Grandson of the Late Dr. J. B. Danquah, Mr. Danquah-Adu, has denied claims that his grandfather was involved in an attempted coup against Ghana`s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Chronicling the events that led to the overthrow of Dr. Nkrumah, the legislator indicated that at the time, Dr. J. B Danquah was in prison under the Preventive Detention Act ( PDA), hence could not have carried out such an action.
The Abuakwa North MP, Mr. Danquah-Adu, who was speaking about the anniversary on Eyewitness News,described such claims “as a pure fabrication of lies.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”DDq63lIfyIWDYQG8EdgiHuzPZfglMzcI”]He further challenged persons spreading such false stories to provide evidence to their claims, saying, “… I will bet my last dollar to anyone to provide me with the date that Danquah when he was in prison, removed Nkrumah.”
“Nkrumah was overthrown in 1996, Danquah was in prison in 1964 and died in 1965 so how could he have done that?”he quizzed.
According to him, “the historical data indicates that those who threw the bomb[to kill Danquah] were his own cronies and his own members of his party so how could Danquah have been the person..”
In a related development, a national symposium will be held in Accra on Thursday as part of activities to mark the 50th anniversary, reburial and funeral service of Dr. Danquah.
The remains of Dr. Danquah will subsequently be exhumed and reburied at Kyebi afterwards.
The Presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo Adoo is expected to deliver a speech at the syposium.
The man Danquah
J.B Danquah was a Ghanaian statesman, pan-Africanist, scholar and historian.
He played a significant role in pre- and post-colonial Ghana.
During his political career, he was one of the primary opposition leaders to Ghanaian president and independence leader Kwame Nkrumah.
Danquah became a member of the Legislative Council in 1946 and actively pursued independence legislation for his country.
His historical research led him to agree with Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s proposition that on independence the Gold Coast be renamed Ghana after the early African empire of that name.
–
By: Marian Efe Ansah with files from wikipedia/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah