Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office.

  • Colonial Office
Date:
[1954]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/198 (page 5)
    The provisions of the Order in Council, other than Part II and sections 56, 63 and 70, came into operation on the 5th May, 1954. Part II and section 70 came into operation on the 18th June, 1954. The first meeting of the Legislative Assembly under the new con¬ stitution was held on Tuesday the 27th July, 1954. On that day. Sir Emmanuel Quist was re-elected as Speaker. The formal opening of the Assembly by His Excellency the Governor was held on Thurs¬ day-the 29th July. His Excellency then conveyed to the Assembly messages from Her Majesty the Queen and the Rt. Hon. Oliver Lyttelton (now Lord Chandos), then Secretary of State for the Colonies. In the management of its internal affairs, the Gold Coast is now, for all practical purposes, self-governing. The Cabinet appointed under Part II of the Order in Council was as follows: — The Hon. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah—Prime Minister. The Hon. Kojo Botsio—Minister of State. The Hon. K. A. Gbedemah—Minister of Finance. The Hon. A. Casely-Hayford—Minister of the Interior. The Hon. E. O. Asafu-Adjaye—Minister of Local Government. The Hon. J. H. Allassani—Minister of Education. The Hon. A. E. A. Ofori Atta—Minister of Communications. The Hon. Ako Adjei—Minister of Trade and Labour. The Hon. J. E. Jantuah—Minister of Agriculture. The Hon. N. A. Welbeck—Minister of Works. The Hon. Imoru Igala—Minister of Health. In the latter part of the year, the Fourth Committee of the United Nations Organisation directed the Trusteeship Council to consider how the wishes of the people of Togoland under United Kingdom Administration regarding their future should be ascertained. It was envisaged, in pursuance of this, that a special visiting Mission would be sent to the Trust Territory sometime during 1955. Towards the end of the year, a movement arose in Ashanti, the National Liberation Movement, whose object is to work for a federal form of Government for the Gold Coast. The National Liberation Movement and the Asanteman Council, which favours the ideas of the Movement, sent petitions to Her Majesty the Queen asking for the appointment of a Royal Commission to enquire into their proposal for a Federal Constitution for the Gold Coast. The Prime Minister subsequently invited the National Liberation Move¬ ment and the Asanteman Council to send representatives to meet himself and his colleagues to discuss the problems of a federal system of Government. Advantage was not taken of this invitation. Registration for elections.—Registration of electors under the Electoral Provisions Ordinance, 1953, started on the 25th January, 1954, and was completed by the 10th May. The Information Services Department launched an extensive campaign to educate the general public on the meed for, and the method of, registering as electors. Registration was organised on a regional basis. All Registration