President Akufo Addo says Ghanaians will never forget Joseph Boakye Danquah for his contributions and influence on the country’s history.
Speaking at a ceremony to commission the newly built J.B. Danquah Memorial Centre at Kyebi in the Eastern Region, President Akufo Addo said his late maternal uncle’s memory will continue to live on as long as the country Ghana lives.
Joseph Boakye Danquah was a man of many part – namely educationists, freedom fighter, historian, journalist, jurist, philosopher, playwright, poet, scholar, statesman and theologian. He was one of the big six of the United Gold Coast Convention and the one who invited Dr Kwame Nkrumah join the independence fight.
“He gave our country its name Ghana after years of research into the history and tradition of the people of Gold Coast. He fought first for the union of the geographical entity we now call Ghana and then he fought for Ghana to be established as a free independent state. Finally he fought to defend the liberties of the Ghanaian people by insisting on a democratic system of government under the rule of law as the best form of government for independent Ghana,”
The J.B. Danquah Memorial Centre, is hoped to provide not only children but also adults, a better insight into Dr. Danquah’s achievements”.
This centre comprises a fully furnished ICT centre and a library, yet to be stocked with a wide array of books and scholarly articles written by and about him.
The President urged the youth of Kyebi to take advantage of the facilities and learn all they can about the illustrious son on Okyeman and Ghana and to follow after his exemplary life and love for the homeland.
Nana Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah (December, 1895 – 4 February, 1965), the man popularly known as the “doyen of Gold Coast politics,” was a Ghanaian freedom fighter, Pan-Africanist, statesman, prolific scholar, historian, poet, journalist and a member of Ghana’s famous “Big Six,” who were the architects of Ghana’s independence. “The Big Six” were Dr. Danquah, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Messrs Edward Akuffo Addo, Emmanuel Odarkwei Obetsebi–Lamptey, William Ofori Atta and Ako Adjei.
