The African country of Ghana, presided upon by Nana Akuffo-Addo, is marking 60 years of independence from the United Kingdom today with the main celebrations taking place at the Black Star Square in the capital, Accra.
According to Ceoafrica, the country was the second sub-Saharan country to break with colonialists, prompting many others to cut their ties.
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a unitary presidential constitutional democracy, located along the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean, in the sub region of West Africa; spanning a land mass of 238,535 km².
It is bordered by the Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, Togo in the east and the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean in the south.
The country’s current borders were established by the 1900s as the British Gold Coast.
On the 6th of March 1957, it became the first sub-Saharan African nation to become independent of European colonisation.
A multicultural nation, Ghana has a population of approximately 27 million, spanning a variety of ethnic, linguistic and religious groups; with a president who is both head of state and head of the government.
Five per cent of the population practices traditional faiths, 71.2% adhere to Christianity and 17.6% are Muslim. Its diverse geography and ecology ranges from coastal savannahs to tropical jungles.
Ghana's economy is one of the strongest and most diversified in Africa, following a quarter century of relative stability and good governance; its growing economic prosperity and democratic political system have made it a regional power in West Africa.
It is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Group of 24 (G24) and the Commonwealth of Nations.
