Don’t exaggerate JB Danquah’s achievements – Historian to Akufo-Addo

Ghanaian historian Anokye Frimpong has cautioned against distorting historical facts about President Nana Akuifo-Addo’s late uncle, Dr Joseph Boakye Danquah.

In an interview with Mugabe Maase on Inside Politics on TV XYZ, Anokye Frimpong explained that the achievements of JB Danquah have been altered in the past few years to make him look superior to some of his peers whom he helped achieve independence for the country.

Although he admitted that Danquah, who was one of the key men to struggle for independence for Ghana, was a smart academician, he hastened that he did not do much in political leadership to earn him certain honours apart from the several ones done him.

Stating the facts, Frimpong emphasised that there has been a misconception that Danquah founded the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).

“He did well in academia; he was a great man but we should not exaggerate it. In terms of academic work, JB Danquah was a colossus but in terms of politics, I have heard that some people say he founded the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC). It is not true. It was Paa Grant, the richest man in Gold Coast at the time who established the UGCC,” he stated.

Anokye Frimpong also added that the political positions JB Danquah held were not elected ones but he was hand-picked.

“He [JB Danquah] has never been a leader of UGCC or any party. In the 1951 elections, he contested at Abuakwa but lost to his own cousin Aaron Amoako-Atta. He has never won any elections in Ghana,” he stated.

Anokye Frimpong’s comment comes on the back of suggestions that the late Ghanaian scholar and politician be renamed after Ghana’s premier university, the University of Ghana, Legon.

President Nana Akufo-Addo who is a key proponent of the move believes the contributions of his late uncle should not go unnoticed.

Akufo-Addo recently sparked a controversy by saying he is convinced posterity will be kind to JB Danquah for his pioneering work to reject the British report that proposed a single university for the whole of West Africa in Nigeria.

Speaking at the 75th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service of the University of Ghana, Akufo-Addo averred that Danquah mobilised Ghanaians to have their own university, which led to the establishment of the University of Ghana, stressing that he could be renamed after the university.

To him, it will not be wrong in describing JB Danquah as the founder of the University of Ghana.

“Indeed, in many other jurisdictions where there is less heat in their politics and more attachment to the fact of historical record, it would not have been out of place to have this university named after him. Who knows, one day it may well happen,” the president added.

But Anokye Frimpong has kicked against the move and has asked the President to retract that statement.