Akufo-Addo introduced human rights, Nkrumah detained people without justification – Prof Oquaye

A former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, has asserted that Ghanaians must credit the New Patriotic Party for the freedom they enjoy today.

According to him, it was the late former President of Ghana, Edward Akufo-Addo, the father of the current president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who introduced the chapter on the protection of human rights into Ghana’s constitution in 1969.

He said that during the era of the first president of Ghana, the late Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, there was no regard for the protection of human rights and people could be detained for several days without any justification, citinewsroom.com reports.

“Our forebearers brought this kind of thing. Under Nkrumah, you could be detained almost indefinitely. Why? First of all, PDA (Preventive Detention Act) allowed your detention under the 1958 law for 5 years. When it got to 1964, he amended it and said after that, you could be given a renewal for another 5 years, almost indefinite.

“Nobody likes that today, nevertheless, they see a hero in the man who perpetrated it against the people of Ghana, it’s a contradiction. We must claim it and we must know that if you love your freedom, you must love the NPP in Ghana today,” he is quoted to have said at a mentorship programme organised by the NPP Council of Elders.

The former Speaker of Parliament added, "Our people were developmental, selfless gentlemen, development-oriented and they spoke about it all the time."

BAI/AE

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