Pride Of Ghana!

Events

In the year 1553, I was brought back to the shores of where I was nurtured.
My people had got a new government. We were now under the leadership of Captain  Windham From Britain.
Our former leaders maltreated us because of the desire for gold. But here lies Captain Windham and his people who want to trade with us for gold.
            It is heartwarming, tearful and with gladness that I sit to recount all those memories. As time has flown by, so have I also aged with grace.

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To secure their trading activities, the British built numerous forts and castles along the coastal edges of Gold coast. I remember they named these huge buildings with names as follows;  cape coast castle in present day Ghana.
James fort in present day Ghana(Accra)
And
Fort Williams in ( anomabo) present day Ghana.

      Just as I witnessed the coming and going of the British reign, so I also witnessed the coming of the  Danes, Swedes, and Dutch to the shores of Gold coast.
The Danes  came to gold coast in 1660.
The Dutch,1595
And the Swedes in 1640.
They also came down here to take advantage of the trade in Gold, guns, gun powders, gin, leather wares, cloth and silk products.
Just like the British, the Swedes also constructed  Fort Witsen in 1640 in Takoradi( Present day Ghana).
The Danes built the Christiansburg Castle in OSU(present day Ghana).

    The colonial era witnessed series of dissatisfaction and complaints by my people. We complained about discrimination, shortage of essential commodities, inadequate educational facilities and unemployment.
This gradually resulted in the demand for changes in our constitution which would grant us self-government.
The struggle for this self- government resulted in some major political events in Gold coast now known as ( Ghana).

       Oh, memory takes me back to when my forefathers made an effort to liberate us from colonial rule. This triggered events in Gold coast such as
The Bond of 1844
Poll tax ordinance of 1852
The Sagrenti war of 1874
The Yaa Asantewaa war of 1900
And the Northern Ghana under British administration.
All these events took place within the 1800 and 1900.
      The British colony had laws governing us. They tried to settle lots of conflicts between various ethnic groups in gold coast. Some chiefs and communities were adamant and deliberately broke existing laws. They were fined, imprisoned, and some were sent away to settle at other places.
The Bond of 1844,was a peace treaty signed between the British colony under Governor commander Hill,and with some chiefs from the southern coast province of Gold Coast.
                Initially only eight traditional rulers signed this bond. They included chiefs from Assin, Denkyira, Dominase, Abora, Anomabu and Cape coast.
Later on, other eleven traditional rulers agreed to also sign. These eleven rulers, represented the people of Dixcove, Wassa, Fiase, Twifo, Ekumfi, Ajumako, Asikuma, Nsaba, Wassa amanfi, Gomoa, and James Town in Accra
      As vividly as I can recollect, this bond was signed on 6th March 1844.
My people had reasons why they agreed to sign that bond.
The bond was meant to protect the southern chiefs against all forms of attack.
The southern province was usually under the attack of the Ashanti's and this created instability.
The signing of the bond was to come under the protection if the British who had powerful arms and ammunition to fight against the Ashanti's
    The bond also allowed the British to settle all disputes using British Standard Of Justice. All serious crimes were now settled in courts established by the British in Gold Coast. However, our chiefs were allowed to rule us using our own Customary Laws and Dispute resolution mechanism in the Traditional authority.
  The bond was meant to put an end to human sacrifices, slavery, and all forms of inhuman treatments among the local people.
And that was how I, Lamley, your story teller got my freedom from slavery.
   Following the stable political climate created as a result of the Bond of 1844, the British introduced the Poll tax ordinance of 1852.
  This was introduced so as to raise funds locally to meet the increasing expenditure of my people.
The British and Traditional Authority of my people agreed to tax we the inhabitants for local development.
The tax made it compulsory for an adult to pay at least one shilling  a year to the Native Treasury for local development.
The poll tax ordinance provided needed funds by the British for local development. In the first year in which this tax was implemented, the British raised and amount of £7,500 for local development and administration. Through this internally generated finds, the British were able to solve the issue of inadequate funds for allowances , salary and wages.

      However, the Poll tax ordinance brought about some disaffection among my people. They did not support it. It led to the conflict between our traditional rulers and we the people. We accused our chiefs of conniving with the "white man" to "dupe" us of our hard earned money.
We protested against the poll tax ordinance and it led to riots and disturbances during that era. The people from Teshie, La and Nungua rioted against the poll tax ordinance. They marched to the Christiansburg castle with weapons to register their protest against the law. Unfortunately, the British fought back and about 300  natives lost their lives on that day. Due to this and many other reasons, the Poll tax ordinance of 1852  gradually failed in 1861.
Oh what a relief that decision brought. It reduced the heat and tension created during the riot and much more enhanced good relations between we the people and our traditional rulers.