Changing Political Leadership in West Africa

International African Institute

Changing Political Leadership in West AfricaAuthor(s): Philip GarigueSource: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Jul., 1954), pp.220-232Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1156426 .

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[220]

CHANGING POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN WEST AFRICA'

PHILIP GARIGUE

IM yUCH recent research has been concerned with obtaining an acceptable definition of the terms ' leader ' and 'leadership' to provide a basis for a theory of leader-

ship. Some results have been achieved in the study of leadership in the ' face-to-face '

group. It is when large-scale social movements are involved that the techniques of the

sociogram and personality tests, which have been the main tools of analysis in the 'face-to-face' studies, are not sufficient, and the investigator has to employ the institutional analysis, which places the individual aspect of leadership in a secondary position.

It is not proposed to discuss here the personal psychological qualities by virtue of which individuals have attained positions of leadership. This paper seeks to show how

leadership, as the focus of political authority, has changed over the past fifty years in West Africa. The three West African peoples chosen for examination-the Yoruba, the Ashanti, and the people of Dahomey-have been selected because (i) their pre- colonial history had been marked by very similar processes of migration, slave-trading, and a highly developed military activity, with closely similar levels of economic life under systems of centralized government; and (2) the available information on these three peoples is sufficiently abundant for an effective comparison to be made.

An institutional analysis of the changes in political leadership among the Yoruba, Ashanti, and Dahomean people can be correlated either with changes in the overall social structure of these peoples, or with changes in the attitudes and beliefs held by them. It is obvious that this separation has no more than a methodological value, and will be eliminated in a final analysis which sees the changes in political leadership in relation to changes in the total situation.

CHANGES IN THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE

As a number of specific studies are available on the changes in the social structures and the attitudes and beliefs of these peoples, only the main features of these changes need be outlined here. Two of the most important factors responsible for changes in the social structures of the Yoruba, Ashanti, and Dahomey since their coming under colonial rule, have been the growth of the population and the rapid economic development. These are closely connected, for without the increase in population the necessary labour would not have been available for the economic developments. Economic incentives, and the pressure of the growing population, led to the formation of many new villages, while a large number of existing small villages became important centres of agricultural production. New occupational groups appeared, and the development of cash crops created a number of problems relating to ownership of land. The traditional system of land tenure, in which rights were vested in the lineage head, has tended to disappear, especially in areas of cash-crop cultivation and in the vicinity of

The author wishes to acknowledge his indebted- collect the data on which this paper is based. He is ness to the Wenner-Gren Foundation for the award grateful also to the editor of this journal for sugges- of a pre-doctoral Fellowship which enabled him to tions with regard to the presentation of his material.



CHANGING POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN WEST AFRICA

towns. It is being gradually replaced by new forms of land ownership in which money payment figures prominently. The emergence of the concept of individual wealth has meant a weakening of the lineage system. Reluctance on the part of members of a lineage group to pool wealth, and the rise of occupational differentiation, has meant the breaking up of the localized lineage group. The direct ownership of land has also meant that the land-owner no longer cared to recognize the authority of the lineage head as to its use or disposal. Changes in the occupational distribution have produced an urban professional group, which, together with some of the wealthy farmers, has formed a new economic elite. Economic development has also linked the small villages with the large urban centres, not only through new roads and railways, but also by the creation of new associations, such as co-operatives, trading associations, trade- unions, and so on, whose activities have influenced even the most remote corners of the commercial production zone.

CHANGES IN ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS

Directly related to changes in the social structure have been changes in attitudes and beliefs. Education on European lines was itself stimulated by the economic changes. At first mainly desired as the key to certain occupational activities, it became later, with the rise of a relatively wealthy group, the mark of social distinction. As educational facilities increased, the social attitudes inherent in the acquisition of a western-type education were spread among more and more persons. It has been said that education was directly responsible for the weakening of allegiance to the 'traditional' political system, and it has also been blamed for the rise of criticism of and protests against the colonial administration. Parallel with the growth of European education and the spread of new political ideas, was the growth of Christian communities. While the missionaries themselves were often the supporters of colonial rule, their message of love and brotherhood and spiritual equality between all men, rich and poor, ruled and rulers, created new levels of aspiration and expectation which could only be satisfied by further social changes. The missionaries often became the focus of a new form of allegiance on the part of persons who demanded their freedom from the 'traditional' authority of the chiefs, on the grounds of their religious beliefs.

