Ghana: Political System
According to CANCERMATTERS.NET, Ghana is a presidential republic in the Commonwealth of Nations. The unicameral parliament consists of 200 members who are elected every four years. The head of state is also directly elected every four years, and re-election is possible once. See AbbreviationFinder for more information about Ghana politics, and acronyms as well. The official name of the country is:
| Republic of Ghana |
National anthem
God Bless Our Homeland Ghana has been the national anthem of Ghana since 1957. The lyrics and music are by Philip Gbeho. Some changes were made to the original text after the 1966 military coup.
| In English | In English translation |
| God bless our homeland GhanaAnd make our nation great and strong,
Bold to defend forever The cause of Freedom and of Right; Fill our hearts with true humility, Make us cherish fearless honesty, And help us to resist oppressors’ rule With all our will and might evermore. Hail to thy name, O Ghana, To thee we make our solemn vow: Steadfast to build together A nation strong in Unity; With our gifts of mind and strength of arm, Whether night or day, in the midst of storm, In ev’ry need, whate’er the call may be, To serve thee, Ghana, now and evermore. Raise high the flag of Ghana And one with Africa advance; Black star of hope and honor To all who thirst for liberty; Where the banner of Ghana free flies, May the way to freedom truly lie; Arise, arise, O sons of Ghanaland, And under God march on for evermore! |
God bless our homeland Ghanaand make our nation great and strong,
courageous and brave to defend peace and justice forever. Let us be sincere without fear and help us with all our will and strength to resist the rule of the oppressors. Hail your name, Oh Ghana, we solemnly vow to you: to steadfastly and together build a nation, strong in unity, with the gifts of our intellect and the strength of our arm, whether night or day, in the middle of a storm, in every need, whatever the call to serve you, Ghana, now and always. Raise the flag of Ghana and one with Africa’s progress, black star of hope and honor for all who thirst for freedom, where the flag of Ghana flies freely, may the path of freedom truly lie, up, up, oh sons of Ghana, and below God marches on forever! |
National flag
The national flag (country flag) of Ghana was officially introduced on March 6, 1957. Based on flag descriptions by Countryaah.com, the colors and the star of the flag are interpreted as follows:
-Red symbolizes the blood that was shed in the struggle for freedom
– yellow symbolizes the wealth of the country
– green stands for the forests and fields of the country.
– The black five-pointed star is a symbol of African freedom.
- Check top-mba-universities for public holidays, sports events, UNESCO world heritage sites and major places to visit in Ghana.
Ghana: animals
Mammals
In the north of Ghana you can find dry savannas with animals typical of Africa such as monkeys, hippos and the, unfortunately, increasingly rare rhinos and elephants. Both animal species are mainly killed by poachers because of their ivory.
Elephants comfort stressed conspecifics by sticking their trunk in their mouth – like a pacifier. Common ungulates are antelopes – like the bongo – but also water buffalo, which are domesticated and kept as livestock. These animals are so excellent and frugal pack animals that they were born as early as 3,000 BC. domesticated and were soon kept in all countries where the climatic conditions allowed it. In addition to their use as pack animals, their skin is made into leather and their milk is drunk.
Honey badgers as well as warthogs and porcupines are adapted to the steppe. Despite their name, porcupines do not belong to the pigs, but to the rodents. The honey badger partly feeds on the sweet honeycombs of the honeybees. His thick fur protects him from their stings, but her nose is unprotected, so that he has to accept a pierced tip of his nose for the honey reward. Among the predators are hyenas, leopards and lions. Further south the landscape changes and animal species such as the West African and the thorntail palm squirrel can be found here. In the rivers that run through the unfortunately largely deforested rainforest, there are still manatees (manatees), although now very rarely.
Reptiles (without snakes)
With a bit of luck, the attentive hiker will be greeted by colorful lizards and geckos.
There are also several species of land and water turtles, such as the African softshell turtle and two types of pelomeduse turtles.
