Mr President, was the Aborigine’s Rights Protection Society Formed on 4 August?

Ghanaians have been engulfed in a divisive and needless debate over where an apostrophe should be placed regarding the question, whether it should be Founder’s or Founders’ Day.

The debate is between the Nkrumahists (followers and supporters of the first independent leader of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah) and the Danquahists (followers and supporters of Dr Joseph Boakye Danquah, one of the founding members of the United Gold Coast Convention - UGCC and the leading figures of the independence struggle).

This debate though not new gathered momentum when the late President, Prof John Evans Atta Mills reversed the name of the new presidential edifice from Jubilee House to Flagstaff House and followed that up with the declaration of 21 September, the birthday of Kwame Nkrumah as Founder’s Day in March 2009 to commemorate the one hundred birthday of Nkrumah (21 September 1909 as his date of birth).

Then ten years late in March 2019, President Nana Akufo-Addo amended the Public Holidays Act 2001 to declare 4 August as Founders’ Day and 21 September as Nkrumah Memorial Day.

These declarations but not exclusively have generated divisive opinions among Ghanaians. This article is a contribution to the discourse but from a positive perspective.

There is no doubt that debates in Ghana about the roles Nkrumah on one side and Danquah and others on the other side played in the struggle for independence and who should be accorded the lead role have been ongoing for a long time. This has metamorphosed into the argument over whether Ghana should have Founder’s or Founders’ Day.

The Nkrumahists argue that Nkrumah stand tall among all others and therefore the unequivocal Founder of modern Ghana. The Danquahists also argue that no one individual could found a nation and that prior to Nkrumah’s arrival in the Gold Coast at the invitation of the UGCC leaders, there were many Ghanaians who had started the struggle for independence and therefore there should be Founders’ and not Founder’s Day.

The next argument is over the day that the Founder’s or Founders’ Day should be celebrated. The Nkrumahists obvious choice is the birthday of Kwame Nkrumah (21 September), whilst the Danquahists prefer 4 August. Their reason for this date is that that was the day when the Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was formed.

The ARPS was formed to fight against the British colonial power’s efforts to take the lands of Ghana into the ownership of the British Crown and preserved the lands into the hands of Ghanaians and therefore guaranteed the state of Ghana as we see today.

The ARPS and many other groups and individuals, including chiefs successfully fought against and defeated the Public Land Ordinance of 1876, Land Bill of 1894 and the Crown Land Bill of 1897, all of which sought to place Gold Coast lands under the control of the British Monarchy as was in other colonies. But the question is, was the ARPS formed on 4 August?

The ARPS was formed by intellectuals of the day led by the following: J.W. Sey as President, J.P. Brown, J.D. Abraham, and T.F.E. Jones as Vice-Presidents, de Graft Johnson as Treasurer, and J.E.K. Aggrey as Secretary. J.S. Abraham, T. Addagway, J.E. Biney, G. Hughes, W.F. Hutchinson, J.E. Ellis, W.E. Pieterson, John Mensah Sarbah, and A.M. Wight.

Available records on the formation of ARPS, quoted by S Tenkorang in his work, “John Mensah Sarbah 1864 to 1910, Transactions of Historical Society of Ghana and D Kimble’s book, “A Political History of Ghana. The Rise of Gold Coast Nationalism” London:

Oxford UP, 1963 referenced by the Algerian academic and researcher, Badra Lahouel in her article titled, “The British Land Registration in the Gold Coast: A Threat to Native Institution?”, state that the society was not formed on 4 August as being claimed by the Danquahists.

I quote from Lahouel’s aforementioned article as follows: “The lawyers (among them) had the opportunity to come across certain cases where English law was at odds with African customs. For this nucleus of intellectuals, the Crown Land Bill of 1897 was nothing but the sword of Damocles looming over their head.

The lack of funds of the Mfantsi Amanbu Fekew, its small membership, and the importance of the issue at stake made them think that the opposition to the Lands Bill was beyond its scope. As a result, the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was established at Cape Coast on 17 April 1897 (Kimble 341; Tenkorang 71).

