DR. J. B. DANQUAH JOURNEY TO INDEPENDENCE AND AFTER. (DR. J. B. DANQUAH'S LETTERS) VOL. III , 1952 - 1957 JOURNEY TO INDEPENDENCE AND AFTER (DR. J. B. DANQUAH'S LETTERS) VOLUME THREE 1952 - 1957 Compiled by H. K. AKYEAMPONG J WATER VILLE PUBLISHING HOUSE DIVISION OF PRESBYTERIAN BOOK DEPOT LIMITED ACCRA Waterville Publishing House P.O. Box 195, Accra. First Published 1972 t { b 1 ~ /1-' / ( \.. ( Letters, such as written by wise men are, of all the world of men, in my judgement, the best. Francis Bacon ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book owes an immense debt of gratitude to Dr. S. K. Opoku of the Cape Coast University who read the typescript and made a number of valuable suggestions. I am especially grateful to Professor Ofosu-Appiah, Director of the Encyclopaedia Africana Secretariat who, despite other calls on his time, had time to write an elaborate introduction within a very short space of time. Mr. V. O. D. Twum-Barima of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Jones Ofori Atta, Professor Adu Boahen and Mr. Yaw Twumasi, all of the University of Ghana, Legon, have helped in various ways and I am grateful to them. H.K.A. {" TJ ' I l I 19 4 J'f 7 1 • 1. February 4 AKIM ABUAKWA Seth H. Appiah, Esq. YOUTH ASSO- Accra. 29 CIATION 2. August 5 FREEDOM OF Lord Hermingford, THOUGHT AND London, S.W.I. 32 SPEECH 3. August 9 WHY NKRUMAH Lord Orgmore, AND THE U.G.C.c. London, S.W.I. 33 PARTED COM- PANY 4. December 1 THE GHANA Bankole Timothy, Esq., MAN IS INTELLI- Accra. 36 GENT 5. December 8 BRIBERY AND His Excellency, CORRUPTION Sir Charles Noble Arden Clarke, G.C.M.G., Accra. 38 ~. December 12 REWARD IN PO- Dr. K. A. Busia, LITICS M.L.A., Accra. 39 1953 7. January 9 THE GOVERNOR The Secretary to the AND THE ASS EM- Governor, BLY Accra. 40 8. March 2 THE VISION OF The Editor, HIE FUTURE IS "Time", CLEAR lllinois, U.S.A. 43 9. June 16 GIVE BUSIA A K. Y. Attoh, Esq., CHANCE Accra. 45 xiii II J 19 . July 22 REORGANISA- The General Secretary, TION OF THE Ghana Congress Party, G.c.P. Accra. 66 20. October 8 THE POOR The Editor, COCOA FARMER "Ashanti Pioneer", Kumasi. 69 21. November 15 AFRICANISM IN P. O. Bempong, Esq., THE UNITED Accra. 75 STATES 1955 22. February 18 THE NATIONAL The Editor, LIBERATION "The Times", MOVEMENT London, E.C.4. 76 23. March 8 AMBASSADOR The Hon. K. A Gbede- HOTEL mah, M.L.A., Accra. 81 24. April 14 BANKOLE TIMO- The Editor, THY "Daily Graphic", Accra. 83 25. April 25 DEMAND FOR A The Clerk of the CONSTITUENT Select Committee of the ASSEMBLY Legislative Assembly, Accra. 87 26. May 14 THE COMMON- The Editor, WEALTH CLUB "The Times", London, E.C.4. 98 27. May 17 PURPOSE OF THE Claude A. Barnett, Esq .• N.L.M. Chicago, 15, U.S.A. 100 xv J ...)7. May 6 THE N.L.M. AND Prof. K. A. Busia. ITS ALLIES Kumasi. 125 38. May 7 THE CHRIST- The Editor. IANSBORG CAS- "Daily Graphic". TLE Accra. 126 39. May 30 THE ABUAKWA The General Secretary. CONSTITUEN- N.L.M .• CIES Akim Abuakwa. 127 40. July 15 VISIT OF HER The Editor. ROYAL HIGH- "Daily Graphic". NESS THE DUCH- Accra. 128 ESS OF KENT 41. July 19 THE ROAD TRAF- The Editor. FIC ORDINANCE "Daily Graphic". Accra. 130 42. July 30 "THE TIMES OF K. A. B. Jones Quartey. WEST AFRICA" Esq., London. W.C.I. The Editor. 131 43. August 14 GIVE GHANA A "The Times", FAIR CHANCE London, E.C.4. 134 44. August 16 GHANA DEPORT- The Editor, ATIONS "The Times", London, E.C.4. 136 45. October 3 I BLAME ARDEN Kingsley Martin, Esq., CLARKE "The New Statesman, & Nation", Ambassador Hotel. Accra. 137 46. December 27 THE PEOPLE OF The Editor, GHANA ARE NOT "Daily Graphic". SLAVES Accra. 138 xvii PREFACE THIS BOOK is a collection of some of the letters written by the late DOCTOR JOSEPH BOAKYE DANQUAH during the ten years (1947 - 1957) of the relentless struggle for independence from Britain, and during the remaining years of his life. They cover almost every topic, and provide a running com- mentary on political events during this important decade of our history. Frankly, if r were to obtain all the letters he wrote during this period, this book might have been more than six times its size. Dr. Danquah had many sides known to the public. He was a selfless politician, a philosopher, a poet, a statesman, a dramatist, a jurist, a constitutionalist and a journalist. One