Red, white, green and the black star: Ghana’s controversial flag between 1964 and 1966

GhanawebJan 3, 2022Read original

In history lessons today,

brings you the story about how the national colours of Ghana were changed from the red, gold, green with a black star, to a red, white, green with a black star, under the rule of the country’s first president, Dr.

.

First, it must be stated that in 1957, on the occasion of the independence of Ghana, Theodosia Salome Okoh was selected to design the national flag of the country.

She came up with the existing colours of the flag.

These three vertical lines were selected to represent the country’s geo-policy with the Red representing the fighters who bled for the Independence, Yellow symbolizing the mineral wealth of the country (gold), Green reminding the country of it natural spaces and forests, with the five-pointed Star standing for the guiding symbol of African freedom.

According to a tweet by Ghana Facts & History on Twitter, however, the original colours of the national flag of Ghana were changed between 1964 and 1966.

This was during the presidency for

, but that decision was quickly changed after Nkrumah was overthrown.

“The National Flag, after flying at high mast for 7 years was changed slightly by Dr

, (1 Jan 1964 - 28 Feb 1966). The gold strip in the middle was replaced with a white one. This was pulled down when

was overthrown in 1966. The former was readopted,” the tweet said.