British Colonial Administrative Policy In The Gold Coast: Where The Ahafo And The Konkomba-bassari Meet

Abstract

The indirect rule system of the British colonial administration is one of the subjects that have been widely studied in colonial politics. The principle that lay behind this policy was that every system of Government if it was to be permanent and progressive must have its roots in the framework of indigenous society. In principle, the indirect rule system was to be based on the indigenous system of chieftaincy. But in practice its application varied greatly across regions. In the Gold Coast, colonial administration in the coastal regions which had had a long history of direct contact with Europeans differed from the hinterlands which had been annexed late in the nineteenth century. Within the hinterland itself, there were still variations in the application of indirect rule depending on the indigenous socio-political organisation of the area and the British attitude towards the indigenous states. In spite of the fact that ethnic and cultural differences, as well as British attitude towards local states determined the nature and working of indirect rule, the application of indirect rule across ethnic regions in the Gold Coast has never been compared. This paper examines how indirect rule was applied in both Ashanti and the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast, using Ahafo and Dagbon as a case study.