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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | Unity and Progress: Asante Politics Revisited |
| Author: | Wilks, Ivor |
| Year: | 1998 |
| Periodical: | Ghana Studies |
| Volume: | 1 |
| Pages: | 151-179 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Ghana Great Britain |
| Subjects: | political change colonialism Ashanti polity history traditional polities History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Politics and Government |
| Abstract: | This paper examines politics in, first, the Asanteman, which lost its independence 'de facto' but not 'de jure' to the British in 1896; second, in the Crown Colony of Ashanti created in 1901; and third, since 1957, in the Ashanti Region of what was to become the Republic of Ghana. The Asantehene's court in Kumase was a judicial institution in origin.In the independent Asanteman it became over time a forum for debate and the determination of national policy. It became a 'manhyiamu', a parliament in European terms. The chief, or king, was responsible for executing the will of the council. He was carefully chosen for his capabilities. After the British declared Asante a Crown Colony in 1901, the British Chief Commissioner came to assume many of the functions of an Asantehene. In 1935, Governor A.W. Hodson proclaimed 'the Restoration of the Ashanti Confederacy'. Osei Agyeman Prempeh II became the first Asantehene under the British. Opoku Ware II became Asantehene in 1970 and was to see massive political changes. The Asantehene proved adept at distancing himself from Ghanaian party politics while sustaining the Asante people's sense of their historic identity. Notes, ref. |