Poisonous animals
There are also various poisonous snakes in Ghana, such as the green otter, the black-necked spectacle snake, often – not quite correctly – also called spitting cobra, the banded-bellied snake or the dot-bellied viper. Furthermore, the following poisonous snakes represented by Goruma should be mentioned:
Gaboon viper
Ordinary puff adder
Green mamba
Rhinoceros viper
Rhinoceros viper
Black and white cobra, white lipped cobra
Southern bird snake
Non-poisonous snakes
Rock python, Python sebae
This python can grow to over 7 m long, with a very massive and heavy body. On a basic color of gray, yellowish-brown, brown or green-brown, a series of four very irregularly shaped, light-edged saddle spots can be seen, some of which can extend in processes over the flanks.
Ball python, Python regius
This python is relatively small and measures around 1.5 m on average – in rare cases 2 m.
The animal is not considered aggressive. It is also only active at night and often looks for its prey “underground” in the burrows of rodents and other mammals. But in contrast to most snakes, he does not flee in case of danger, but rolls up to a kind of ball so that his head and bulwark come to rest within this ball.
Birds
In the Keoladeo Ghana National Park alone there are 350 species of birds, of which, however, many are migratory birds from China, America and Siberia. Bird species include cranes, ibises (6 species), reier (15 species) and storks (8 species). There are 35 bird of prey and vulture species spread across the country, bee-eaters and nectar birds (23 species) are also represented, as well as 19 cuckoo birds, by no means all of which lay their eggs in foreign nests. There are many storm terns and terns on the coast. Also typical coastal birds such as turnstone, sandpipers, plovers (11 species).
Insects, spiders
The yellow fever-transmitting mosquito Stegomyia, the malaria-transmitting Anopheles and Glossina, which are considered to be carriers of sleeping sickness, are native to Ghana, albeit more in the north. You can also find ants, bees and wasps here
In addition, countless termite mounds adorn the landscape of the north.
Natural beauties
Atakora mountain range
The Atakora mountain range, which runs from Ghana’s northeast to southwest, extends not only to Ghana but also to parts of Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso. It reaches the highest point with the 986 meter high Mont Agou (also Mont Baumann), which is not on Ghanaian soil, but in Togo. The highest mountain in Ghana, the 885 meter Mount Afadjato, also belongs to the mountains.
Kakum National Park near Abrafo
The Kakum National Park is one of the most famous national parks in Ghana. It spreads over 350 km² in the central region of the country and has existed since 1990. The entire area of the park near Abrafo consists of tropical rainforest. It is very interesting to be accompanied through the park by one of the specially trained rangers and instructed about which tropical plants can be used as medicine and how. The flora and fauna of Kakum National Park are simply breathtaking. You can see the almost extinct monkey cats there or watch forest elephants, civet cats and forest buffalo. Certainly the most recommendable is the suspension bridge tour over the tops of the trees, which is unbeaten in Africa. Sometimes you move 330 meters long at a height of 45 meters.
Meteorite Crater Bosumtwi
The crater, the age of which is estimated to be around 1 million years, has a diameter of 10.5 km and is covered by an outflow-free lake up to 80 meters deep.
Mole National Park
93 animal species live in the impressive Mole Reserve in the north-west of the country. These include antelopes, monkeys, buffalo, warthogs and 33 species of reptiles. Furthermore, some lions and elephants were (re) resettled here. The 2500 km² park is Ghana’s second largest national park after the Digya National Park. The park is developed for tourism and includes a hotel complex that provides four-wheel drive vehicles and guides with whose help you can go on a photo safari.
Mount Afadjato
Ghana’s highest mountain at 885 meters has a name that means something like “at war with the bush”. The reason for this unusual name goes back to a plant that grows on the mountain and causes serious skin diseases The mountain’s forest, which is threatened for various reasons, has been protected by the Ghanaian NGO Ghana Wildlife Society since 1997. In addition, the first municipal nature reserve in Ghana was established with Dutch government aid, which is exclusively looked after by the local population Falls that attract many thousands of tourists every year.
Songow lagoon
The salt marsh of the lagoon provides the habitat for a particularly rich bird life.
Ghana: plants
Trees
Mangrove trees and coconut palms are common in the area of the coast in the south.
There are also baobab, acacia and the colorful flame tree. This tree grows more in width than in height and rarely reaches a height of more than 15 m. Its fiery red flowers create an intensive contrast to its pale green, pinnate leaves and have made it a popular ornamental tree.
