DZIWORNU RICHARD KOVOR’S (DR.

K) INITIATIVE
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Pre-Colonial Political Systems

in Africa
UNIT 5
Indigenous African Political
Institutions

 Based on kinship and ancestry.

 No written constitutions.
 Unwritten constitutions existed
in the forms of customs and
traditions (Wilks, 1964, 1975).
DZIWORNU RICHARD KOVOR’S (DR. K) INITIATIVE

 These shaped institutions of

government and also spelt out
procedures for state and society
(government and the governed).
Types Of Indigenous Political
Organizations.

 Two main distinct types.

 One type – ethnic groups existed as
separate political entities and
governed themselves
independently.
 Some had chiefs – state systems,
centralized state;
DZIWORNU RICHARD KOVOR’S (DR. K) INITIATIVE

 Others
did not – stateless
systems, non-centralized or
fragmented traditional states,
acephalous societies .
 Imperial Rule

 The second type: some states conquered other

states and brought under their hegemony.
These were kingdoms and empires.
 There were two characteristic systems of rule:
1) Imperial rule which granted the vassal states
extensive local independence or autonomy.
 Imperial Rule

 7. the Asante empires of the C19th.

2) Policy of assimilation. Vassal
states required to assimilate foreign
culture viewed as superior. Egs. the
Mandinka, Fulani, Hausa empires of
the C18th and C19th in West Africa
(Ayittey, 1992)
Institutional Structure of
Governments in Precolonial Africa

 Four basic units (institutions).

1. The central political authority.
2. Inner or privy council.
3. The council of elders constituted
by lineage heads.
4. The village assembly.
 Stateless Societies

 Had only two of the four

institutions of government:
1. The Council of elders, and,
2. The village assemblies.
 Stateless Societies

 Dominant features:
 Absence of central authority, but
there were leaders, herdsmen
around whom opinion coalesced.
They influenced the decision
making process.
 No office holders.
 Stateless Societies

 Conflict resolution mechanism –

compromise.
 Examples of stateless societies
in precolonial Africa: Igbo of
Nigeria, Kru of Liberia; Tallensi
of Ghana.
 African States

 Had all the four institutions of

government;
 the central political authority,
 the council of states,
 the privy/inner council and
 the general assembly.
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 The central authority together

with the council of state
performed the executive,
legislative and judicial functions
of the state.
Collective Decision Making
Principle

 Unanimity/consensus building.
 Discarded the majoritarian
principle.
 Unanimous decision making was
a state building principle.
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 If a lineage head was irreconcilably

opposed to a particular decision, it
could leave the village to settle
elsewhere. Examples in Ghana
include such towns like Oyoko,
Asokore, Effiduase and New Juaben
all in the Eastern region.
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 The privy council played an

informal role in providing advice
to the central authority.
 Membership: generally drawn
from the personal friends and
relatives.
 Village Assembly

 General meeting of the whole

town/community.
 Open to all including children.
 Majority position ruled if
consensus could not be
achieved.
 Village Assembly

 Freedom of expression was

valued greatly, although there
were norms which effectively
checked abuse of free speech.
The Maintenance of Law And
Order

 Existence of informal legal code administered

collectively by all members of the political
community to help maintain law and order.

D.RICHARDKOVOR(DR.K)FORCOHSSPREZ’21
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