The Joint Provincial Council of Paramount Chiefs and the Politics of Independence, 1946-1958

When the colonial administration created Provincial Councils under the 1925 constitution of the Gold Coast it intended to strengthen the position of the traditional chiefs. The joint Provincial Council was created later on in 1936 as a co-ordinating machinery or the Provincial Councils and gradually took over nearly all their functions, acquiring statutory recognition in 1946. Apart from the ‘Governor in Council’ the Joint Provincial Council was the most important and powerful institution in the Gold Coast. Its relations with the political movements – the United Gold Coast Convention and the Convention Peoples’ Party are described, as is the position and political role of the chiefs in the post-Nkrumah period. Notes.