AHC : A Prosperous Ghana

[TypicalQuilon]

At independence, Ghana was expected to be a beacon of hope for Africa, as it was one of the more industrialised colonies in the continent. It was considered more well-off than other newly independent nations at that time. Its GDP per capita (in 1960, as per the World Bank) was similar to that of South Korea and was twice as big as that of China and Thailand, nations which are now exponentially richer than Ghana. Could Ghana's downfall have been avoided - by perhaps preventing the nationalization of various industries, the increased taxation of the agricultural sector, the concentration of powers in the hands of Nkrumah and the sudden Africanisation of the workforce? I feel like Ghana could've been in a better position than OTL if Nkrumah had not tried rapidly building up Ghana's military and was more moderate in his policies.

Your challenge is to somehow transform Ghana into a upper middle-income/ high-income nation, with a POD at 1950, when calls for independence were at full swing.

 

[AltoRegnant]

Just going by wikipedia:

The government of Nkrumah was subsequently overthrown by a coup by the Ghana Armed Forces codenamed "Operation Cold Chop". This occurred while Nkrumah was abroad with Zhou Enlai in the People's Republic of China, on a fruitless mission to Hanoi in Vietnam to help end the Vietnam War. The coup took place on 24 February 1966, led by Col. Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka. The National Liberation Council (NLC) was formed, chaired by Lt. General Joseph A. Ankrah.[52]

I think I have a good idea what happened. Military coup death spiral until the 90s would stunt any liberal prosperity

 

[Seandineen]

Kwanne made the mistake of a lot of initial post-colonial leaders, concentrate on heavy industry, and kick out, Indians, Europeans, and the more educated Africans who desired a pro western, pro market, ethos. What can he do? Develop an international base, carefully, don't make mistake of gutting your economy, with the quick fix of socialism.

 

[Hood]

At independence, Ghana was expected to be a beacon of hope for Africa, as it was one of the more industrialised colonies in the continent. It was considered more well-off than other newly independent nations at that time. Its GDP per capita (in 1960, as per the World Bank) was similar to that of South Korea and was twice as big as that of China and Thailand, nations which are now exponentially richer than Ghana. Could Ghana's downfall have been avoided - by perhaps preventing the nationalization of various industries, the increased taxation of the agricultural sector, the concentration of powers in the hands of Nkrumah and the sudden Africanisation of the workforce? I feel like Ghana could've been in a better position than OTL if Nkrumah had not tried rapidly building up Ghana's military and was more moderate in his policies.

Your challenge is to somehow transform Ghana into a upper middle-income/ high-income nation, with a POD at 1950, when calls for independence were at full swing.

Remove the idea of import substituion industry and structuralism, or at least alter it to be more moderate. Many of the East Asian nations that went on to become the tiger economies followed easy ISI (few went to the extent of screwing the farmers as hard as Ghana, which is unironically the extreme case, the idea was the taxes would fund easy ISI) before moving away from it. Instead of building up domestic industry to any real amount, what was left was underdeveloped agriculture and uncompetitive industry. You still have to import manufactured machine tools and the likes, this tended to rack up current account deficits, followed by borrowing, rarely a fun road to go down.

Moderate this, move towards export orientation of easy ISI goods once the domestic market is exhausted, something along the lines of the East Asian model of development. The taxes on agriculture needs to be significantly less, there needs to be incentive for agriculture and agricultural development.

Politics in Ghana isn't my area of expertise, so will not comment.

 

[TypicalQuilon]

Just going by wikipedia:

I think I have a good idea what happened. Military coup death spiral until the 90s would stunt any liberal prosperity

I think the coup was partially motivated by the widespread dissatisfaction under Nkrumah's rule as well as by the power amassed by Nkrumah. Perhaps if Nkrumah had not mismanaged the economy, by the measures stated by the replies above, and if he hadn't tried to build up the army as well as centre his power as a de facto dictator, this could've been prevented. Army professionalism could've been retained if the British officers remained in the Ghanaian military, as they acted as a shield against military politicisation. The sudden Africanization of the army led to decreased levels of professionalism and experience, and if Nkrumah had slowed down this process the military could've remained apolitical. Other measures could've also been implemented to prevent the military from getting involved in politics, perhaps the appointment of a military ombudsman, diversification of the army further, or something similar.

 

[overoceans]

In his memoir of meeting various world leaders, Richard Nixon mentions going to the Ghanian independence ceremonies as the US rep, and presenting Nkrumah with the American gift, a library devoted to technology.

I wonder what happened to that library.

 

[El Pip]

I think any plan has to involve removing Nkrumah. This is a man who the election by a massive landslide (80% to 20%) and still had the defeated opposition leader arrested and imprisoned on invented charges. Then again those elections were almost certainly rigged and Nkrumah knew how deeply unpopular he and his programme really were.

Failing that, do we have to have the same borders? Only the Gold Coast was really enthusiastic about the union, the rest (Ashanti, NTP and Togoland) wanted self governance and correctly feared being dominated by the coast. Could you get those three forming "Ghana" while the Gold Coast become independent on it's own? Nkrumah leads the Gold Coast off down his corrupt and dictator filled path, while the alt-Ghana has a much better chance.

 

[Seandineen]

What a wonderful if previously unthought of idea! Brian Lessing's End of Empire mentioned internecine conflict within the new nations provinces. Could these provinces serve as the model Ganha was supposed to be