Our Philosophy

Individual freedom is at the heart of the Danquah Institute’s philosophy, which takes as its basis the works and beliefs of Dr J.B. Danquah, who saw it as his duty "to liberate the energies of the people for the growth of a property-owning democracy in this land, with right to life, freedom and justice, as the principles to which the Government and laws of the land should be dedicated in order specifically to enrich life, property and liberty of each and every citizen."

The Danquah Institute adheres to the doctrine that the duty of the state is to guarantee to individuals substantive freedoms to make them active agents in their own individual development, and that by so doing we will achieve real and lasting national development for our people.

We therefore believe that supporting, promoting and protecting a competitive multi-party democracy in which freedoms flourish is vital for our development and will lead to better government acting in the interests of the people by creating an atmosphere in which government is most effectively scrutinised and held to account by the public, media and opposition politicians. We furthermore hold it to be true that subjecting the economy to market forces, with the active engagement of local people from positions of strength, is the most effective way of guaranteeing efficiency, innovation and wealth-creation for the benefit of the nation as a whole.

The Danquah Institute believes Africans must look more within and wider within for both their individual and collective advancement. We believe in the free movements of people, ideas, knowledge, technology, cultures, goods and services across Africa. The Danquah Institute believes that the regional blocs should be the most effective vehicles for achieving an integrated Africa, but that the regional blocs must operate with a common continental framework. In December 2, 1926, Dr. Danquah wrote, “You cannot make a nation of Africa [except] by securing unity in West Africa...” Dr Danquah, who reasoned that "by securing unity in West Africa, and by securing African rights in the Western portion, you thereby raise the general standard of African welfare..." for all to follow, saw regionalism as a more effective, practical way of achieving unity for the continent and that the strength of that regionalism would lie on the viability of its parts. Hence, his focus then on Ghana as a launching pad. The Danquah Institute believes the African private sector and civil society must not leave the integration process to the politicians to determine and drive its pace and scope.

The Danquah Institute shares a belief in these tenets with all adherents of the Danquah-Busia philosophy, but is nevertheless not an arm of any political party though they may share this dispensation.