As potent as European education or religious conversion was the presence of European colonial administrators. With the ever widening scope of their activities, which came to cover every aspect of the life of each community, a transformation took place in the attitudes of the West African towards the functions and scope of government. But the tensions set up by the changes in the social structure and by the development of new attitudes and beliefs did not produce a clear-cut dichotomy between a' traditional' authority, and the authority of the colonial administration. As the changes became more influential they operated to form a state of mind among an ever greater number of West Africans, to which the generic name of' nationalism ' has been given. The rapidity with which the slogans of the ' nationalists ' spread is a clear indication of the extent of the changes in the ideas linked to political legitimacy. Foremost in disseminating these new political ideas were the members of the new occupational groups and especially the professional groups, who, as lawyers, journalists, and teachers, came to acquire a vested interest in the demand for political change.

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222 CHANGING POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN WEST AFRICA

These were joined by most of those who had acquired a European education and who were for long excluded from participation in political affairs, by those who aspired to

practise a profession and found the best posts held by Europeans, by African mer- chants who found economic life dominated by European firms, by many West Africans whose self-esteem had been wounded by acts of discrimination, and by the

growing number of those who were beginning to question the right of the colonial

powers to rule them.

CHANGING POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

(a) Among the Yoruba

Among the Yoruba the spread of British administration at first only directly affected those who, like the military chiefs, had an immediate interest in the continua- tion of the old way of life. Slowly, however, the first resentment of the chiefs gave place to a willing collaboration. By I903 the relations of the Senior Chiefs with the Administration had become good enough for the latter to report that 'there is no reason to believe that there is a single disloyal chief '. Not only was the position of the Senior Chiefs maintained, but it was sometimes reinforced. This was so, for instance, in the case of the Alafin of Oyo, of whom it has been said that the Admini- stration ' has given him a security which has dislocated the checks and balances of the old constitution ,.2 It was longer, however, before the Junior Chiefs, nearly all of whom had lost some of their political importance, could accept the new system of centralization under the 'indirect rule' of the Administration. The rapid economic

development of Yorubaland, and the passing away of the pre-colonial generation of Junior Chiefs, helped to minimize the friction, and by the I920's the structure of

authority built by the Administration had become an accepted fact among the Yoruba.

A new stage was reached in the late I920's with the formation, in practically every large Yoruba town, of associations led by European-educated Yoruba. Each town

developed its own pattern with different attitudes to the Native Authority Council and to the administrator. Abeokuta, for instance, acquired the reputation of having more radical literate leaders than towns like Oyo or Ife, where being a progressive meant nothing more than wanting a voice in the framing of local policies. Admini- strators came to recognize that the demands made by the' Progress Unions ', as they were called, were often legitimate, and they frequently brought pressure to bear on the local councils to co-opt literate members as councillors. The chiefs themselves were pressed by the Administration to move with the times and in 1937 the most

important Yoruba chiefs, who were traditionally supposed never to meet, were brought together to a conference which became a yearly event. Furthermore, the earlier cleavage between European-educated Yoruba and illiterate chiefs was gradually broken down, and an increasing number of new appointments as chiefs went to European-educated persons.

Just before the Second World War new associations were started in Lagos which aimed to link into national organizations the political groups which had been formed in the Yoruba towns. The most important of these was the Nigerian Youth Move-

Lagos Annual Report, I903, p. 43. 2 Perham, M., Native Administration in Nigeria, Oxford, I937, p. 172.




ment, which rapidly grew to a membership of nearly Io,ooo. This movement was characterized by the much more radical opinions held by its leaders compared to those of the ' Progress Unions ', and by its strong anti-colonial attitude. Similar in their rapid expansion were the associations formed on a professional basis, such as the Nigerian Teachers Union, which was formed under Yoruba leadership. Dominating the political life of these new associations was the personality of Dr. Azikiwe, and the ideas of the ' Zikist' movement, in a near messianic form, became the political creed of many young Yoruba., Other Yoruba turned to socialism for a political theory to guide them in their actions. Among these, university students returned from Britain were the most prominent, and it was often they who supplied the leadership of these new movements.2 It was during this period that trade-unions began to develop in Nigeria. In I945 there were already thirty-eight of them; by 1952 they had become

fifty-six.3 The leadership of these new political groups was predominantly personal in cha-

racter, the political life of the inner councils of the movement being dominated by a small group, or often by a single person, whose personality gave a sort of unity to the movement. It was partly in answer to this personal influence and partly in reaction from the dominant leadership of Aziwike that a new type of political organization appeared among the Yoruba, the Egbe Omo Oduduwa. This organization was strictly political and had no connexion with the old Yoruba cult of Oduduwa. It provided, however, a common meeting-ground for the European-educated Yoruba and the chiefs, by placing foremost in its programme the demand for a return to the traditional Yoruba political institutions, ' freed ' from any integration into the colonial administration. The organizing spirit behind this movement was a new type of political leader, the professional organizer, exemplified in Obafemi Awolowo,4 who was later to start the Action Group and become one of the foremost political leaders of the Yoruba. The difference between the Egbe Omo Oduduwa and the Action Group was that the former rested primarily on the tribal organization and depended on the support of the chiefs, while the Action Group relied directly on the political activities

Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ibo by birth (1904), student in Lagos and the U.S.A. until I925; returned to Nigeria in I937 and became a journalist, creating a chain of newspapers. Joined the Nigerian Youth Movement, but later resigned over policy, and became the leader of the National Congress of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), and the most important of the Ibo political leaders. A description of what is meant by 'Zikism' is given by Nwafor Orizu, in Without Bitterness, New York, 1944, pp. 287-344.

2 Among these was H. O. Davies (born I905), a student in Lagos and later in London; he was the manager of the C.M.S. bookshop in Lagos. He entered active politics at the foundation of the Nigerian Youth Movement, and was its secretary and its chairman. He returned to London to become a barrister in 1947. On his return he broke away from the Nigerian Youth Movement to create in I950 the Nigerian People's Congress (on the lines of the British Labour Party). He was installed as chief in his home town in I952.

3 The type of man who led these trade-unions

can be illustrated from the life of H. P. Adebola (born 1916), a student of a Moslem school until he entered a Grammar School. He has been the secretary of the Railway Station Staff Union since I945 and general secretary of the Nigerian Union of Railwaymen since I946. He was elected to the Western House of Assembly on a NCNC party ticket.

4 Awolowo (born I909) came of a small farming family and went to school at the local mission at Ijebu-Ode until he was I. He then began to earn his living and was successively a clerk, journalist, and trade-union secretary. He came to London in 1944 and took the degrees of B.Com. and LL.B., returning to Nigeria as a solicitor. He has been active in politics since the formation of the Nigerian Youth Movement and helped to create the Egbe Omo Oduduwa of which he was the secretary. He later became the leader of the Action Group. It was in answer to the leadership of the Yoruba Action Group that Azikiwe reorganized the NCNC with a cadre of full-time organizers.

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of its individual members and especially on its cadre of paid officials. This new type of

organization was tested at the election of 195 I, when the Action Group, as the political party of the Yoruba, supported by its connexion with the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, proved successful and gained an overwhelming majority of seats in the Western House of Assembly.

The arrangements for the election favoured political organizations based on tribal

organization. The election procedure was complicated, and the elections were held at three levels-primary, secondary, and final. The primary elections were held within the wards of the towns or in the small villages. All the persons who had been elected at the primary level came together with the members of the local Native Authority (the chief and his council) and elected a number of persons for the secondary level. These persons in each Division then met in a final college to select two or more

persons to represent the Division in the House of Assembly. It has been held that

among the Yoruba the power of the chiefs in the primary elections was very strong. In some towns the ward chiefs held private meetings several days before the election and decided whom they wished to see elected. By the day of the election everything had been arranged and no meeting was necessary.I While, however, the success of the Action Group was due to the support it received from the traditional elements, as well as from those who had accepted new political ideas, the elected representatives all came from the occupational groups which were acquiring greater importance in the social life of Nigeria.

Professions of the elected members for the Egba, Egbado, Ijebu, Ijebu-Remo, Ijesha, Oyo, and Lagos Divisions, r19

Trader-businessmen . . . 2 Doctor . . . . . . Teachers . . . . . 7 Minister of religion. .. i Lawyers . . . . . 6 Trade-union secretary . . . Civil servant . . . . . I Moslem society secretary . . .

The pattern of political leadership among the Yoruba in I950 was thus a balance between the traditional authority structure and the European-educated Yoruba organized into political movements. Most of the chiefs had joined hands with the leaders of these movements and some had become 'new' political leaders in their own right within these movements. This unification was made closer by transfers from the ranks of the successful' new 'political leaders into the ' traditional 'authority structure; certain of the former, who would not otherwise have any claim to such

appointments, are being given titles as chiefs. The successful merging of the chiefs and the elected political leaders can be clearly seen from the personal histories of the three leaders of the Action Group, who were, in 95o0, sent to represent the Western Provinces in the Nigerian Council of Ministers.2

I Lloyd, P. C., 'Some comments on the elections became Oni. He was given a C.M.G. in 1943 and a in Nigeria', Journal of African Administration, vol. iv, knighthood in I95o. He became a leading member no. 3, I952, pp. 82-92. of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa at its formation, and later

2 Sir Adosoji Aderemi (born I889), Oni of Ife, became an Action Group leader. He is a member of was a student at the local Ife Mission and became a many Government committees and a director of the railway clerk. After saving some money he resigned Cocoa Control Board. and went into business on his own. Was very success- Chief Bode Thomas, Minister of Transport (born ful and rose to a position of influence before he I918), son of a wealthy Lagos trader, was a student




