Independence Day at Westminster School

Ghana gained independence from the British on 6th March, 1957 and became a republic on 1st July, 1960. For the purpose of this Ghanaians take the opportunity of this and celebrate their independence every 6th of March and this year was never an exception.

The celebration, which saw the student body of Westminster School dressed in the various traditional attires, reciting traditional poems in the various local languages, and also dancing the traditional songs, was quite a colourful and memorable one.

The pictures below are just a minute part of what happened.

Independence

In 1957, the Gold Coast became Ghana - and the first African nation to break from colonialism. Its leader, Kwame Nkrumah, had set a course not just for the country but for the whole continent of Africa.

"When we talk about Africa for Africans we just proclaim our right to rule ourselves," - Kwame Nkrumah.

Nkrumah had ambitious plans for his small, freshly-liberated country of four million people. His aim was to develop Ghana as an industrialised, unitary socialist state - and to do it fast.

"He had big dreams for Ghana; it should become the gateway of Africa," says KB Asante, who worked alongside Nkrumah for a number of years.

"Poverty was to be eradicated through industrialisation to improve agriculture. There were to be seats of higher learning, and no barriers to education. He believed in all these things."

Oil Producer

Recently Ghana has been hit by rising food and fuel prices, and together with heavy government spending, have left the country in economic crisis. A $600 million IMF loan was granted in 2009, partly on the strength of Ghana's status as Africa's newest oil producer.

While oil revenue could ease poverty, some fear Ghana may get the "resource curse". Oil wealth can stop countries developing diverse economies and can exacerbate corruption - a scourge that President John Atta Mills has pledged to fight.