The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says
Founders’ is the most appropriate day to signify Ghana’s recognition and
appreciation of the collective efforts of her forebears towards the
founding of a free, independent Ghana.
According to President Akufo-Addo, “Government believes that the most
appropriate way to honour them is to commemorate the day on which the
two most significant events in our colonial political history, that led
us to freedom and independence, occurred – 4th August.”
The President made this known on Sunday, 4th August, 2019, at the
luncheon for Senior Citizens, on the occasion of the celebration of
Founders’ Day, at the Accra International Conference Centre, Accra.
Addressing the gathering, the President bemoaned the fact that 62 years
after independence, the history of the events of 4th August continue to
be embroiled in needless controversy, due largely to partisan political
considerations of the moment.
“It is time we rose above partisan considerations, set the record
straight, recognise the collective efforts in gaining our freedom and
independence from colonial rule, reject the trivialisation of our past,
and do right by our history. I am glad that this date has now found root
in our nation’s calendar by Act of Parliament, and long may it so
continue,” he added.
Recounting the events that led to the imperialist annexation and
division of Africa in the Treaty of Berlin in 1884, and the
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, President Akufo-Addo noted that “we, in what
was then the Gold Coast, did not escape these events, indeed, we were
at the very heart of the obscene trade.”
He continued, “It was here that 75 per cent of the slave dungeons on
the West coast of Africa were built, and it was through them that the
slaves were transported, and we became a British colony after the
signing of the Bond of 6th March 1844.”
Formation of ARPS
The formation of the Aborigines Rights Protection Society on 4th
August, 1897, in Cape Coast, according to President Akufo-Addo, marked
the start of the struggle for national independence.
The Society, he explained, was formed to resist the application and
implementation of the 1897 Crown Lands Bill, which sought to sequestrate
and expropriate the country’s alleged public lands to the benefit of
the British Crown.
“The Society mobilised the Chiefs and people and public opinion in the
Gold Coast to agitate against this pernicious legislation… Their
agitation forced the colonial power to withdraw the Bill, and the
ownership of our lands was never in issue again during the rest of the
colonial period,” he added.
The Ghanaian people, President Akufo-Addo stressed, would appreciate
the importance of the agitation of the ARPS when “we remember that the
very same objectives of the Crown Lands Bill were introduced at the same
time, and became law in countries like Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe,
Zambia and other British colonies in southern and eastern Africa, which
changed the course of their history.”
The names of the patriots of the ARPS – Jacob Sey, Joseph Casely
Hayford, John Mensah Sarbah, Kobina Sekyi, J.W. de Graft-Johnson, J.P
Brown, and their colleagues were the men who stood up to defend our
heritage, and establish the platform for our future advance to freedom –
the President indicated, must be etched boldly in the annals of
Ghanaian history.
Formation of UGCC
The second of the two significant events in the struggle, after the
agitations of the 1920s, 1930s and early 1940s, President Akufo-Addo
said, then occurred on 4th August, 1947, exactly fifty years later to
the day of the formation of the Aborigines Rights Protection Society,
i.e. the formation of the United Gold Coast Convention, the first
political party in our country.
The UGCC, he explained, was the first to make a formal demand for
independence, indeed, the first time any such demand was made in
colonial Africa, a demand made eleven (11) days before the declaration
of India’s independence on 15th August, 1947.
“The inauguration initiated the process for our nation’s attainment of
independence, and for the tumultuous events that ushered us into
freedom,” he added.
The Christiansborg Crossroads shootings, six (6) months after the
formation of the UGCC, on 28th February, 1948, by the infamous British
policeman, Superintendent Imray, and the colonial police, of three
unarmed, heroic ex-servicemen, Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe,
Private Odartey Lamptey, demonstrating to present their grievances to
the colonial Governor, aroused the wrath of the nation, sparked
country-wide riots, and deepened immeasurably the demand for national
independence.
Out of it came the arrest of the legendary “Big Six”, who were
described by Aitken Watson as the six most active members of the Working
Committee of the UGCC – Joseph Boakye Danquah, Emmanuel Obetsebi
Lamptey, Edward Akufo-Addo, Ebenezer Ako Adjei, William Ofori-Atta,
Kwame Nkrumah – and the institution, by the Atlee Labour Government, of
the Watson Commission, under the chairmanship of the Scottish solicitor,
Aiken Watson, to inquire into the circumstances of the disturbances.
According to President Akufo-Addo, in the midst of those heady days,
Kwame Nkrumah, the General Secretary of the UGCC, together with some of
his colleagues resigned from the Convention to form the Convention
People’s Party in 1949, which, subsequently, became the main vehicle for
the prosecution of the nationalist struggle.
“He led it with panache and verve, and, on 6th March, 1957, led us to
our promised land of independence, of freedom and justice, for which the
Ghanaian people will always be grateful to him – hence his
memorialisation on a special day, Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day, the only
Ghanaian to be so honoured,” he added.
Change structure of economy
As a mark of reverence to our forebears, President Akufo-Addo stated
that “we must work to free ourselves from the economic arrangements
designed by the former colonial power to serve its particular purpose at
the time, which continue to bind us. We must make concerted efforts to
break away from the neo-colonial structure of the raw material producing
and exporting economy, which has, largely, been our lot.”
As President of the Republic, the President reiterated his commitment
to make his leadership of Ghana the period that witnessed the laying of
the foundation for the transformation of the economy from an exporter of
raw materials and retailer of cheap imported goods to a modern,
value-adding, industrialised one.
“In two and a half years of being in office, we have made modest gains
in every aspect of the Ghanaian economy, and our goal remains the same –
to enhance the dignity of the Ghanaian, and lift up the standard of
living of each and every citizen,” he added.
His Government, President Akufo-Addo noted, is committed to affording
all Ghanaians the opportunity and the chance to live a rounded,
dignified life, as part of a society in which choice, talent and hard
work flourish.
“We will continue to work assiduously to provide each Ghanaian with a
decent education, a decent healthcare system, a decent job, a decent
home, an adequate safety net for the vulnerable and marginalised, and a
decent retirement, and to live in an atmosphere of freedom, security,
law and order,” he said.
The President continued, “That is what the Founders of our nation
envisioned for us as our goal. Let us all put our shoulders to the
wheel, and drive our nation to its destination, a united, developed,
prosperous, free, democratic and independent Ghanaian nation.”
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