Cultural Similarities Between Ghana And Singapore

INTRODUCTION

Ghana being my country of birth will be compared with Singapore and Hong Kong which are very different and yet Singapore and Hong Kong are similar in much aspect through economic successes and different developmental strategies. Ghana gained political independence in 1957. Ghana and Singapore were all third world countries. Singapore is a place where `anything not expressly permitted is forbidden', while Hong Kong is a place where` everything not expressly forbidden is permitted'. Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, was reported to have made this comparison in November 1997 (Porter, 1998). The Singapore government is well known for its economic intervention, while the Hong Kong government is equally well known

Km2 718.3.km2 1104 .km2 population 27.07million 5.469million 7.234.million

GDP $108.259billion $452.686 billion $412.300 billion

Languages English,Twi Ashanti English, Malay Chinese Tamil, English, Chinese

Ghana as per the above diagram is vastly populated in comparison to the two countries but in terms of development Ghana is far behind. In our early discussion Ghana and Singapore were considered third world countries in the 1960s, today that can never be said of Singapore which is miles ahead in terms of development whiles Ghana is lagging behind due to different political party’s interferences in the country.

The diagrams depict Ghana having the 68% of the population but the country’s GDP is nothing to talk about in terms of the population.

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS

The history of Ghana, Singapore and Hong Kong can be divided into four periods for comparative analysis: after British colonization and before the war when they were akin in almost every respect; after the war and before 1960, during which Singapore gained self-government from Britain while Hong Kong went through economic restructuring under British rule; (between 1957, 1960 and 1980 when they became philosophically different in their economic approaches; and (4) after 1980 when political, economic and social circumstances forced them to become similar

Britain developed Singapore to facilitate trade in tin, rubber, rice and, among other things, opium. The Hong Kong Island became a British colony under the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, as a result of the Opium War. In 1860, Kowloon, a peninsula across the channel from the island, was ceded from China to Britain under the Treaty of Peking. In 1898, New Territories, the area adjacent to Kowloon, was leased to Britain under a term of 99 years. The city `Hong Kong' now encompasses the Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon