Julia Schweers 2. Historical Background With regards to citizenship, the situation in Ghana on the eve of independence in 1957 can be summarised as follows: the southern half of the country were British colonies (‘Gold Coast’, and ‘Ashanti’); the northern half was a British protectorate (‘Northern Territories’); while the east of Ghana had been a German protectorate prior to World War I which was then divided between the UK and France and thus became the mandated territory (and later UN trust territory) of ‘British Togoland’. The Governor of the Crown Colony of the Gold Coast administered all four territories. These divisions had repercussions for the citizenship status of the population. Persons from the Gold Coast and Ashanti colonies were ‘citizens of the UK and colonies’ while the population of the protectorate and UN trust territory (treated as a protectorate in British law) were ‘British protected persons’, which was of lesser status. Because the protectorates were – on paper – semi-autonomous and internally self-governing, British protected persons were not granted the same civic and social rights as citizens of the UK and colonies. Among other things, they were denied access to the courts to challenge state action and had less access to colonial educational institutions (Aboagye 2021; Manby 2018, 43-47). This situation was further complicated by immigration. From the end of the 19th century onwards, merchants from what is today Syria and Lebanon emigrated to West Africa. The majority arrived with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I and the creation of the French protectorate of Greater Lebanon. The fact that West Africa was largely ruled by France facilitated entry from the Middle East into the region, and onward migration to the British Gold Coast (Malki 2018, 464-467). In principle, foreigners had the right to naturalise as ‘citizens of the UK and colonies’ in any colony and the UK (Manby 2018, 46). In practice, however, Middle Eastern immigrants faced difficulties with the administration of the Gold Coast, which tended to see them as French-protected persons and as ‘temporarily resident, occupationally specialised and racially distinct foreigners who as a rule did not merit the conferral of British nationality’ (Malki 2018, 461). Ghana also received immigration from other regions, particularly from other parts of West Africa. They, however, ‘tended to be categorised as ‘natives’ or as ‘native strangers’ [while] the phenotypically conspicuous and culturally distinct Lebanese […] were automatically assumed to be aliens’ (Malki 2018, 461). With independence, though decades after Middle Eastern immigration, the citizenship status of Lebanese immigrants was, therefore, particularly vulnerable. 2.1 Citizenship Regime at Independence in 1957 In 1957, Ghana was the first African country to become independent from British colonial rule and its 1957 Nationality and Citizenship Act was the very first law that Ghana passed. Although its name suggests a distinction between Ghanaian nationality and Ghanaian citizenship, the Act made clear that both terms should be used interchangeably; most often the text speaks of 'citizen' and ‘citizenship’. The act granted Ghanaian citizenship at the date of independence to ‘citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies’ and ‘British protected persons’ if they were born on Ghanaian territory before the commencement of the act and if at least one parent or grandparent had also been born on the territory of the Ghanaian state; or, if they were born outside Ghanaian territory if at least one parent was born on Ghanaian territory. Other West African Commonwealth countries later used very similar provisions at their independence (Manby 2018). For those born after the commencement of the Nationality and Citizenship Act, the act combined jus sanguinis and jus soli provisions. If born in Ghana, a person was deemed a 2 Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies - EUI