SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis investigates the development of local government in the Ewedome region of present-day Ghana and explores the transition from the Native Authority system to a 'modem' system of local government within the context of colonization and decolonization. The decolonization process and the transition to local councils in the region from the 1950s brought in its wake a change in power relations, as individuals and groups at the local level began a struggle over status and political space within the new local government structure. As the decolonization process necessitated a change in the trusteeship status of the region, the development of local government suffered a severe jolt, as local councils became battlegrounds for the fight for and against the integration of the trust territory into independent Ghana. The thesis argues that while the Native Authorities of the colonial period were inefficient and incapable of advancing the development of a modem society, the successor local councils proved to be far more inept and corrupt than the bodies they came to replace. Excessive politicisation of local government structures alienated many citizens to the extent that local councils failed to follow in the tradition of serving as a focal point for harnessing the enthusiasm and energy of rural folk in the region.