(b) Among the Ashanti

Until I900 (the date of the last rebellion) Ashanti political leaders derived their importance from their position in the traditional authority structure, and it was the Kumasi chiefs who decided to rise against the British. But the political unity of the Ashanti as a single people had gone, and only a few of the Omanhene (chiefs of local ' states ') joined the Kumasi chiefs in the rising. The rising itself was the last effort of the Kumasi chiefs and those among the Divisional chiefs who wanted a return to the days of the slave-trade. The crushing of the revolt meant the end of the political supremacy of the Ashanti military leaders. After the rising one Senior Chief was hanged, sixteen others were deported, while thirty-one more were imprisoned for some years. The stools which had become vacant were filled by the British administration with persons who had supported it in the rising. Ten Omanhene were replaced, as well as six of the Senior Kumasi Chiefs, and a large number of Junior Chiefs.

The chiefs who had been appointed by the Administration were not to remain un- challenged by the commoners who, in many Divisions during I905-6, refused to serve under them. In all cases of rebellion against the appointed chiefs the Admini- stration supported the chiefs, and it is therefore not surprising that the Administra- tion was able to report that the chiefs were showing themselves 'willing to co- operate ',, while the commoners soon learned that their traditional right to destool a chief was no longer effective without the authorization of the Administration. Within a few years the wealthy cocoa-farmers were beginning to take a lead in political affairs, and it was between them and the Senior Chiefs that clashes were most often reported. The Administration's report for 1922 specifically mentions the growth of a new class of wealthy cocoa-farmers as one of the features of the political tension.

With the return of the Asantehene to Kumasi in 1925 and his enstoolment as Prempeh II, and the formation of the Ashanti Confederacy Council as a Native Authority in I927, the traditional authority structure was partly restored. The admini- stratively created Ashanti Confederacy and the position of the Asantehene in it did not, however, succeed in making the position of the Senior Chiefs more secure. The Confederacy Council did indeed deliberately change Native laws and customs so as to deal more severely with the leaders of movements to destool a chief, and it abolished the traditional Nwankaa, or association of commoners, which had an important constitutional role. But these measures were not effective. Between 1942 and 1946, for instance, among the twenty-one Omanhene members of the Confederacy Council, who were also Native Authorities in their own right, there were fourteen destoolments and two Omanhene were replaced twice in that period.2 With the increase at the C.M.S. Grammar School, Lagos, and later (born 191o), was a student at the Ogbomosho became a railway clerk. He came to London to be- Mission school. He became a teacher and later took come a barrister in I939. On his return to Lagos he up journalism. After the Second World War he established one of the foremost legal firms of went to Oxford to qualify as a barrister, and set up Nigeria. He became a leader of the Nigerian Youth in practice in Lagos in 1949. He then entered politics Movement and was at one time its Federal Treasurer. and became the chairman of the Lagos branch of He also became a leader of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa the Nigerian Youth Movement, and later joined the on its formation, and was one of the founders of the Action Group. Action Group. He was given the title of Balogun of ' Ashanti Annual Report, 1908, p. 7. Oyo, and is also a Chancellor of the African Churches 2 Busia, K. A., The Position of the Chief in the Association. Modern Political System of Ashanti, London, I951,

Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Minister of Labour pp. 215-I6.

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in literacy a new development was taking place. In nearly every large town the

European-educated formed themselves into associations under the name of' Progress Unions '. The spread of literacy also meant that more chiefs had had a European education previous to their appointment. Of the twelve Omanhene appointed between

1942 and 946, six were literate. This is an indication that the conflict between Senior Chiefs and Ashanti commoners was not always a conflict between educated and illiterate, but was concerned rather with the form of authority which should prevail. This conflict increased with the development of Gold Coast nationalism in the coastal towns, which slowly affected Ashanti. The cocoa '

hold-up ' of the late twenties, for instance, was carried out by Ashanti who had come under the influence of political movements in the coastal towns. The Omanhene, as Native Authorities, were responsible for the maintenance of law and order, and had to punish those among their

subjects who broke the law, which they frequently did during the period of the ' hold-

up '. The more efficient the Omanhene was as an administrator of the Native Authority of which he was the head, the less of a political leader could he be to his people. Resentment against the Omanhene and the Native Authorities grew to include the

person of the Asantehene, who until then had been regarded as the symbol of the Ashanti nation rather than as an active participant in the political situation.