of the least known sides of him was that he was a most interesting writer of letters, and r thought r should compile some of his letters to bring to light this important side of this wonderful man. His pen and type- writer never rested as his 'nature impelled him to immediate action, whenever he found that those entrusted with the authority to govern the nation were abusing their powers', to quote Mr. Wil- liam Ofori Atta. Dr. Danquah had time for all those who visited him or wrote to him even about their own personal matters. though he was alWaYs busy about matters of state, and his profes- sion. He saw everybody who called on him, and replied to almost every letter he received. All this shows that he led a full life· to the end, and did not seem to have had any leisure hours to speak of. Even in prison he did not live a life of idleness, and he was still writing profusely, although handicapped physically and with- out reference books. If anybody wants to know intimately what Dr. Danquah really was, and what be stood steadfastly for, no set of writings of his could reveal this more than his letters in which he often poured forth his heart to great and small, high and low, all of whom he regarded as equally important. I know this very well, as r was one of his secretaries for a long time. r hope that the publication of these letters will provide a source of information for those who are interested in Ghana's struggle for Independence, and in its chief architect, Dr. Danquah. It will also, I hope, enable the younger generations to appreciate xix Or. Danrpl1h', reknt1c, t:lnrl n j~S1]e' fltndamenlal UDp rt· ,111<:"C. ) that lin mOlbn" CAy;.! 1 l~ gft';}1 ::1' be hJ H K \\ INTRODUCTION Since J. B. died in detention after a lot of suffering to which Nkrumah was insensitive, attempts have been made to show Gha- naians and the outside world what a great patriot he was. To those who followed J.B.'s career closely, all this would seem to be unnecessary. But, as the letters in this collection reveal, through- out J.B.'s active life he was regarded by the British Colonial Administration and the Convention People's Party Government as "a factious disturber of government," - a derogatory meaning for a patriot in 18th century England. A careful scrutiny of these letters, however, shows that he was a patriot of a very rare type, a man who did not seek any rewards for work that he did, and who spared no effort to prove that he had a high intelligence which he was not prepared for anyone, high or low, to insult. The African Latin poet, Terentius Afer, makes the claim that he is a human being, and all that touches humanity is hIS concern - homo sum, nil humanum a me alienum puto. Of J .B. it may be said that he was a Ghanaian, and all that touched Ghana was his concern. Therefore Ghanellsis sum, niL Ghanense a me alienum pulO, might well be his motto and the caption of this collection of lellers. As a patriot J .B.' first burning desire was to secure llldepend- ence for thi country. the Gold Coast, for which he suggested the name Ghana His letters show what he did to bring the Colony and Ashanti together to form a Legislattve Council when the Colonial Admini [ratton was trying to get the Asantehene. Otum- fuo Nana 0 ei Agyeman Prempeh II, to accept the Ashantr Advi- sory Council Ordinance, and keep away from the 'agitators' of the South. His part in urging the chiefs of the Joint ProvinCIal Council to elect non·chiefs into the Legislative Council under the Burns Can htution of 1946 helped to increase on the Council the number of educated men who really understood the tricks of the Colonial Admini ·trators and could challenge them in theIr o\vn field. It wa a ignal achievement The mo't 'ignitiont characteristic of J.B. which runs through these letters is his impatience with humbug, loose thinking and dishonesty anlOng administrators and fellow citizens. He could not uffer fools gladly. Where chiefs and other public men were cowering before the Colonial officials, he was not afraid to write to the Governor. the Colonial Secretary or the Secretary of State for the Colonies to complain about some stupid actions of the administration. He was always brutally 'frank. The generation of Ghanaians who have been fed on Nkru- mah's doctored history of Ghana will be agreeably surprised to find that it was J.B. who really led the movement to independence, and the Watson Commission paid him a just tribute by calling him the 'doyen of Gold Coas,t politicians'. When he was going up and down the country in the 1930's and 1940's, nobody in the Gold Coast had heard of Nkrumah as a politician. He with George Alfred Grant, Akufo Addo, Blay, Ako Adjei, Obetsebi Lamptey, William Ofori Atta, Awoonor Williams and de Graft Johnson founded and launched the United Gold Coast Convention on 4th August, 1947. Yet, writing on the independence movement in his book Dark Days in Ghana, Nkrumab, in 1967, makes the amazing claim that " It was men such as these, George Grant, J. B. Danquah, Ofori Atta, Ako Adjei and Obetsebi Lamp- tey who were the nucleus of the United Gold Coast Convention (U.G.e.e.), the Organisation I launched in Saltpond on 29th De- cember 1947 to achieve independence by aU legitimate and consti- tutional means." The events which led to the arrest of the "Big Six" and the part Danquah played in them are all brought out clearly in the letters. The attitude of the British Colonial Officers to Danquah and the nationalists of his calibre makes interesting reading. and the charges they made against the Convention leaders were ex- tremely childish. J.B.'s reply to those charges makes the adminis- trators look foolish, and I suspect the Colonial officials never for- gave him for having such a low opinion of their intellect. Their active support for Nkrumah and the e.P.P. later on stems partly from wounded pride, and partly from the realisation that the "noisy agitators" were easier to deal with than the "aristocratic elite." The London Times put it beautifully when it stated that with the formation of the C.P.P. the British had recaptured the initiative. They held it until they made their principal captive a Privy Councillor in 1959! The events leading to the break with the U.G.C.e. and the formation of the C.P.P. had, even at that time, all the elements xxii of a Greek tragedy. One could say at the time, as Danquah's letters show, that those whom the gods would destroy they first make mad. Nkrumah and all the leaders of the Convention People's Party, who were regarded as progressives by their admirers, began their careers by telling malicious lies about J.B. and his associates and endangering their lives. They accused them of taking bribes from the British just because J.B. had agreed to Sir Sydney Abra- ham's suggestion that he should come to the Gold Coast to organise sports. They accused them of selling out to the British because they served on the Coussey Committee while Nkrumah had not been appointed to it. What the u.G.c.c. members on the Com- mittee actually did to hasten self-government by insisting upon the exclusion of ex-officio ministers from the Cabinet was never mentioned by Nkrumah and Gbedemah; and Danquah's call for a Constituent Assembly was effectively ignored. These are all points brought out in the letters. The invectives in the Accra Evening News against Danquah, and Gbedemah's contribution to this lying propaganda are all there for everyone to read. That these lies spread beyond the boundaries of tius country is clear from letters J.B. received from young and old. The letters really bear out the truth of the statement that you cannot legislate against malice. The philosophy of politics adopted by the c.P.P. lead-ers was based on the maxim: Give a dog a bad name and then hang him. It is to the credit of Nkrumah and his henchmen that they succeeded in ruining Danquah's reputation among the common people so thoroughly that it took the Preven- . tive Detention Act to restore it. In all, they succeeded in making him a Cassandra, a tragic hero whose role was to issue warnings which almost everyone ignored. The later pleas of the c.P.P. leaders after the coup that they did not know the sort of person Nkrumah was ring hollow when these letters are read. At any rate now the world knows who,. was corrupt and dishonest; J.B. has noV( been vindicated, while his enemies are struggling to clear their names in the Commissions of Enquiry. The later assertion of the c.P.P. leaders, especially Kofi Baako, that violence in politics was started by the National Liberation Movement is