THE  "MILITARY  PARTICIPATION"  OF  GHANAIAN

ETHNIC  GROUPS

by Martin Staniland*

In the course of research on Dagomba politics, I needed to investigate  the  extent
and  character  of  emigration  from  the  Dagomba  area.  In  particular  I  wanted  to find
out  how  far  Dagomba  migrants  became  members  of  the  police  and  armed  forces,
since  in analogous situations in Francophone  states emigrant  army and  police  officers
sometimes assume the role of patron in local politics.  This inquiry led me to compare
such  employment with that in other groups.

The most immediately accessible data was found  in Special Report "E"  Tribes in
Ghana of the  1960 Census.1*  Table 12 of this Report (pages 59 to 61) gives figures for
persons  enumerated  as  resident  in  "Service  barracks,  army  and  brigade  camps."
Clearly,  these figures give only approximate data since they include people other  than
soldiers  and  policemen  and  exclude some of the latter, those living outside barracks.
Nevertheless, the errors arising from the definition of the category should not undermine
the  comparative  value  of  the figures, as it  can  be  assumed  that  the  errors  are  fairly
constant  between  all groups.

The  first  set  of  calculations  involved  working  out  what  percentage  of  the  total
male  population  of  each  group  was  represented  in  the  "service  barracks,  army  and
brigade  camps"  category.  These percentages  indicate, roughly, the  relative  commit-
ments  of  the  groups  to  work  in  the  police and  armed  forces.  The  results  are  to  be
found  in column  (1) of the table below.

The second set of calculations involved working out the part of each ethnic group
in  the  whole  category  of  "service  barracks,  army  and  brigade  camps"  residents  and
comparing the results  with the percentages of the total population represented by the
various groups.  From this comparison it would be possible to see how far the groups
were  represented  "equitably"  in  the  police  and  armed  forces—"equitably"  relative
to their  total numbers.  The results of these calculations can be found  in columns (2)
and (3).

*  Lecturer in  Politics,  University  of  Glasgow.
1*  By B. Gil,  A.  F.  Aryee and D.  K.  Ghamah,  Census Office,  Accra,  1964,  pp.  128 4. apps.

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(3)

Ethnic group
%  of  total
population

41.1
1.6
10.5
13.6

3.5

13.0

3.2

0.9

3.5

3.0

0.9

2.0

(3)

1.7

1.8

0.7

0.8

(1)

(2)

' 'Barracks''  residents in
each ethnic group as  %

residents

of all1'barracks" 

'

33.3
2.3
8.5
7.5

4.4

18.3

1.7

1.0

3.4

2.8

4.1

3.9

(2)

0.9

3.6

3.4

0.8

"Barracks"  residents of male  %
population  of  each ethnic  group.

/3//AKAN

(Nzema)
(Fante)
(Asante +  Ahafo)

GA

EWE

DAGOMBA

GONJA

GURMA

DAGARTI

BUILSA

FRAFRA

(1)

KUSASI

NAMNAM,  MOSI,  and
MOLE-DAGBANI***

w.o.s.

.  0.6
.  0.7
.  0.6
.  0.4

.  1.0

.  1.1

.  0.4

.  1.6

.  0.7

..  0.7

.  3.4

.  1.4

0.3

.  1.1

MO,  WANGALA and GRUSI  w.o.s...

.  2.9

SISALA

.  0.7

Sources:  Census Specul Report  TE', pp. 1-5,  59-61.
•*•  — w.o.s.  =  without other  specification.

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The  groups  which  have the  largest  parts  of  their  male populations  involved  in
police  and  army  employment  thus  appear  to  be  the  Builsa  (3.4  per  cent)  and  the
Mo,  Wangala and  unclassified  Grusi (2.9  per  cent).  The  lowest  commitments  are
those  of  the  Kusasi (0.3 per  cent), the Dagomba  and  the Asante Ahafo  (both  0.4  per
cent).  The  overall  average for  Ghana is 0.7 per  cent.  The  Ga, Ewe, Gonja, Frafra,
and  Namnam,  Most and  unclassified  Mok-Dagbani come above  average.  (It  is  clear
that  the  Dagomba  are  not  major  suppliers  of  manpower  to  the  forces  nor  are some
other  northern  groups).

From columns (2) and (3) it seems that while the Akan as a whole contribute most,
they  are  nevertheless  under-represented  in  terms  of  total  population.  The  Nzema
are slightly over-represented among the barracks residents, the Asante Ahafo markedly
under-represented.  The  Ga are slightly over-represented,  the Ewe significantly  over-
represented.

Among  the  northern  groups, the  Dagomba,  as expected,  are  under-represented;
so  are  the  Kusasi, and  (very  slightly)  the  Dagarti and  Gurtna.  The  most  strikingly
over-represented  are  the Builsa (4.1  per  cent  of  barracks  residents  and  only 0.9  per
cent  of  the  population)  as  well  as  the  Mo,  Wangala and  unclassified  Grusi.  The
Frafra and the Namnam, Mod and unclassified Mok-Dagbani are also over-represented.
Any significance  these figures have should be firmly qualified  in two ways.  First,
the data is rough and the differences  arising in the results often quite minor.  Secondly,
and  as  importantly,  there  is  no  self-evident  reason why  a principle of  proportional
representation should be applied to recruitment to the police and armed  forces.  Socio-
logically, the point of such comparative exercises is that they point to further  problems
about why some groups are more attracted than others to employment in the services.
The  concept of  "equity"  is here used heuristically, not politically.

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