The baobab has a strikingly shaped trunk and silver-gray bark and belongs to the wool tree family. It can live up to 1000 years. Furthermore, it is characterized by its cucumber-shaped and wood-skinned fruits as well as fatty seeds. The baobab can store up to 5000 liters of water in the dry season, but then it loses all of its leaves to protect itself from excessive evaporation.
Crops
Many of the existing trees are useful plants. Such as bananas, mango, papaya as well as lime, oranges, grapefruits and tangerine trees. Even coffee and cocoa are grown. In the foothills of the mountains in the north, rubber, rice, maize and manioc as well as pennisetum millet are planted. The latter is considered a folk food. Yam occupies a very central position among the useful plants. Your root tubers can weigh up to 5 kg and can be cooked and mashed as “Fufu”, cooked in pieces or fried with a hot sauce.
Medicinal plants
The nuts of the cola tree are used as a raw material for the lemonade named after it. Its stimulating effect is comparable to that of coffee or guarana.
Poisonous plants
The poison of the Euphorbiaceen is used for arrowheads all over Africa.
Ghana: personalities
Nana Kwame Abrokwa (born 1968)
The German rapper known as Nana or Darkman Nana also made a name for himself as a DJ.
Okatakyie Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa (1936-1979)
Afrifa served as the head of state of Ghana in 1969 and 1970.
Matthew Amoah (born 1980)
The Ghanaian soccer player, who was born in Tema in 1980, is a national player for his country and took part in the 2006 World Cup in Germany as such.
Kofi Atta Annan (born 1938)
Born in 1938 in what is now Kumasi, Ghana, was the seventh Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) from 1997 to 2006. In 2001 he was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for his politics.
John Evans Atta-Mills (born 1944)
This Ghanaian politician has been president of his country since 2009. The doctor of law and university professor was able to prevail in the presidential elections against Nana Akufo-Addo from the New Patriotic Party.
Norbert Elias (1897-1990)
Norbert Elias, one of the most influential sociologists of the 20th century, worked from 1962 to 1964 as a sociology professor at the University of Ghana in Accra.
John Agyekum Kufuor (born 1938)
The Ghanaian politician was President of his country from 2001 to 2009, replacing his predecessor Jerry John Rawlings. Among the greatest achievements of his tenure are the containment of inflation and economic growth. Kufuor has been President of the African Union since 2007.
Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia (born 1921)
The ethnomusicologist, born in Mampong in 1921, also made a name for himself as a composer.
Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972)
Born in Nkroful in 1909 as Francis Nwia Kofi Kwame Nkrumah, the politician and thinker led in 1957 under the slogan Independence Now! the then British colony Gold Coast gained independence. Ghana was therefore the first black African country that could maintain its independence.
Hackman Owusu-Agyeman (born 1941)
The politician, born in Effidiase in 1941, served as Minister for Water Reserves, Labor and Housing until July 2007. He also worked as interior and foreign minister for his country.
Alex Quaison-Sackey (1924-1992)
Quaison-Sackey was born in 1924 in Winneba, now Ghana, and would later make a name for himself as a politician and diplomat. The Ghanaian, who was elected President of the 19th UN General Assembly in 1964, also served as his country’s foreign minister from 1965 to 1966.
Tetteh Quarshie (1842-1892)
Every Ghanaian should remember the name Tetteh Quarshie, because the toolmaker from the Gold Coast colony brought the first cocoa seeds into the country in 1879. So he was also the one to whom the African mainland owes this pleasure.
Jerry John Rawlings (born 1947)
The politician, also known as JJ (Junior Jesus), was President of Ghana from 1981 to 2001. He achieved and secured his high political office through several coups. Rawlings mainly devoted himself to economic issues during his reign and in 1992 gave his country a new constitution. In 1993 he was awarded the Africa Prize by the organization The Hunger project in Tokyo.
Guy Warren (1923-2008)
Born in Accra in 1923 as Warren Gamaliel Akwei, the musician is one of the earliest representatives of Afro-Jazz.
Anthony “Tony” Yeboah (born 1966)
The former Ghanaian soccer player, born in Kumasi in 1966, played in the German Bundesliga, in which he was also the top scorer in 1993 and 1994. Since 2008 he has been president of the Ghana Premier League team Bechem Chelsea.