From the thirties onwards Ashanti was to develop ever closer ties with the coastal towns of the Gold Coast. The end of the Second World War saw the appearance in Ashanti of political organizations which were no longer based on tribal affiliations, but on a common Gold Coast consciousness. There already existed, in the thirties, the Youth Movement founded by Dr. J. B. Danquah, which held a number of meet-

ings in Kumasi; but only a small number of the European-educated Ashanti had become members of it, or of the more widely known West African National Congress.

All these movements were characterized by a restricted appeal. It was only after the Second World War that new movements with a much wider appeal were created. The first of this kind was the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) founded in Accra in 1947. The leadership of that movement included many of the leaders of earlier

political movements, and it appealed mainly to the European-educated. When, however, Kwane Nkrumah, then a student in London, was invited to become its paid secretary, he transformed the UGCC and began a drive for mass membership. By I949, however, a split had developed among the leaders of the UGCC over the methods and aims of Nkrumah, which finally led to a breach and the formation of Nkrumah's party, the Convention People's Party (CPP). Until then the leadership of the various ' new '

political movements had always been in the hands of a small number of lawyers and wealthy business men. In the CPP the leadership came to include clerks, teachers, and small farmers. Its rapid development in Ashanti can be traced to the fact that, for the first time since the abolition of the Nkwankwaa, the latent discon- tent present in Ashanti communities was given an opportunity to express itself on a national level and through leaders whose status was similar to that of the traditional Nkwankwaahene, or head of the commoners. An examination of what happened in Ashanti during the I95 election shows this very clearly. With the exception of Kumasi, where a single secret ballot was held, the procedure in the other towns and in rural areas was in two stages: primary and secondary. There were 730 sub-districts in the primary election, each returning one member for the twelve electoral colleges of

226




the secondary election. There was a 40 4 per cent. poll and 534 uncontested elections at the primary stage. The high proportion of uncontested elections has been attributed to the fact that the person elected to represent the sub-district had often been already chosen by ai unofficial ward or village meeting, without recourse to the ballot box.' At these meetings the leading persons were the Junior Chiefs or the wealthy villagers.

The different methods used by the various political groups show more clearly than

anything else the political differences in their leadership. On the one side there were those groups, like the UGCC and the Kosoko Society, which depended on the support given to them by the Senior Chiefs. Although the Asantehene stated that he himself stood as an impartial onlooker, various members of the Confederacy Council took an active part in the elections. In Sunyani, for instance, the Omanhene himself stood for election, and was defeated by a commoner from his own town who was supported by the CPP. Other candidates supported by the Senior Chiefs included a

university lecturer and a number of other professional men. On the CPP's side there was, first and foremost, the party organization which had been built up in nearly every village and town, and upon which all CPP candidates depended. While their

opponents seldom left Kumasi, or the main roads to the large towns, and preferred to rely on the Senior Chiefs, an enormous amount of voluntary work was done by the CPP members who enthusiastically canvassed and encouraged the villagers to vote for their candidates. The CPP won nine of the twelve Ashanti constituencies, the other three going to independents. The occupational status of the elected CPP candidates included a letter-writer, a druggist, a journalist, a school-teacher, a produce- buyer, and, a sign of the strength of the party machinery, three full-time party organizers.2 Only two of the returned CPP candidates had been university students, while most of their opponents had been university-educated. The most spectacular win for the CPP was in Kumasi itself, where its candidate, who was not even an Ashanti, won by 8,338 votes to 570.

Equally significant, as an indication of the trend in political leadership among the Ashanti, was the fact that the chiefs, who were allowed to return six persons to re-

present them in the Legislative Council, chose no less than three non-chiefs to do so.

Underlying this transfer of political leadership was the recommendation made in 195 I

by a Commission of Inquiry, that Local Government, which was what the Native Authorities were to become under the new centralized Gold Coast Government, should be clearly separated from the traditional authority structure. This was in- tended to avoid ' involving the stools in the hurly-burly of local politics ',3 that is to

say, recommending that the chiefs should cease to be active politicians.

(c) In Dahomey After the conquest of the kingdom of Dahomey by the French in I893, the deporta-

tion of the king, and the advance to the Niger, a decree made the whole of the 1 Colonial Office, Gold Coast Iz9I, H.M.S.O., in Ashanti in I948. He became a member of the

1952, pp. 105-6. central committee of the CPP, and was imprisoned 2 A leading example of the new type of political for twelve months for 'positive action'in 950. After

leader in Ashanti is Edusei Krobo (born i919). He his election he was appointed Government Chief was educated at a government school and became Whip and Under-secretary to the Minister of Justice. a journalist in I931. When the CPP was formed he 3 Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative became full-time Ashanti Region propaganda secre- Council appointed to make recommendations concerning tary, and was chairman of the boycott committee Local Government in Ashanti, Accra, 1951, p. Io.

