I read an article purportedly coming from the Number One Gentleman of the land, alleging that J.B Danquah is the "founder of University of Ghana-Legon"

The President should realize that being president is not synonymous with owning Ghana where he can do anything he desires.

The President, Nana Addo, cannot pretend not to know the history of this country to be making such unfounded and 'unhistorical' statement.

Is this a subtle attempt to rewrite the Ghanaian history?

This attempt cannot stand the test of time.

This whole desire to name the Premier University after JB Danquah started with their attempt to raise JB Danquah above Nkrumah-an exercise in futility.

The President (Nana Addo) and his people believe JB Danquah formed the UGCC for the emancipation from colonial hegemonic rule.

This thinking is not only a distortion of history, it is also a thought demonstrated by a lack of respect for the Ghanaian history.

Let's delve into history

It is on record that, it was George Paa Grant who single handedly formed the UGCC and invited JB Danquah, Arko Agyei and people like RS Blay and William Awoonor.

He used his own money to pay the transport fare for JB Danquah and the rest, whenever they went for UGCC meetings.

Later on, Paa Grant needed to transform the party from the docile state to a mass movement to accelerate the pace for the struggle for independence.

At the time, Kwame Nkrumah was the secretary to the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester. It is a historical fact that the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester provided the much needed impetus for the decolonization process in Africa. So Nkrumah's record of activism was echoed everywhere.

“In the United States of America, he came across writings of George Padmore and Co, who were in the Pan-African Movement, W.E.B Du Bios and all. And eventually, he linked up with them in Manchester, United Kingdom, where they organized the fifth Pan- African Congress and they decided to accelerate the struggle for the liberation of Africa” ~ Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr.

For this reason, Paa Grant ordered that Kwame Nkrumah is invited after Arko Adjei refused the portfolio as the General Secretary. In fact, it was Ako Adjei who recommended Nkrumah rather because, in his estimation, Nkrumah qualified for the position as the General Secretary.

Thereafter, Nkrumah became the General Secretary to the UGCC on 10th December 1947. When Nkrumah assumed the position, he brought on board, the Women's Wing, the Youth Wing, the Students' Wing, the Chiefs, the Farmers, the Market Women etc to transform the UGCC which was only an elitists' tea club to a mass movement to accelerate the pace for the struggle for emancipation.

Therefore, JB Danquah, Kwame Nkrumah and others were all invited by George Paa Grant who used his own resources and money to fund the party. JB Danquah didn't form the UGCC.

It is important to note that, Nkrumah broke away from the UGCC to form his own CPP because of the backward thinking attitude of JB Danquah and co. Nkrumah realised that JB Danquah and co. have already had what they wanted (money, education, popularity) and were reluctant in the fight against imperialism. In fact, JB Danquah and co. reneged.

A few months back, this bizarre imposition of JB Danquah on Ghanaians led a prominent Chief of Akyem Abuakwa to say that the Premier University of Ghana-Legon should be named after JB Danquah and H.E Nana Addo is repeating the same thing today. This statement from the said Chief and H.E Nana Addo could only come out from them as a result of a clear demonstration of lack of respect for history.

What did JB Danquah do to warrant him such an honour?

Now again, listen to me carefully, when Nkrumah won the first general election in 1951, his Internal Self Rule government instituted the Local Council Ordinance Bill and the Cocoa Marketing Board.

It is instructive to know that JB Danquah vehemently opposed Nkrumah on the institution of the LCOB and the CMB.

It was the LCOB and the CMB which provided the needed and required revenue and resources to achieve Nkrumah's first five-year development plan which included the construction of the University of Ghana-Legon, the Volta River Project, Tema Habour and City, the Adomi Bridge, the Komfo Anokye Hospital, the Democratization of Education and the Medical School.

Now, if JB Danquah had won that debate against Nkrumah, we wouldn't have had inter alia, the University of Ghana-Legon.

With this fact, what qualifies JB Danquah to have the honour of being named after the University of Ghana? Something he vehemently and strongly kicked against?

You would recall that when the Big Six were arrested and detained after the Riot of 1948 that was sparked by the open assassination of Sergeant Adjetey, Sergeant Attipoe and Private Lamptey, when it mattered the most, five of the Big Six including JB Danquah told the imperialists that they knew nothing about the Riot of 1948.

It was only Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah who stood by his conviction and defended the Riot by pointing out to them that it was illegal to kill those Ex-Servicemen who were peacefully asking for what was promised to them before they fought in the World War II. He believed in the Riot because he had the conviction that it was in solidarity with those innocent Ex-Servicemen who were shot and killed by heart.

How could JB Danquah be considered as a 'hero' in Ghanaian political history? On what basis?

It is very unfortunate to note that, in lieu of the President, H.E Akuffo Addo, to concentrate on ruling this country in the way he promised, he is rather engaged into what I term 'Ancestral Worshipping'.

These Danquah-Busia apparatchiks would not stop amazing us

Thank you!

© OSUMANU ABUBAKAR (2018)

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED!

© 0242782515

REFERENCES

1. The Fallacies of J. B. Danquah's Heroic Legacy.

http://mobile.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/The-Fallacies-of-J-B-Danquah-s-Heroic-Legacy-105319

2. THE CONTRIBUTION OF DR. KWAME NKRUMAH TO THE STRUGGLE AGAINST IMPERIALISM.

https://consciencism.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/the-contribution-of-dr-kwame-nkrumah-to-the-struggle-against-imperialism-in-the-eyes-of-a-contemporary-cuban-international-revolutionary

3. Fight Back: A Response To Anti-Nkrumah Provocations

4. Nkrumah Never Dies.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/721007/nkrumah-never-dies.html

5. Fallacies of J. B. Danquah's Heroic Legacy (V) (2006). Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah