Question1 – What does the Ghana Case reveal about why countries progress? Fail to progress? Ghana was organized as a self –supporting entity funded by local resources and loans. More so than the other British colonial powers, The British promoted education and employed skilled indigenous people throughout the civil service. The government took a laissez-faire approach to commerce, Was opened the first bank in Ghana(Standard Bank now)
Cocoa was introduced by Presbyterian missionaries in the mid – nineteenth century and promoted by the colonial government, and cause of its high value, became the main occupation in forested rural communities. British-owned firms started large scale mining operation in Ghana, the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation began producing from one of the world’s richest mines in the Asante region. Ghana produced 10% of the world’s gold, (1 million pounds of gold were exported annually,( by 1910), and was the world’s second –largest producer of manganese.
Ghana had one one of the best –developed road networks in the developing world. Railway development in Ghana began in 1898. The colonial authorities also developed the first postal, telephone, telegraph, and radio infrastructure. The Accra-Liverpool cable system created direct telecommunications with Europe in 1988. Following WWI, Governor Gordon Guggisberg built Ghana s first- deep water harbor at Takoradi . An eastern railway was completed in 1923 and a central province railway in 1927. The nation s first general hospital was established (Korle Bu) and became the model for all uture hospitals in Ghana.
Ghana s first secondary school(Wesley High School ), was established by Methodists in 1876. Ghana s first University was established in 1948,(The university of Ghana) Kwame Nkrumah, a charismatic speaker, that in election in 1951 became Ghana s first prime min ister, established the Convention People s Party (CPP), on 1949,where the party s aim was independence. Question 2: What are the major themes that have emerged in the course about competition, economic development, and the appropriate role of government in achieving prosperity ?