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conquered area a colony under the name of Dahomey. The new colony was far larger than the original kingdom, but nearly two-thirds of its population was made up of

groups which had been within the kingdom of Dahomey. The whole colony was divided into Cercles under French administrators, and each of these Cercles was then divided into Cantons headed by loyal traditional chiefs or commoners appointed by the French administrator in charge of the Cercle. The authority structure which had been built by the Dahomean kings was thus broken, and the special position enjoyed by members of the royal lineage was ended. The town of Abomey, which had been the capital of the kingdom, lost its political importance, and the new economic and

political changes transferred the centre of political activity to the coastal towns. In these towns the presence of a large number of Portuguese and Brazilian ' creoles'

permitted the formation of a group of Europeanized Dahomeans, who in a few years completely accepted French assimilation. These 'creoles ', who were later to be

joined by the European-educated Dahomeans, the akoues, provided the traders, planters, middlemen, clerks, and so on, of the new colony. With the granting of French citizenship to those who had become assimilated, two distinct political groups were formed. The first was composed of those who identified themselves with France, and took out French nationality, and the second consisted of those Dahomeans whose social status derived from tradition. The first group was the more wealthy, and from 1893 to 1950 its members provided the 'new' political leadership in Dahomey.

The earliest political action which gained widespread support among the Daho- means can be traced to a protest movement among the commercial groups in Whydah and Porto-Novo, against the land concessions given in 1900 to the railway company. During the visit of a French Deputy to Dahomey in 1902, a deputation met him

carrying a petition which had been signed by 9,000 Dahomeans occupied in the palm- oil trade.' No similar collective movement took place in the coastal towns until 1925, when, as a protest against the laws differentiating between French citizens and French

subjects, some of the latter showed their resentment by a series of disturbances, which were quickly stopped by the declaration of martial law.2 After the First World War the towns of Whydah, Cotonou, and Porto-Novo, and later Agoue and Abomey, were given the status of mixed communes and were administered by a Municipal Council composed of persons appointed by the Governor and elected from a restricted electoral list. The elected members were practically always drawn from among the 'creole' population. 'Creoles ' were also prominent in the foundation of the first

newspapers, whose circulations were, however, very small.3 This small group of

journalists nevertheless figured prominently in the agitation for political changes in Dahomey, and the Administration regarded many of them with suspicion and barred a number from practising their profession.

I Le Herisse, R., Voyage au Dahomey, Paris, I903, Dahomey he bought a printing-shop and began pp. io8-9. newspaper publishing. Jose Firmito Santos was a

2 Buell, R. L., The Native Problem in Africa, 2 vols., student at the local Catholic Mission of Agoue. New York, 1928, vol. ii, p. i6, and vol. i, p. o09. He entered the Administration as a clerk and later

3 Among the best known of these journalists also became a Municipal Councillor. He was the were the following two. J. M. Dorothe Lima (born principal accused in the case against the newspaper I885). Was a student at the local Catholic mission in La Voix du Dahomey, which was charged with Porto-Novo, and became a clerk in the Administra- stirring up the people against the Administration tion in I9I4. He became a French citizen in 1916, and of stealing official documents. and served in France until I9I8. On his return to




During the Second World War Dahomey followed the fortunes of French West Africa, first under the Vichy Government and later under the Free French Forces. In the Vichy period the shortages due to the almost complete cessation of European imports led to a rise in the cost of living, while the presence of German and Italian Commissions created a feeling of frustration. After the coming of the Free French Forces in 1942 hopes of political changes began to develop and were stimulated by the widespread publicity given to the Brazzaville Conference of 1944. This conference provoked widespread political discussion and created a demand among many Dahomeans for the recognition of their participation in the war. Immediately after I945, when the French Union was created by decree, a number of' electoral committees' were formed among the Dahomeans to support the candidature of individuals to represent Dahomey in the Constituent Assembly in Paris. A number of these electoral committees supported the candidature of a French missionary priest, Father Aupias, and of S. M. Apithy, a Dahomean who had lived for long in Paris. When Father Aupias died shortly after his election, Apithy became the most prominent political leader in post-war Dahomey.I

