Message by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, 2012 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, on the occasion of the symposium commemorating Dr. Danquah’s death

On February 4, this time in 1965, 47 years ago, a great man, a great African died. He died as a political prisoner, in a 9 feet by 6 feet condemned cell. But, this was after he had successfully, along with other nationalists of his time, led the campaign to liberate Ghana from colonial rule. His name was Joseph Boakye Danquah, the doyen of the Gold Coast, the man whose academic enquiries convinced the rest of our founding fathers to adopt the ancient name Ghana for our independent nation in 1957. The man whose anniversary we are here to observe.

Danquah was a poet, jurist, historian, philosopher, playwright, journalist, lawyer, politician and statesman. May I just highlight a few of the many great things that he did for Ghana. Danquah was the publisher of the first daily newspaper in Ghana, the Times of West Africa. He was the political head of the first political organization formed specifically to lead and win the fight for independence, the United Gold Coast Convention.

In 1947, the same year that the UGCC was formed, Danquah successfully led calls for the setting up of a national bank with central banking functions. Through his efforts, the Accra Sports Stadium was built. He proposed for the setting up of the Ghana Cocoa Marketing and lobbied for the establishment of the University of Ghana.

In his own words, “For economics and business, I sponsored the establishment of a National Bank and the Cocoa Marketing Board. For education, I sponsored the established of a University College, separate from that for West Africa at Ibadan. For general literature, I sponsored the first successful daily newspaper in Accra… In addition to these I tried to lead the way with books for an understanding and appreciation of Ghana’s institutions, religion, philosophy and art. Sports, too, could not reasonably be excluded from this plan, and I pushed the need for it in the same fashion as I pushed the other needs for the total progress of Ghana.”

Danquah made the ultimate sacrifice for standing for what he believed in and fighting against dictatorship, abuse of power and the Soviet economic experiment. He stayed bold and true to the rule of law, respect for human rights and individual liberty, the principles of democratic accountability, and the market economy. History has posthumously proven that Danquah had foresight.

The likes of JB Danquah, Obetsebi Lamptey, KA Busia and SD Dombo, at various periods in Ghana’s political history, suffered unjustified detention, exile and even death, just so that freedom, liberty and democracy may thrive.

Today, Ghana is on the march and there is no stopping. We have come a long way in our search for peace, democracy and stability. Danquah and the others made the case for the liberal economic principles that our party, the New Patriotic Party, stands for as the basis for moving our great nation forward and as the basis for which people should be interested in our party coming to power again. Well, as a proud adherent of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition, I cherish moments like this. But I must state that, events since the latter part of the twentieth century have vindicated our forbears, who way back in 1948 had argued for the adoption of multi-party democracy, liberalism and liberal principles as the basis for organising our society.

At that time, it was fashionable to play to the gallery and rubble-rouse and shout socialism and utopian ideals of equalising poverty. At that time the forbears of our opponents, labelled Danquah and his associates as capitalists and imperialists, whose ideas of liberalism, free market and competition, were inimical to the welfare of the mass of the people, who they labelled as “veranda boys and girls.” Danquah and his associates took exception to sections of our population being called “veranda.” They insisted that every citizen of Ghana is a royal in his or her own right and that they were entitled to a good home, a decent meal, a good education and a good job. Danquah, in 1928, described every Ghanaian citizen as an ‘odehye’ – a royaI of the land of his or her birth. Born free, to live free.   It follows that once every Ghanaian child is born free that child must be afforded the opportunity and liberty to develop his or her God-given talent in order to put that talent and the skills acquired to good use. Danquah’s opponents on the other hand, insisted on a command economy, where the state presides over virtually every aspect of the people’s lives and dictating the prices of goods and services.

For the avoidance of doubt, I shall quote what he said about what the philosophy of our party should be. The party’s policy, in the thinking of Danquah, should be “to liberate the energies of the people for the growth of a property owning democracy in this land, with right to life, freedom and justice as the principles to which the government and laws of the land should be dedicated in order specifically to enrich life, property and liberty of each and every citizen.”

Today, these are the principles that reverberate across the world in what we call the wave of democratisation that has engulfed the world. We cannot have government literally sitting on the backs of the people and stifling their growth and development. The task ahead is to democratise capital, wealth, by creating societies of opportunities and aspirations for every child, regardless of the circumstances of his or her birth.

In 1948, Danquah had already advocated for the creation of strong institutions rather than the idolisation of a strong man. At that time, he was vilified for his visionary views, imprisoned and eventually became a martyr for democracy and development. Today, Ghana is held as a successful model in Africa, precisely because it has since 1992, chosen the path of democracy and good governance.

History has subsequently proven that liberalism is the best option for moving our nation forward. In the post 1983 era, when Ghana resorted again to liberal economic principles, we saw the turnaround in the stagnation that had engulfed Ghana in the years of state controls. And this is not an Akufo-Addo verdict. It is the verdict of the world; that there is a direct link between liberal democracy and development.

The 21st century challenge for Africa is to use the democracy and freedoms that we have regained to transform both our economy and society. A transformation led by an educated African workforce, operating a knowledge-based industrial economy, where we have made a deliberate, significant shift from being exporters of raw materials to manufacturers of finished products. Where those of us learning, earning and living here can take ideas, formulas, methods, tools and instruments that churn the industries of the developed world back home to Africa to accelerate the industrialisation of our land, too. We should begin moving away from sending home manufactured goods to things that will make us manufacturers at home.

Let me conclude with some words of inspiration from Danquah about his Maker: “He fashioned me and has used me in His own fashion, and, as I see it, the reason why I still live and breathe and am able to exert myself in life must be the simple one that my Maker hasn’t quite finished with me yet. There are lots more He wants me to suffer for, and to use me for. I do not myself mind suffering so long as it is not suffering for myself. To suffer for oneself is the emptiest of all suffering; to suffer for others is the greatest spiritual elevation.”

Let us suffer now for our nation, our continent, and lead this generation to make this Africa’s greatest century. Let us work together for that brighter future. Let us believe in Ghana. Let us believe in Africa.

Thank you.

God bless you.

February 4, 2012 – Houston, Texas, USA

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