General News of Monday, 3 January 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-01-03Red, white, green and the black star: Ghana’s controversial flag between 1964 and 1966
Ghana's current flag colours were changed to the above in 1964
Ghana gained independence in 1957
Theodosia Okoh designed Ghana’s national flag
Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966
In history lessons today, GhanaWeb brings you the story about how the national colours of Ghana were changed from the red, gold,
Read full articlegreen with a black star, to a red, white, green with a black star, under the rule of the country’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
First, it must be stated that in 1957, on the occasion of the independence of Ghana, Theodosia Salome Okoh was selected to design the national flag of the country.
She came up with the existing colours of the flag.
These three vertical lines were selected to represent the country’s geo-policy with the Red representing the fighters who bled for the Independence, Yellow symbolizing the mineral wealth of the country (gold), Green reminding the country of it natural spaces and forests, with the five-pointed Star standing for the guiding symbol of African freedom.
According to a tweet by Ghana Facts & History on Twitter, however, the original colours of the national flag of Ghana were changed between 1964 and 1966.
This was during the presidency for Kwame Nkrumah, but that decision was quickly changed after Nkrumah was overthrown.
“The National Flag, after flying at high mast for 7 years was changed slightly by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, (1 Jan 1964 - 28 Feb 1966). The gold strip in the middle was replaced with a white one. This was pulled down when Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966. The former was readopted,” the tweet said.
According to britannica.com: when Kwame Nkrumah organized the Convention People’s Party in 1949 to work toward more self-government for the native African peoples of the British Gold Coast, a flag was developed for the movement.
The one-party state was inaugurated in 1964. This was part of Nkrumah's expression of his belief that multi-party politics was dangerous to the inherent egalitarian nature of African society.
As Africa did not possess the types of classes that existed in Western societies, the multi-party system was ill-suited to Ghana and Africa in general.
The flag, a simple horizontal tri-colour of red-white-green, it became well known throughout the Gold Coast as a symbol of modernization and self-reliance.
Self-government was introduced in 1952, and independence was granted on March 6, 1957.
On that day a national flag, based on the Convention People’s Party flag, was hoisted throughout the land.
The country also acquired a new name, based on the empire of Ghana, which had been a powerful and rich state from the 7th to the 13th century.
Its new flag retained the red and green stripes of the old, but it changed the white to yellow and added a black five-pointed star, referred to as the “lodestar of African freedom.”