In Dahomey the immediate result of the French Union Decree, and the declaration that all inhabitants of the territory were French citizens, was the creation of a widespread electorate, which grew from 5 7,000 in 1946 to 35 2,000 in 19 5 I; with the growth of this electorate various political organizations emerged to organize it. The first of these to develop from the electoral committees was the Union Progressive Daho- meenne (UPD), in which were to be found not only those who had acted as leaders for the small, politically active minority between the two World Wars, but also new leaders from other social groups which were increasing in political importance. Trade-unions, for instance, grew rapidly to number thirty-four in I947, with a total membership of about I6,ooo. But the efforts of the leaders of the UPD to create a national party were unsuccessful, and it began to disintegrate along territorial lines. One of the reasons for this was the retention by the Administration of the old political differentiation between Dahomeans who were full French citizens and those who had retained their local status. The citizens of full metropolitan status quickly formed themselves into branches of French political parties, while those of local status seem to have been influenced less by an established political organization than by the personality of single individuals. Thus in I946 the Dahomean Territorial Assembly consisted of thirty members, twelve of whom were elected by citizens of metropolitan status, and eighteen by those of local status. Of these thirty members, twenty- eight belonged to some sort of political organization at the moment of their election. There were only two independents. The 195 i Assembly, on the contrary, was composed of fifty members, of which eighteen were elected by citizens of metropolitan status, and thirty-two by those of local status. Of the fifty members, eleven were

1 Sourou-Migan Apithy, born I913 in Porto- Assembly in 1946, after having been a member of Novo, where he studied at the local mission school; the Interim Assembly in I945, and was re-elected in later went to France where he obtained diplomas 195I. He is president of the Dahomean Territorial in political science and accountancy; joined the Assembly. He founded the Dahomean Republican French Socialist Party I945-7, and the Rassemble- Party in I951. He is also secretary of the French ment Democratique Africain (RDA) 1947-8, and the National Assembly, and a judge of the High Court Parliamentary Group of the Oversea Independents of Justice, and the director of the newspaper Ouest- in 1948. He was elected to the French National Africain.

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members of a political organization, while the rest were all independents at the moment of their election. The eleven who were members of a political organization had all been elected by citizens of metropolitan status, but the citizens of local status returned only independents. Since I95I a number of independents have joined Apithy's Dahomean Republican Party.

The new balance of political interests in Dahomey has not affected the occupational and social status of the political leaders, as may be seen from the composition of the

195 Assembly:

Occupational status of the members of the Ig9I Dahomean Territorial Assembly First college (i 8 seats) Second college (32 seats) 3 civil servants 7 teachers 3 missionaries 6 traders-shopkeepers 3 doctors 5 clerks 2 clerks 3 doctors I teacher 3 civil servants i lawyer 2 hospital assistants i ex-colonial administrator i police officer I trader I Senior Peul Chief i railway station-master i chartered accountant I profession unknown 2 professions unknown i engineer

This is shown equally clearly by the occupational status of the six most important Dahomean political leaders who have represented Dahomey in Paris since the I95 election, and who comprise three teachers, one chartered accountant, one doctor, and one lawyer.

CONCLUSION

The foregoing account has shown that, during the period of colonical rule the Yoruba, Ashanti, and Dahomey peoples have experienced far-reaching changes in their economic, religious, social, and political life. The most notable of these changes have been the growth of a middle class and the rise of nationalism. The new political loyalties which were created, though by no means obliterating the lines of tribal cleavage, were able to produce a wider community of interest and action. Changes in

political leadership can thus be directly related to changes in the location of political authority. Presented in its simplest form the first main change in political leadership can be seen in the transference of political authority from the pre-colonial tribal hierarchy to the authority structure created by the colonial Administration in which loyal chiefs were included in a subordinate position. On the whole the leadership of the colonial Administration was accepted and the transfer was thereby facilitated. As more and more of the people came under the influence of the social changes which allowed them to act independently of their lineage, village or territorial allegiance, the myths supporting the ' traditional' authority were shorn of their validity. But the rise of the new attitudes and beliefs also prevented the stabilization of the colonial authority structure. Western concepts of the legitimacy of political authority came to support the demands made by nationalists and others for a new political system.

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CHANGING POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN WEST AFRICA 231 When these concepts acquired means of expression through the creation of an electorate, the political leaders whose authority rested on the manipulation of these beliefs had an opportunity of gaining control of the authority structure created by the post-war legislation. In order to organize the new electorates on a basis wider than the old local organizations, the new political leaders developed associations which claimed the allegiance previously given to lineage or territorial units. Moreover they had to develop skills which differentiated them still further from the 'traditional' leaders. The most influential among them were those with the greatest skill in organizing and managing political associations, and in using the slogans which crystallized the new beliefs and attitudes into some sort of political action. The' new ' political leaders also changed from a person who was a political leader in his spare time to a full-time politician, paid by his political organization. The stage has now been reached at which some West African students consider their education as a preparation for politics as a full-time career.

The following classification summarizes the most important methods of achieving political leadership over the period covered by this study:

I. By appointment to a traditional position of authority which claims allegiance from those who recognize the traditional structure.

2. By appointment to a position of authority created by the colonial Administration and receiving the allegiance of those who accept the authority of the Admini- stration.

