NPP to celebrate 15th birthday

The New Patriotic Party is 15 years old and a fitting celebration is planned for Saturday, July 28, one day after the National Council of the party fixes the date, venue and filing fee for the contest to choose the next presidential candidate.

It started as the Danquah-Busia Memorial Club in 1991 in the era when though political parties were banned there were signs that the curtain was about to be drawn on the culture of silence.

In the first edition of The [revived] Statesman of the weekending, May 16, 1992, the banner headline read: 'Democratic Forces Resolution at Historic Meeting in Accra: DISSOLVE CDRS AND MILITIA.'

The ban on political parties was to be lifted on May 18. The Democratic Forces of the Danquah-Busia Memorial Club, Kwame Nkrumah Welfare Society, Kwame Nkrumah Revolutionary Guards, Our Heritage and the National Union of Ghana Students held a meeting, chaired by B J da Rocha.

A communiqué issued after the three-hour meeting, held at the Ringway Hotel, noted that there was clear evidence that the PNDC and its leader, Flt Lt Rawlings intended to compete in the forthcoming electoral contest and were preparing to use public resources to perpetuate the regime of the PNDC through the ballot box. The meeting called for the constitution of a transitional government to replace the PNDC to oversee and supervise the process to constitutional rule.

With the lifting of the ban the following week, the Danquah-Busia Club, metamorphosed into the New Patriotic Party and the rest, they say, is history.  

The NPP was officially born on Tuesday, July 28, 1992 when it received its certificate from the then Interim National Electoral Commission to operate as a political party. This was after the party had filed the relevant papers for registration on Wednesday, June 26, 1992.

In an address after the short but impressive ceremony, Damuah Agyeman, the member- secretary of the then INEC, commended the party for the precision with which it had adhered to the registration requirements. Included in the 23-man delegation, led by the late Agyenim Boateng, Acting General Secretary, were Alhaji B K Adana, Alhaji Ibn Salley, Hackman Owusu-Agyemang and Theresa Tagoe. The late Agyenim Boateng described the NPP as a peaceful and development-centered party committed to the rule of law and good governance, and assured that the party would ensure a smooth and peaceful election.

The official inauguration of the party took place from August 13-16, 1992 at Legon.It was at that time managed by an eight-member Interim National Coordinating Council, chaired by B J da Rocha, with Agyenim Boateng as the Secretary, Nana Akufo-Addo, Chairman of Organising Committee, Malik Yakubu, Chairman of Youth Committee, Theresa Tagoe, Chairperson of Women"s Committee, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, Chairman of Publicity Committee, Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Chairman of Finance Committee, and K G Folson, Chairman of Policy and Research Committee.

The NPP embraces all those who believe in the philosophy of the late George Paa Grant, J B Danquah, E O Obetsebi Lamptey, Edward Akufo- Addo, William Ofori-Atta, Solomon Odamtten, Kofi Abrefa Busia, S G Antor, J A Braimah, Yakubu Tali, R E G Armarttoe, and others of blessed memory.

Like its grand parent, the United Party formed in October, 1957, as a result of the amalgamation of the Ghana Congress Party, Moslem Association Party, and the Northern People’s Party, the NPP was the resurrection of the 1982 still-birth All People’s Party which brought together the Popular Front Party, Action Congress Party, Third Force Party and the Social Democratic Front. All these parties were able to come together in the fight and search for true democracy in Ghana through the umbrella provided by the Danquah-Busia Club. The genesis of the Danquah-Busia Club was in 1995 when Samuel Asante was approached with the idea. Due to his work as the then head of the Trinity College he could not pursue the implementation of the idea.

In 1991, Nana Attakora Gyima conceived the idea of forming a Danquah-Busia Memorial Club, and actively supported by Dr Asante Antwi, John Bilson, Obeng Manu, Victor Owusu Jnr, John Kufuor, Kissi Richardson, Sefa Bonsu, Yaw Osafo Maafo, Amoo Bediako, among others, the Club was formed. Nana Akufo-Addo was then invited to join the club by John Kufuor. Akufo-Addo, who became the national co-ordinator of the club, then traveled with others nationwide to set up branches, which not long after were turned into branch offices of the NPP. The Danquah-Busia Club was formed as a result of the suppression of all forms of political groupings by the then PNDC regime. This was especially in the case of the Movement for Freedom and Justice, which was refused police permit to even hold meetings, while organisations like the defunct June 4 Movement and the 31st December Movement were given a free reign to organise campaigns to advance the cause of the then ruling PNDC regime.

The feeling was right that someday party politics, which the PNDC frowned upon, would return. To avoid the1979 tragedy when the UP tradition was splintered into different political parties, the only factor that led to its defeat at the polls, the politico-social club was formed to give all those adherents a common platform.

Holding its first meeting at the K O Methodist School in Kumasi on February 17, 1991, which was attended by 12 people, they persevered and forged ahead in spite of the obstacles and threats they faced.

The impediments placed in their way by the CDR’s and CDO’s, as well as the Police, who under instructions most of the time refused to cooperate, never broke the spirits of those noble men who had a historical mission to fulfill. The threats and provocations got to a crescendo at Kyebi during the 27th anniversary of the death of J B Danquah.

With tact, maturity and above all the realisation of the historical mission, the leadership acknowledged the wider congregation of all the forces of liberal democracy strong enough to make it a serious political force to reckon with.

With that was born the completely New Patriotic Party determined to develop the nation in freedom.