ABSTRACT
Leadership has supplied the central vehicle for the interaction of social groups within various institutions in Ghana. The careers of political figures illuminate the workings of specific political entities and shed light on the kinds of structural connections that prevailed in Ghana between 1969 and January 1982. K. A. Busia, I. K. Acheampong, Fred Akuffo, Jerry Rawlings, and Hilla Limann constituted a second civilian-military leadership generation in Ghana. All had to contend, in one way or another, with the legacy of Kwame Nkrumah, his image, and his mode of leadership. Each brought to bear on this task a different background and specific style. “When a society’s impersonal legal guarantees of physical security, status, and wealth are relatively weak or non-existent, individuals often seek personal substitutes by attaching themselves to %ig-men’ capable of producing protection and even advancement.” Local patronage networks are thus extended beyond their immediate context and this form of interaction becomes a more generalized model for behavior.
