How 'The Big Six' came about – Historian Anokye Frimpong explains

Lawyer and historian Yaw Anokye Frimpong has given a historical perspective on the phrase ‘The Big Six’, which a faction of Ghana believes to be the country’s founding fathers.

Speaking in an interview on Okay FM on August 6, 2024, the historian said that most of the people who were part of ‘The Big Six’ had nothing to do with Ghana’s independence struggle and were accidentally arrested during a swoop of leaders of political parties then.

He also refuted the assertion that all the members of "The Big Six," Kwame Nkrumah, Ako Adjei, Edward Akufo-Addo, JB Danquah, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, and William Ofori-Atta, were leading members of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), because most of them were members of the Convention People’s Party (CPP).

Anokye Frimpong added that the phrase “The Big Six” is from the newspaper headline on the swoop by the then British government, and it had nothing to do with Ghana’s independence struggle.

“This is a lie people have been spreading. Can you take out the leader of the UGCC, Paa Grant, and his assistant, RS Blay, and still have a ‘Big Six’? What happened was that when the British realised that some of the leaders had incited the people, they wanted to arrest them.

“Nkrumah was arrested at Cape Coast. William Ofori-Atta was not part of the organisation (UGCC); he was a teacher at Abuakwa State College. He (Ofori-Atta) went to his uncle JB Danquah’s house to check whether he had been arrested, and he was arrested as soon as he got there. His picture is imprinted on Ghana’s currency as being part of the Big Six,” he said in Twi.

He added, “Awoonor Williams was one of the leaders (of the UGCC), but he fled; Nanka Brews was one of them; he also fled; RS Blay also bolted; and Paa Grant had travelled. On the day after the arrest, the newspaper caption was ‘Big Six’ leaders of UGCC arrested. This does not mean that the nation specially named these persons as the country’s founders. So, there is no ‘Big Six’.”

The historian added that it is people who are forcing their way into the history books of Ghana who are capitalising on the issue of the Big Six even though they were not part of the country’s independence struggle.

Watch his remarks in the video below:



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