 November 1959, “Editorial Committee”.
61.
The members of the Editorial Committee were Heymann, Adjei , Makonnen, DuPlan , Fio Meyer and Adamafio .
62.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Fourth Meeting of the African Affairs Committee, 9 November 1959, “Commentary”.
63.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the Tenth meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on Thursday 14 January1960, “Manuscripts for Broadcasting”.
64.
Ibid.
65.
See Hooker, Black Revolutionary, p. 22.
66.
Gaines, American Africans in Ghana, p. 18.
67.
Letters to and from these countries concerning VOA in 1960 can be found in: GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348; GPRL, uncatalogued/BK-Closed; GPRL, BAA/RLAA/370; GPRL, BAA/RLAA/349; GPRL, BAA/RLAA/357; There is evidence of the shipping of materials other than VOA also to Trinidad, Saint Kyttis and Navis and Côte d’Ivoire.
68.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BK-Closed, Letter from Mushandira (Nyasaland) to the Editorial Board of the African Affairs Committee, 1 February 1960.
69.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BK/Closed, Letter from the Uganda Youth Association to Barden, 10 November 1959.
70.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Ebassa to Barden, 26 May 1960.
71.
Ibid.
72.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the 14th meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on Thursday 10 March1960, “News Commentary – African Affairs”.
73.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BB-SPC, Letter from Barden to Nokwe (ANC), 8 February 1960.
74.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Millapo (N. Rhodesia) to Barden, 13 July 1960.
75.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BK-Closed, Letter from Potlako Leballo (PAC) to Barden, 5 February 1960.
76.
GPRL, uncatalogued/BB-SPC, Letter from Barden to Loft (American Friends Service Committee, Southern Rhodesia), 29 December 1959.
77.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, Minutes of the Tenth meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on Thursday 14 January1960, “Invitations to All African People’s Conference in Tunis”.
78.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, “Report on the 2nd All African People’s Conference held in Tunis on 25th January 1960”, submitted by Barden on 4 February 1960.
79.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, “Report on the 2nd All African People’s Conference held in Tunis on 25th January 1960”, submitted by Barden on 4 February 1960.
80.
Voice of Africa, vol. 1, no. 3, 16 January 1960; a copy of this issue can be found in MSRC, KNP, series K, b. 154–44, f.13.
81.
On the role of Ghana in the protests against the Sahara tests, see Allman, “Nuclear Imperialism”.
82.
See GPRL, BAA/RLAA/370, Letter, Mainza Chona to Barden, 10th August 1960. For all the speeches of the delegates see GPRL, BAA/RLAA/467, Speeches by delegates at the PAPSA Conference held in Accra, 7–10 April 1960.
83.
PRAAD, ADM 16/1/24, “Positive Action Conference for Peace and Security in Africa, Opening Session, speech of Kwame Nkrumah, 7th April 1960, Community Centre, Accra Ghana, 1960,” p. 4.
84.
Ahlman, “The Algerian Question”. See also Allison Drew, “Visions of liberation: the Algerian war of independence and its South African reverberations”, Review of African Political Economy, 42, 143, 2015, pp. 22–43.
85.
See Allman, “Nuclear Imperialism”; Sutherland and Meyer, Guns and Gandhi in Africa.
86.
Meyer and Sutherland, Guns and Gandhi in Africa, p. 47.
87.
Gerits, “The Ideological Scramble for Africa”, p. 25.
88.
Daily Graphic, 28 April 1960; quoted in GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Arai (Embassy of Japan, Accra) to Barden, 28 April 1960.
89.
Press release of the Government of Ghana, dated 4 May 1960 and quoted in Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, p. 107.
90.
See, for example, GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Malinga (South Rhodesia) to Welbeck, 14 July 1960, which was forwarded directly to Barden.
91.
Dei-Anang, The Administration of Ghana’s Foreign Relations, p. 29.
92.
Ibid., p. 30.
93.
Makonnen and King, Pan-Africanism from Within, 220 and Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, p. 107.
94.
Interview with Asante, 4 September 2011.
95.
PRAAD, RG 17/1/465, 15th Meeting of the African Affairs Committee to be held on Thursday 17 March 1960 at Flagstaff House.
96.
Dei-Anang, The Administration of Ghana’s Foreign Relations, p. 41.
97.
Interview with Bosumtwi-Sam, 19 July 2012.
98.
Armah, Peace without Power, p. 22.
99.
Interviews with Asante, 4 September 2011 and Bosumtwi-Sam, 19 July 2012.
100.
Interviews with Bosumtwi-Sam, 19 July 2012 and E.A. Richter, Accra, 23 December 2011.
101.
Mensah, “The Bureau of African Affairs”, 101.
102.
NLC, Ghana’s Subversion, p. iv.
103.
Interview with Richter, 23 December 2011.
104.
Mensah, “The Bureau of African Affairs”, 114–115.
105.
Ibid., 92.
106.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/370, Letter from Welbeck (and Djin) to Nkrumah, undated, title: “Operation Independence, Transfer of Financial Aid to Freedom Fighters”.
107.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/357, Letter from Nkrumah to Makonnen, 17 June 1960.
