Former Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Koku Anyidoho, in 2017 described the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, as an embarrassment to intellectualism for his alleged attempts to rewrite history.

Prof. Mike Oquaye, during a public lecture on the commemoration of August 4, 1947, said though he has great regard for Dr Kwame Nkrumah it would be travesty of justice for anyone to suggest or say that he was the founding father of Ghana.

Taking an exception to the speaker’s remarks, Mr Anyidoho in an interaction with Rainbow Radio 87.5FM said, “Professor Mike should be ashamed of himself for trying to re-write the history of Ghana. It is sad that a Baptist Pastor like him, a teacher of political science and history will today bastardize history and think that we should applaud him.’’

Read the full story originally published on August 5, 2017, on Ghanaweb

A Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho, has lambasted Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye for ‘’re-writing the history of Ghana''.

Speaking to Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, the firebrand politician said it is very sad for a professor, man of God will re-write Ghana’s history.

He said, ‘’Professor Mike should be ashamed of himself for trying to r-write the history of Ghana. It is sad that a Baptist Pastor like him, a teacher of political science and history will today bastardize history and think that we should applaud him.’’

Prof. Mike Oquaye said whilst he has great regard for Nkrumah it would be travesty of justice for anyone to suggest or say that he was the founding father of Ghana.

Delivering a lecture in commemoration of August 4, 1947, the Speaker said, the date August 4 will forever remain a momentous occasion in Ghana’s history because it marked a major turning point in the independent struggle.

Describing the date as Ghana’s day of destiny, the Speaker of Parliament said the democracy, rule of law freedom of speech which Ghanaians enjoy today can be traced to the seeds sown in August 4.

The Speaker also indicated that, if CPP is determined to survive, then their focus shouldn’t be on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) because they (the NPP) are not out to destroy them but rather should concentrate on the NDC because they created confusion within the CPP party which made it broken and fragmented into six political parties.

“The CPP has been penetrated by the newly created NDC.....and that they have created confusion within the party which was then broken and fragmented into six political parties. And I wrote if the CPP wants to survive, they should not look our way because we are not out to destroy them”.

“They must proceed to extricate themselves from the bowels of the NDC, then they will survive because as at now they are swallowed and as a truism, they know or should know who swallowed them”, the Speaker said. But responding to the lecture by the Speaker, Koku Anyidoho said, the Speaker should be ashamed of himself for the ‘’very disgraceful conduct.’’

He said, if he [Speaker] and Nana Akufo-Addo think that they can re-write the history of Ghana to make JB Danquah, more important than Kwame Nkrumah, they are joking.

There is no way JB Danquah shall become more important than Kwame Nkrumah when it comes to the history of Ghana. He quizzed if the Speaker has forgotten the role their party played in ousting Nkrumah out with the role of the CIA in the coup staged in 1966.

He asked: ‘’Is Prof. Mike Oquaye telling us that he does not remember that it was the UP tradition that supported the CIA to take out Kwame Nkrumah through the 1966 coup? ‘’No wonder the Minority in Parliament is threatening to stage a walk out on Prof. Mike Oquaye because his political coloration is becoming an embarrassment to parliament.

Peter Ala Adjetey was not politically bias like Mike Oquaye, Sekyi Hughes was not politically bias like Mike Oquaye. Mike Oquaye is becoming an embarrassment and a disgrace even to the institution called Parliament.

Who does not remember that it is was the Progress Party or the UP tradition after the 66 coup that passed a law to outlaw the Convention People’s Party (CPP), as a political party?

‘’Was it not the UP tradition that went round removing Kwame Nkrumah's statues all over Ghana? Was it not the UP tradition that begun to destroy Kwame Nkrumah’s development agenda when they supported the CIA to oust Kwame Nkrumah through the 66 coup?

Koku Anyidoho stressed that everything that Kwame Nkrumah sought to do after the 66 coup, ''the UP tradition destroyed everything.''

In the view of Mr. Anyidoho, the lecture by the history professor was an academic dishonesty, treacherous, adding, ‘’so he should be ashamed of himself and some of us are prepared to go back to history and prove to him that, he is an embarrassment to intellectualism and academia.