Yaw Anokye Frimpong (R) says J.B. Danquah (L) was not part of the NLM or the UP
Renowned legal practitioner and historian Yaw Anokye Frimpong has stated that there is no such thing as the Danquah-Busia Tradition in Ghana’s political history.
According to him, the tradition is a fiction created by a faction within the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) to counter Ashanti dominance in Ghanaian politics.
Anokye Frimpong, speaking in an interview on Onua TV over the week, suggested that the Akyem faction of the New Patriotic Party, which was not part of the United Party (UP) or the National Liberation Movement (NLM), fabricated the concept of a Danquah-Busia Tradition to gain relevance.
“When secession agitations started immediately after the 1951 election, around 1952, J.B. Danquah was still alive; he died in 1965. Why did the Ashantis not take him (J.B. Danquah) as the leader of the secessionist NLM (National Liberation Movement) but instead chose Baffour Akoto as the leader?
“There is nothing in Ghana called the Danquah-Busia Tradition; it is a lie. It was the supporters of J.B. Danquah, led by Adu-Boahen, who tricked the Ashantis,” he said.
He argued that the Danquah-Busia Tradition never existed because J.B. Danquah, one of the founding members of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), was not a member of either the NLM or UP.
“If the Ashantis are able to organize themselves properly, they will be the ones determining who becomes the president of the country all the time. The Akyem Abuakwa royal house introduced this idea and cleverly created the imaginary Danquah-Busia Tradition, which is a complete fabrication.
“J.B. Danquah died in 1965. Why was it that when the Ashantis formed their first party, the NLM, and later the United Party (UP), they made Busia the leader? At that time, Danquah was alive, well-educated, and even had a PhD,” he said.
The historian added that the Ashantis never considered J.B. Danquah as one of them because the UGCC, of which he was a part, was only fighting for the independence of coastal states.
“They wanted someone who could challenge Nkrumah; that was why they sidelined Dombo and Baffour Akoto and chose Busia instead. If Danquah was such a significant figure, why was he not made the leader? He was not part of the UP or NLM. The Ashantis did not consider him one of them. And the reason was very simple: the constitution of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) stated that they sought independence for the Eastern Province (comprising today’s Greater Accra and Eastern regions), the Western Province (today’s Western and Western North regions), and the Central Province. The other regions were not included.”
Watch his remarks in the video below:
Nobody explains Ghana’s history better thank Historian Yaw Frimpong pic.twitter.com/Szquk97F1h
— Che🇬🇭 (@CheEsquire) March 14, 2025
BAI/MA
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