108.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/357, Letter from Nkrumah to Makonnen, 17 June 1960.
109.
On Sharpeville see, for instance, Tom Lodge, Sharpeville: An Apartheid Massacre and its Consequences (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).
110.
Callinicos, Oliver Tambo, p. 264.
111.
Karis and Carter, eds, From Protest to Challenge, Vol. 3, p. 351.
112.
National Archives of South Africa [henceforth NASA], BTS/109/7 vol. 1, Memorandum “Militêre Opleiding van Bantoes in die Buiteland”, to the South African Police, 8 April 1963. The memorandum covers the period 1960 to 1963.
113.
Ezekiel Mothupi, back then a PAC member, discards this information as “non-sense”. Interview with Mothupi , Atamelang, 6 March 2017; Fana Malindisa, at the time also a PAC member and later trained in Ghana, confirmed that the first batch of PAC trainees in guerrilla and sabotage could not have arrived in Ghana before the end of 1961. Interview with Malindisa , Barberton, 14 March 2017. As for the ANC , Mac Maharaj, former member of MK, excludes the possibility that the ANC ever sent members for military training in Ghana in 1960. Mac Maharaj, personal communication to the author, April 2017.
114.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Spencer Joel Thloloe to Barden, 20 July 1960.
115.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Barden to Spencer Joel Thloloe, 13 September 1960.
116.
Dei-Anang, The Administration of Ghana’s Foreign Relations, p. 29.
117.
References to this tour can be found in a series of letters dated 30 July 1960 and sent by the BAA to various parts of Africa. See for instance GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Barden to Khabisi, 30 July 1960.
118.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Basutoland Congress Party to Barden, 7 June 1960.
119.
Interview with Mokitimi, 28 September 2017; See also Ntsu Mokhehle, “African Personality”, Voice of Africa, 1, 5, May 1961, pp. 12–13.
120.
Interview with Mokitimi, 28 September 2017.
121.
Interview with Pitso Koelane, Maseru, 28 September 2017.
122.
Interview with Mokitimi, 28 September 2017.
123.
Interview with Mokitimi and Koelane, 28 September 2017.
124.
Interview with Mokitimi, 28 September 2017.
125.
Interview with Mokitimi, 28 September 2017.
126.
Interview with Mokitimi, 28 September 2017.
127.
Interview with Mokitimi, 28 September 2017.
128.
Armah, Peace without Power, p. 50.
129.
See, for instance, Kwame Nkrumah, Challenge of the Congo (London: PANAF, 1969); Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, and Mohan, “Ghana, The Congo, and The United Nations”, and Alexander, African tightrope. Gerits, “‘When the Bull Elephants Fight’”.
130.
Armah, Peace without Power, p. 51.
131.
PRAAD, RG/17/1/465, 13th Meeting of the African Affairs Committee to be held at Flagstaff House on Thursday 25 February 1960 and PRAAD, RG 17/1/465, 14th Meeting of the African Affairs Committee held at Flagstaff House on Thursday 10 March 1960, “Emissaries to Congo”; Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, p. 142.
132.
Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, p. 123.
133.
Ibid., p. 123.
134.
Quarm, Diplomatic Offensive, p. 25.
135.
Nkrumah, Challenge of the Congo, pp. 20–21.
136.
PRAAD, RG 17/1/465, Minutes of the Fifth meeting of the African Affairs Committee held on 19 November 1959 at Flagstaff House, “Intelligent Service”.
137.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Barden to Ondong (Uganda), 30 July 1960.
138.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/370, Report, “Ghana’s Role in Emergent Africa”, Barden to Nkrumah, 25 July 1960.
139.
Ibid.
140.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter, Barden to Mlobeli (Basutoland), 7 September 1960.
141.
Dei-Anang, The Administration of Ghana’s Foreign Relations, p. 24, and Armah, Peace Without Power, p. 28.
142.
See GPRL, BAA/RLAA/348, Letter from Barden to Coombs, 9 September 1960.
143.
Nkrumah, Challenge of the Congo, pp. 29–31.
144.
See GPRL, BAA/RLAA/414, République du Ghana, «Allocution prononcée devant L’Assemblée Nationale sur Les Affaires Africaines par Osagyefo Le Docteur Kwame Nkrumah », 8 August, 1960.
145.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/370, “Report on the activities of the Bureau – January to December 1960” submitted by Barden to Nkrumah on 16 December 1960.
146.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/370, Report, “Ghana’s Role in Emergent Africa”, Barden to Nkrumah, 25 July 1960.
147.
Ibid.
148.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/370, Letter from Barden to Nkrumah, 30 November 1960.
149.
Ibid.
150.
GPRL, BAA/RLAA/370, “Report on the activities of the Bureau – January to December 1960” submitted by Barden to Nkrumah on 16 December 1960.
151.
Ibid.
152.
Ibid.
153.
Ibid.

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University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Matteo Grilli

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Grilli, M. (2018). Ghana’s Pan-African Policy in 1960. In: Nkrumaism and African Nationalism. African Histories and Modernities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91325-4_4

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