Flag of Ghana

The national **flag of Ghana** was designed and adopted in 1957 and was flown until 1962, and then reinstated in 1966. It consists of the Pan-African colours of red, yellow, and green, in horizontal stripes, with a black five-pointed star in the centre of the gold stripe. The Ghanaian flag was the second African flag after the flag of the Ethiopian Empire to feature these colours. The flag's design influenced that of the flag of Guinea-Bissau (1973). It was designed by Theodosia Okoh.

The red represents the blood of those who died in the country's struggle for independence from the Great Britain, the gold represents the mineral wealth of the country, the green symbolises the country's rich forests and natural wealth, and the black star is the symbol of African emancipation. The black star was adopted from the flag of the Black Star Line, a shipping line incorporated by Marcus Garvey that operated from 1919 to 1922. It is where the Ghana national football team draw their nickname, the *Black Stars*, from.

## National ensign

Under terms of section 183 of Ghana's Merchant Shipping Act of 1963, the civil ensign is a red flag with the national flag in a black-fimbriated canton. In 2003, a new merchant shipping act was enacted, however, and this simply provides that "the National Flag of Ghana" is the proper national colours for Ghanaian ships. No mention is made of other flags or other possible flags.

The naval ensign is a red St. George cross on white flag, with the national flag in canton.

## Air force ensign and civil air ensign

The Ghana Air Force has its own ensign which incorporates the flag of Ghana. Civil aviation in Ghana is represented by the national civil air ensign. It is a standard light blue field with the Ghanaian flag in the canton. It is charged in the fly with either a red, yellow and green roundel (in the case of the military ensign) or black five-pointed star (in the case of the civil ensign). they have both been used since independence, and the subsequent founding of the Ghana Air Force in 1959.

## History

The Ghanaian government flag, adopted in 1957, was flown until 1962. Similarly, when the country formed the Union of African States, the flag of the Union was modelled on Bolivia's flag, but with two black stars, representing the nations. In May 1959, a third star was added. Nowhere specified how the stars were arranged, and it was possible that they were arranged in a triangle, although the three-in-a-line formation (as shown here) is more likely.

In 1962, prior to the dissolution of the Union the following year, Ghana adopted a variant of the 1957 tricolour with white in the place of yellow, after the colours of Kwame Nkrumah's ruling Convention People's Party, and similar to the flag of Hungary. The original 1957 flag was reinstated in 1966 following Nkrumah's overthrow in a *coup d'état*.

 File:Blackstar.jpg

## References

1. ↑ Mrs. Theodosia Salome Okoh at GhanaWeb
2. ↑ Crampton, William George (1993). "Marcus Garvey and the Rasta colours". *Report of the 13th International Congress of Vexillology, Melbourne, 1989*. Flag Society of Australia. pp. 169–180. ISBN 0-646-14343-3.
3. ↑ Union of African States at Flags of the World

## External links

* Ghana at Flags of the World
* Armed Forces of Ghana Colours