Danquah-Dombo-Busia Tradition not elitist – Afenyo-Markin

Minority Leader of Parliament and MP for Effutu, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, has strongly rejected claims that the Danquah-Dombo-Busia political tradition is elitist, insisting that its history and governance record show a consistent commitment to ordinary Ghanaians.

Delivering a detailed ideological lecture at an IERPP event attended by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, with NPP Council Chairman Hackman Owusu-Agyemang serving as chairman of the occasion, Afenyo-Markin said the elitism charge has become a political cliché unsupported by evidence.

“I want to face that charge directly — not defensively, not with anger, but with history and truth,” he stated.

Tracing the roots of the tradition to Dr JB Danquah’s legal advocacy for cocoa farmers, Afenyo-Markin recalled that Danquah earned the title Akuafo Kanea (Lamp of Farmers) for fighting for fair cocoa pricing during the colonial era.

He further referenced Chief S.D. Dombo’s advocacy for Northern inclusion in national politics and Prof. K.A. Busia’s rural development policies, arguing that their sacrifices — including imprisonment and exile — contradict claims of elitism.

According to him, the vision of a “property-owning democracy” was about expanding ownership and opportunity to every Ghanaian.

“It was never a democracy of property owners. It was a property-owning democracy — where every Ghanaian has a path to ownership,” he stressed.