From the above, it is a palpable lie and a falsehood for anyone to claim that ARPS was formed on 4 August and therefore it should be celebrated as Founders’ Day.

Where did the 4 August come from? On 4 August 2017, the ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP) celebrated the 70th anniversary of the formation of the first political party in Gold Coast, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) at Saltpond. The UGCC was formed in Saltpond on 4 August 1947. The then Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Aaron Ocquaye gave a lecture to mark the occasion.

In his lecture, Prof Ocquaye laid the grounds behind 4 August becoming Founders’ Day. He claimed that ARPS was formed on 4 August 1897 and for the role the society played in both preserving the lands of Ghana and their role in the independence struggle, 4 August should be celebrated Founders’ Day.

He did not stop there but also posited that 1 July should no longer be celebrated as Republic Day because Kwame Nkrumah wanted to be president, so he declared Ghana a republic on 1 July 1960. He added that, the First Republic did not last long because it was overthrown in 1966 and should not be celebrated.

He therefore persuaded President Nana Akufo-Addo and the leadership of the NPP to declare 4 August as Founders’ Day and abolish 1 July as Republic Day. So, in March 2019 the Public Holidays Bill 2018 was passed by majority NPP in parliament to amend the Public Holidays Act 2001 Act to abolish 1 July as Republic Day and introduce 4 August as Founders’ Day.

I have never come across such bankrupt argument by an academic on a country becoming republic. Ghana became a republic because after independence in 1957, the Queen of UK remained our head of state. Becoming a republic meant that Ghana became a true sovereign state and fully responsible for her own affairs from economic, defence and foreign matters, which prior to 1 July 1960 were determined from London because Her Majesty’s government in London had the final say. That is why most colonies after gaining independence later declared themselves as republic.

Again, the overthrow of Nkrumah in 1966 did not reverse Ghana’s republican status and Ghana has remained a republic till today. Therefore, Prof Mike Ocquaye’s argument did not have any basis but also intellectually dishonest.

Moreover, not only Prof Mike Ocquaye and President Nana Akufo-Addo but most Ghanaians know very well that, 4 August is the founding day of the UGCC, the party of their forefathers and are also aware that Ghanaians will not accept 4 August as Founders’ Day.

Therefore, they used ARPS as a ploy to deceive Ghanaians to accept 4 August as Founders’ Day. They then pacified the Nkrumahists by declaring Nkrumah’s birthday as Nkrumah Memorial Day. These deceptions by the current government are some of the reasons why some Ghanaians are of the view that the government is rewriting Ghana’s political history.

Personally, my view is that declaring the founding day of UGCC as Founders’ Day is divisive because UGCC was a political party and not inclusive, even if the leadership played critical role in the independence struggle by laying the foundation for political activism in the Gold Coast. Again, political parties are self-seeking interest group with the objective of seeking political power. At best, political parties are antagonistic to each other across the globe as we see today in Ghana between NPP and NDC.

Therefore, 4 August should not be declared and celebrated as Founders’ Day. If President Nana Akufo-Addo truly wishes to honour the role the ARPS played in protecting the lands of Ghana, then Founders’ Day should be celebrated on 17 April and not 4 August because 4 August will not be accepted by some Ghanaians. We need a day that unites the nation but not divide us.

Personally, the argument over the where the apostrophe should be placed is needless and divisive. My view is that independence was not the work of a few men but tens of thousands of Gold Coast men and women, professionals, chiefs, workers, market women and ordinary people across the country as well as foreigners. For this reason, I prefer Founders’ Day. On the day, 17 April as the day ARPS was formed is the most appropriate.

In conclusion, 4 August is not the formation day of the ARPS and therefore should not be celebrated as Founders’ Day but 17 April. Regarding both the day and where the apostrophe should be placed, if we cannot agree on whether it should be Founder’s or Founders’ Day, I recommend a national commission to gather views across the country to settle this matter once and for all rather that government after government declaring different days and where to place the apostrophe as the NDC presidential candidate, John Mahama has pledged to restore 1 July as Republic Day and 21 September as Founder’s Day if he wins December 2024 presidential election.