3. By achieving status in one of the new professions or occupations and obtaining control of a new political association, and receiving the allegiance of its members.

These three methods of achieving political leadership, while they have become successively important, are, however, not mutually exclusive, and in fact were often combined to secure the allegiance of members of different groups to a single political leader. The changes in political leadership can be said to have followed the same general course of development among these three peoples; authority has been transferred from the heads of kin groups and the heads of territorial units, to Westernized middle-class professionals who are not constrained by kinship obligations or territorial allegiance. This change, in which chiefs have been replaced by leaders of political associations, cannot be said to be due to the presence or absence of charismatic gifts or to a change from irrational to rational behaviour. The political systems of the three colonies of the Gold Coast, Nigeria, and Dahomey today all give predominant influence to those persons who are characterized by being 'mani- pulators ' of slogans and associations. They thus receive the allegiance of those who have come to believe in these slogans and who have joined or been influenced by the associations. The creation, after the Second World War, of constitutions based on European models made it possible for a political party organization to be substituted for a system based on the integration of' traditional' chiefs in the colonial Admini- stration. While the various parties and associations differ in form and content, these differences are minimized by the fact that they are all controlled by persons who have assimilated European political ideals and European methods of controlling public opinion and gaining political power. The authority of the 'new' political




leaders implies a redistribution of political allegiance, and the new leaders appear as the symbols of the desired political changes, able both to canalize that desire and to

give it concrete expression in some form of political action.

Resume

CHANGEMENTS DANS LA DIRECTION POLITIQUE EN

AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE

L'AUTEUR analyse les changements survenus dans la direction politique, manifestos par l'evolution, au cours des cinquante dernieres annees, de trois societes de l'Afrique Occiden- tale: les Yoruba, les Achanti et le Dahomey. Ces trois societes ont ete choisies parce que leurs histoires anterieures montrent des similarites accusees, et aussi en raison des renseignements abondants qui sont disponibles sur tous les trois. Dans chaque cas, l'analyse traite non seule- ment des changements dans la structure des societes etudiees, mais egalement des changements dans les croyances et la maniere de penser, qui ont accompagne, et frequemment ont stimule, des modifications sociales. I1 apparait que les principaux facteurs dans les changements d'ordre social survenus dans chacune de ces societes, sont l'accroissement de la population, le developpement d'une economie monetaire offrant des possibilites pour des particuliers de posseder de la richesse, et le relachement qui en resulte du controle exerce par des groupes de lignee; l'essor de nouveaux groupements professionnels et d'une elite economique; la diffusion de l'instruction basee sur le type europeen, et la naissance du nationalisme. Tous ces facteurs ont opere pour effectuer une modification de l'attitude envers la structure traditionnelle d'autorite et une orientation nouvelle de la fidelite et de l'obeis- sance. La situation des autorites traditionnelles - chefs de tribu et de lignee - a ete influenc6e d'abord par l'etablissement de l'administration coloniale, bien que la plupart des chefs aient accepte de collaborer avec le nouveau systeme d'administration et aient ete assimiles dans la structure d'autorite creee par la puissance coloniale.

Un stade plus avance fut atteint avec l'evolution d'associations specifiquement politiques et nationalistes dont la direction etait essentiellement individuelle. Parmi ces associations, dont les membres appartenaient aux nouveaux groupements professionnels, des chefs se re- velerent qui adopterent la politique comme carriere; ils developperent des techniques pour l'organisation et l'administration d'associations politiques. Au fur et a mesure de la diminu- tion de la puissance des autorites traditionnelles, par suite des modifications sociales, les mythes qui les ont soutenues perdirent leur raison d'etre. En meme temps, la naissance de croyances nouvelles et l'influence des conceptions occidentales concernant l'autorite publique empecherent la stabilisation de la structure d'autorite coloniale. D'apres son examen des changements d'ordre social et politique dans les trois societes etudiees, l'auteur indique que les modifications survenues dans la direction politique ont toutes suivi la meme voie generale; l'autorite a etC transfere des chefs des groupes de parente et d'unites territoriales aux professionnels occidentalises de la bourgeoisie, qui dirigent des partis politiques et ne sont pas astreints a des obligations de parente ou de fidlite territoriale. La creation, apres la deuxieme guerre mondiale, de constitutions basees sur des modeles europeens a permis le remplace- ment d'un systeme visant l'integration des chefs traditionnels dans l'administration coloniale par l'organisation d'un parti politique. Les dirigeants de ces organisations politiques constituent les symboles des changements politiques desires, qui sont capables de canaliser ce desir et de l'exprimer par une action politique.



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Changing Political Leadership in West Africa