United Gold Coast Convention

{{Short description|Former political party in colonial Ghana which fought for independence (1947-52)}}

{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}

{{Infobox political party

| name = United Gold Coast Convention

| native_name =

| logo =

| leader = George Alfred Grant

| chairman =

| president =

| secretary = Kwame Nkrumah

| spokesperson = Kwame Nkrumah

| leader1_title = Founder

| leader1_name = George Alfred Grant

| foundation = 4 August 1947

| dissolution = 1952

| merger =

| split =

| merged =

| headquarters = Accra

| newspaper =

| youth_wing =

| wing1_title =

| membership_year =

| membership =

| ideology = Conservatism{{Cite book |first=Anthony Kwesi |last=Aubynn |chapter=Behind the Transparent Ballot Box: The Significance of the 1990s Elections in Ghana |title=Multi-Party Elections in Africa |publisher=James Currey |year=2002 |page=77}}{{Cite book |first=Kathryn |last=Firmin-Sellers |chapter=The Concentration of Authority: Constitutional Creation in the Gold Coast, 1950 |title=Polycentric Governance and Development |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1999 |page=191}}

Nationalism

| position = Centre-right

| national =

| international =

| colors =

| seats1_title = 1951 elections

| seats1 = 2

| symbol =

| footnotes =

| country = Ghana

}}

The United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was an early nationalist movement with the aim of self-government "in the shortest possible time" founded in August 1947 by educated Africans such as J.B. Danquah, A.G. Grant, R.A. Awoonor-Williams, Edward Akufo Addo (all lawyers except for Grant, who was a wealthy businessman), and others, the leadership of the organisation called for the replacement of Chiefs on the Legislative Council with educated persons. whose aim was to bring about Ghanaian independence from their British colonial masters after the Second World War.{{Cite journal|title='Allah Might Provide the Fuel': Muslim Sailors in British Colonial Navies, from the Second World War to Independence|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781474249454.ch-009|journal=Combatants of Muslim Origin in European Armies in the Twentieth Century: Far from Jihad|year=2017|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|doi=10.5040/9781474249454.ch-009|isbn=978-1-4742-4945-4|access-date=22 August 2020}}{{Cite web |title=The Politics of the Independence Movements |url=https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/independence.php |access-date=2024-03-06 |website=www.ghanaweb.com}} The United Gold Coast Convention appointed its leaders to include Kwame Nkrumah, who was the Secretary General. However, upon an allegation for plans against Nkrumah's leadership, he was arrested and jailed.{{Cite web|title=Nkrumah, Dr Kwame (21 Sept. 1909–27 April 1972)|date=1 December 2007|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u158013|work=Who Was Who|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u158013|access-date=24 August 2020}} The UGCC leadership broke up and Kwame Nkrumah went on a separate way to set up the Convention People's Party (CPP) for the purpose of self-governance.{{Cite book|title=SECRETARY OF THE UGCC|date=15 November 2007|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvk3gm60.9|journal=Kwame Nkrumah. Vision and Tragedy|pages=52–72|publisher=Sub-Saharan Publishers|doi=10.2307/j.ctvk3gm60.9|isbn=978-9988-647-81-0|access-date=22 August 2020}}

The UGCC was founded in Saltpond.