A 1951 letter from Joseph Boakye Danquah, a core member of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), popularly known as JB Danquah, rejecting a call from Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to demand immediate independence from the British colonial masters, has surfaced on the internet.

Coming just a day after the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo denounced Kwame Nkrumah as the only founder of Ghana, while delivering his Founders’ Day address to the country, Felix Ofosu-Kwakye, a former Deputy Minister of Information, has shared a letter that was authored by JB Danquah.

Shared via his X page, the letter written on October 10, 1951, titled: ‘Nkrumah and his tricks’, and addressed to J.A Obdam ESQ in London, described Nkrumah’s call on political parties, traditional leaders and the entire citizenry to demand immediate independence from the British, as an invitation to criminal conspiracy against law and order.

“That man Kwame Nkrumah, who is Leader of Government Business, has started his tricks again, this time, he, who is the Government, is inviting all the political leaders and chiefs to join him to send an ultimatum to His Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom for ‘SELF-GOVERNMENT NOW’ and if rejected to declare Positive Action-strikes and boycott, etc,” parts of the statement read.

JB Danquah also stated emphatically that the members of the UGCC met to deliberate on Nkrumah’s call and rejected it unanimously.

The letter read, “There has been hectic activity all over the place and on Sunday we of the UGCC met at a great meeting and turned down his “challenge” flat, as being an invitation to criminal conspiracy against law and order.”

Read the full statement here:

Dear Mr. Obdam,

I exceedingly regret delay in replying to your two letters. That man Kwame Nkrumah, who is Leader of Government Business, has started his tricks again, this time, he, who is the Government, is inviting all the political leaders and chiefs to join him to send an ultimatum to His Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom for “SELF-GOVERNMENT NOW” and if rejected to declare Positive Action-strikes and boycott, etc.

“There has been hectic activity all over the place and on Sunday we of the UGCC met at a great meeting and turned down his “challenge” flat, as being an invitation to criminal conspiracy against law and order.”

I had to be away in Kumasi for long periods last month and I am just now clearing up a pile of work…

J. B. Danquah



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