Printed for the Cabinet. October 1949
GOVERNMENT
NLET 295 LÀ, PEar Latvia) KWA MKOANI ME VE DEJAR
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Copy 'No.
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C.P. (49) 199
8th October, 1949
CABINET
GOLD COAST, CONSTITUTION
MEMORANDUM BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES
The Committee which has been considering constitutional reform in the Gold Coast has now reported and decisions are required on its recommendations. The Committee was appointed in the following circumstances.
2. Under the present constitution of the Gold Coast there is a Legislative Council with an unofficial majority and an Executive Council, which is advisory to the Governor, with an official majority. There are three unofficial African members of the Executive Council, but these have no executive responsibility for departments of Government. The Watson Commission of Enquiry into the disturbances of February and March 1948 was impressed by the need to give Africans a greater share in the forming and execution of policy and made recommendations with this object in view. His Majesty's Government in August 1948 welcomed these recommendations in broad outline and suggested that a fully representative local committee should be set up in the Gold Coast to examine them. We stated that, if the recommendations were acceptable to local opinion, we would regard them as broadly acceptable, subject to certain reservations, and would be prepared to make arrangements for their early implementation.
3. The local Committee, which started work in January, consisted entirely of Africans under the chairmanship of an African judge, Mr. Coussey, and was representative of all parts of the Gold Coast and of all sections of opinion, including the nationalists, although not the extreme nationalists. Their report is unanimous except on three points, two of which are mentioned below. It is a balanced and reasonable document and the somewhat bold experiment of appoint- ing an all-African committee has proved successful.
Local Government
4. The Report makes comprehensive recommendations for the reform of "indirect rule," the development of local government on modern lines, and the building up of regional administrations in the Colony, Ashanti and the Northern Territories. These are broadly in accordance with our general policy and can be accepted, although the details will need further working out locally. It is highly satisfactory that the Committee has devoted so much attention to local government and has recognised its importance to sound political development.
The Legislature
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5. The Committee propose a bicameral system, with a Senate consisting of Chiefs and "elder statesmen and a House of Assembly consisting almost entirely of members elected directly or indirectly by popular vote. The Committee only decided in favour of a bicameral system by one vote and therefore submitted alternative proposals for a single chamber. It would be difficult to make a bicameral system work in the Gold Coast at this stage of political development. Τ propose, therefore, to reject the idea of a bicameral Legislature and to accept the Commitpegse alternative proposals for a single chamber,Pingwhich, however, a third of the Seats would be reserved for Chiefs and "elder statesmen.
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The Executing of 662
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Page 633 The main questions for decision arise with regard to the Executive. On this subject the most important recommendations of the Watson Commission
were:
(1) that there should be a majority of African members drawn from the
Legislature on the Executive Council;
(2) that African members of the Executive Council should have responsibility
for the administration of departments;
(3) that the Governor should retain his reserve powers;
(4) that the Executive Council should cease to be advisory to the Governor and should become a board of Ministers with collective responsibility
to the Legislature and should initiate policy.
7. In the Statement published with the Watson Commission's report we accepted the first three of these recommendations. With regard to the fourth, we stated that, while agreeing that the Executive Council should be the body where all major questions of policy should be discussed, at this stage it would be prefer- able to retain the formal arrangement in the constitution under which the Council is advisory to the Governor.
8. The Coussey Committee have recommended that the Executive Council should consist of the Governor as Chairman; three ex-officio members (the Chief Secretary, the Legal Secretary and the Financial Secretary); a Leader of the House of Assembly elected by that House; and seven Ministers drawn from the Legislature (five with portfolio and two without portfolio). A minority report opposes the inclusion of ex-officio members. Under the Committee's recommenda- tions the Ministers would be appointed by the Governor in consultation with the Leader of the House and would be required to resign collectively on a vote of no confidence in the Leader by two-thirds of all the members of the House of Assembly. The Executive Council would be the chief instrument of policy and would be collectively responsible to the House of Assembly and not responsible to the Governor. The Committee has recommended that the Governor should have the usual reserve powers, although a minority report has opposed the retention of the Governor's power of veto.
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9. There are two points in these proposals which I feel are unacceptable. In the first place, I do not think that we can accept the proposition that the Executive Council should not be responsible to the Governor. By proposing that the Governor should have reserve powers, the Committee have themselves in effect accepted the view that he must retain ultimate responsibility, and they have there- fore been inconsistent in recommending that the Executive Council should not be responsible to him. The Governor's ultimate responsibility for the administra- tion of the Territory must be retained until the stage of internal self-government is reached. We can, however, safely concede that, provided the Governor's ultimate responsibility is secured, the Executive Council should no longer be a purely advisory body. I propose that it should be described in the constitution as the main instrument of policy (as it is in Jamaica and will be in Trinidad) and that decisions should be taken by a majority vote, subject to the safeguard that the Governor would be empowered to act against the majority decision, with the Secretary of State's prior approval, when the issue under discussion is one falling within the scope of his reserve powers. Equally, of course, the Governor would have the usual reserve powers in relation to the Legislature.
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10. Secondly, there are difficulties about the Committee's proposal that a Leader of the House of Assembly should be elected by that House. In the absence of any group or party system in the Gold Coast such an elected Leader could not be sure of retaining the support of a majority of the House of Assembly and, without it, continuity in the conduct of public business could not be maintained. In practice, however, it will be necessary to have a Leader of the Government side in the House of Assembly, and I propose that the members of the Executive Council, ex officio and African, should select one of their number to perform this function.
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11. As regards the composition of the Executive Council, I propose, in agree- ment with the spirit of the Watson and Coussey Committee's reports, that it should have an unofficial majority. A Ministerial system would be introduced, and at this stage ft Ministers would be selected by the Governor and appointed by him subject to a favourable resolution by the House of Assembly.
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12. The proposed frangements are similar, in theirPagin essenfah2o those already in force in the Sudan and to those shortly to be brought into force in Trinidad, which were approved by the Commonwealth Affairs Committee on 29th October, 1948 (C.A. (48) 8th Meeting, Minute 1). They are also in accord- ance with the views of the Governor and his official advisers, three of whom flew to London to discuss the report in detail. The Governor is satisfied that the pro- posed scheme is workable and best calculated to provide political experience for Africans by pinning responsibility on to them and to promote the orderly progress of political development in the Gold Coast.
13. During the past eighteen months there has been considerable political agitation in the Gold Coast and the extremists have been conducting a campaign for immediate responsible government, which has attracted support among the less responsible elements. There is, however, a large body of moderate opinion which, while recognising that the country is not yet ready for full responsible government, is convinced, as the Governor and I myself are, that immediate constitutional advance is necessary. I think that it is important that the Governor should be placed in a position to rally behind him this moderate opinion. The Coussey Committee is recognised by the public in the Gold Coast as having been a widely representative body and its report is undoubtedly a victory for moderate opinion, If we accept the report broadly, subject to the reservations set out in paragraphs 9 and 10 above, as I feel sure we should, the Governor hopes to have moderate opinion behind him, although the extremists will not of course be satisfied. If we are not prepared to accept it broadly, moderate opinion will be alienated and the extremists given an opportunity of gaining further and weightier support and of making serious trouble. I am satisfied that at the present stage of political development in the Gold Coast no system would be workable which did not provide, as my proposals do, for a very considerable degree of African participation in the control of policy, while preserving the Governor's ultimate responsibility.
14. The Committee's report is known to have been submitted to the Governor on 29th August. We have handled it since its receipt with great expedition, as indeed was publicly promised by the Governor, with my authority. The public in the Gold Coast is anxiously awaiting its publication and, in the view of the Governor, which I share, it is important that it should be published without delay. It is important also that His Majesty's Government's views on the report should be published simultaneously with it, since otherwise there would be a period of uncertainty and speculation on the intentions of Government, of which the extremists would undoubtedly take advantage for their own ends.
15. Subject to the concurrence of my colleagues, I therefore propose to publish the report on 26th October, and at the same time to issue a statement of the views of His Majesty's Government in the form of a despatch to the Governor. I also propose to make an announcement in the House of Commons on that day in reply to an arranged question.
A. C. J.
Colonial Office,
8th October, 1949.