Azikiwi's tribute to J.B Danquah

The Times of West Africa advocated fundamental human rights and denounced the domination of man by man under the regime of imperialism. Dr. Danquah constantly reminded the colonial government that the Bond of 1844 did not transform the people of Ghana into chattels, but reserved to them their freedom until the time when they would be able to regain it. When the Gold Coast Government introduced the Sedition Ordinance in 1934, Dr. Danquah was the secretary of the delegation, under the leadership of his brother, the late Nana Sir Ofori Atta, which was sent by the Gold Coast people to the Colonial Secretary (Lord S. Winton, then Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister). The delegates were bluntly told that it was not intended to repeal or modify this Law.

Two years later, Mr. Isaac T. A. Wallace Johnson of Sierra Leone and I were to make history by being the first persons against whom this Law was first tested. One of the Crown Counsel who prosecuted us was the late Sir Algermon Brown, who died in office as Chief Justice of Northern Nigeria , ten years ago. In the latter part 1947, when the NCNC delegation was returning from London, Dr. Danquah joined ?Paa Grant and Mr. R.S. Blay and other Ghanaian patriots to give us a grand reception in Sekondi. Dr. Danquah then informed me of what they had heard about a young Ghanaian who was then editing The New Africa in London, under the auspices of the West African National Secretariat with the collaboration of Bankole Awoonor Renner. That was when I assured them that this budding leader was wasting his talent in London and that his services could be of invaluable help in the struggle of Ghana for a place in the sun. That personality happened to be Dr. Kwame
Nkrumah, first President of the Republic of Ghana.

It is an irony of history that a great pioneer of Ghanaian scholarship should die in a detention camp, barely eight years after his country had become free from foreign domination. During my brief stay in Ghana (1934-37), Dr. Danquah and I did not often see eye to eye politically, but we were sensible and matured enough to respect each other’s right to state his opinion as he sees fit, and our friendship has endured until his lamented death.

As one who fought side by side with Dr. Danquah in order to liquidate colonialism in Africa, I personally regret the circumstances surrounding his death. All who honestly believe in human freedom would have wished it were otherwise. I fought against the colonial regime because, in spite of the material prosperity and protection guaranteed us, as colonial peoples, it denied us fundamental human rights. Consequently, my idea of independence is a state of political existence where every person shall enjoy human rights under the rule of law. This was what I mean when I spoke of respect for human dignity at my inauguration as the first African Governor-General of this country.

I am sorry that Dr. Danquah died in a detention camp. I wish he had been tried publicly, told what offence he was alleged to have committed, given a fair opportunity to defend himself, and then either discharged or punished, depending upon the fact, whether or not his innocence has been established or his guilt proved beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt. I am of the considered opinion that if independence means the substitution of alien rule for indigenous tyranny, then those who struggled for the independence of former colonial territories have not only desecrated the cause of human freedom but they have betrayed their peoples.

To Mrs. Elizabeth Danquah and the members of the mourning families, I send my condolences and those of Nigerian fighters for human freedom. If the lessons of history mean much, then the sacrifice of West Africa?s pioneer scholar, lawyer, journalist, poet, statesman and fighter in the cause of human freedom will not be in vain. Dr. Joseph Boakye Danquah has paid the price of leadership. May his soul rest in peace.

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