Northern Peoples' Party

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The Northern Peoples' Party ( NPP ) was a political party in what is now Ghana .

Despite the identical abbreviation (NPP), there is neither a historical nor a substantive connection to the New Patriotic Party of Ghana. It was founded by Kwame Nkrumah as an opposition party to the Convention People's Party on the way from the Gold Coast colony to the state of Ghana in 1954 during the country's independence process .

Foundation and political direction

The NPP was established in 1954. As the name indicates, the NPP essentially pursued the advocacy of the tribes living in the north of what is now Ghana, which are ethnically, religiously and culturally distinct from the southern peoples. The NPP can be attributed politically as a direction for the party program of the nearby Muslim Association Party (MAP). Both parties were founded in the course of the integration of the northern regions into the Gold Coast colony, as the educated elite and the leadership elite of the northern tribes in particular feared losing influence as a result of the political union with the southern Akan- dominated regions.

The Northern Peoples' Party is classified in the party landscape of the Danquah-Busia tradition.

Election results

Both in the elections to the legislative assembly ( Legislative Assembley ) on June 15, 1954, as well as in the elections on July 17, 1956, the NPP was able to unite a considerable number of votes. In the elections of 1954, the NPP won 12 of 104 seats in the assembly, in 1956 even 15 of the 104 seats. The Convention People's Party (CPP) remained the clear winner , with the NPP becoming the second strongest force in parliament.

After independence in 1957

Soon after Ghana's independence on March 6, 1957, a law to prevent discrimination ( Avoidence of Discrimination Act 1957 , CA 38) was enacted by the then Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah and later President of Ghana . This law prohibited any grouping with an orientation based on ethnic, religious, regional or similar orientation with effect from December 31, 1957.

The full title of the law read:

Law on the prohibition of organizations that use for propaganda membership of a tribe, region, race or religion to the detriment of a community or to choose people based on their membership of a tribe, region or religion or similar To secure purposes. (Engl .: An Act to prohibit organizations using or engaging in tribal, regional, racial and religious propaganga to the detriment of any community, or securing the election of persons on account of their tribal, regional or religious affiliations and for other purpuse connected therewith . )

Due to the clear reference to the interests of only the northern Islamic regions of today's Ghana, the NPP fell under the law and became an illegal group almost overnight, although it had been represented in parliament since your elections in 1954. Affected were the Anlo Youth Association , Togoland Congress , Muslim Association Party (MAP) and other organizations such as Ga Shifimo Kpee .

NPP - United Party

In order to avoid a party ban, various parties formed the United Party (Ghana) in early 1958 . The UP was composed of the following parties and groups:

With the founding of the UP, the NPP no longer officially existed. In addition to the successor United Party, there was only the Nkrumahs party in Ghana, the Convention People's Party (CPP) from 1958.

See also

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