proved false in these pages where assassination threats first appear in Gold Coast politics. The desire for a one-party state is evident from statements by Gbedemah, Adamafio and others on xxiii the necessity for the C.P.P. to capture all the seats in the Assembly and dispensing with opposition. It was this attitude to Opposi- tion which led J .B. and others in the South of Ghana to support the National Liberation Movement, and not a real desire for fede- ration. One of J.B.'s weakest points was his refusal to believe that violence was not alien to the Gold Coast. He always regarded it as foreign, in spite of the evidence, and that was carrying ideal- ism too far. But it was violence which gave the c.P.P. its initial successes, and the lying propaganda spread throughout the country helped the organisers to build the Frankenstein monster from which some of the creators suffered. J.B. is regarded by his detractors at home and by foreigners who take their cue from the c.P.P. and its admirers as a real aristocrat with open contempt for the masses. His ambivalent sup- port for the chiefs lends credence to this view. But the letters reveal his real attitude towards the chiefs. He felt they could be used by the British to delay or prevent independence, and always tried to get them on to the side of the nationalists. He often coaxed, flattered and reasoned with them to get them to back the nation- list movement. He was very consistent in this, and that is why he always advocated a second chamber. He did not regard the chiefs as competent enough to represent the people in a democratic assembly, as the Colonial administrators did, and was prepared to adopt stern measures to prevent that. But he felt that the chiefs had a great deal of support among the ordinary folk in the rural areas, and diplomatic skill was necessary to win them over. His letter to Nene Mate Kale, and his pleas before the chiefs in the .. Akyem Abuakwa State to send him and William Ofori Atta to the Legislative Assembly are all part of that policy. And the chiefs had a lot of confidence in him and elected him as their representa- tive on a number of occasions. It is to the credit of some of the chiefs of the Gold Coast that they made it possible for J.B. to serve the country at a time when the followers of Nkrumah were bent on destroying him. His account of the achievements of the Oppo- sition in Parliament are a tribute to the foresight of those who chose him. But for them his talents would have been wasted through frustration. The letter:; show that the seeds of the troubles which Gha- naians went through were sown between 1949 and 1957. J.B. puts xxiv the blame squarely on the British Administration and the British Press. In trying to check corruption, he asked the Governor to set up a Commission of Enquiry. He got a rebuff instead. Yet every- thing he said was later proved right. His statement in a letter to Mr. Kingsley Martin puts the point well: "The man to blame for the gruelling time Ghana is going through just now is not Mr. Krobo Edusei or Dr. Nkrumah but Sir Charles Noble Arden Clarke". He did not have much patience with influential Britons who tried to pretend that the C.P.P. under Nkrumah was not establishing a dictatorship, and his letters to Lord Hemingford and Lord Ogmore reveal this impatience. The usual charge made against J.B. and the educated men who were opposed to Nkrumah's policies was that they were too proud to serve under such a wonderful person, and did not care for the suffering of the masses. The letters to Bankole Timothy show that he too shared that view. What all sane men knew was that the jealousy that existed among the members of Nkrumah's gang for the really educated men was so deep-seated, that co-ope- ration was impossible with them. What they wanted was abject capitulation and unconditional surrender. This no self-respecting person was prepared for. Those men like Ako Adjei and Adamafio who took that line were lucky to escape with their lives, while Bankole Timothy did not have to wait long for poetic justioe. And it is a tribute to J.B.'s magnanimity that when the management of the Daily Graphic disowned Bankole Timothy, he wrote to condemn the periodical, West Africa, for supporting the reasons given, even though Bankole had said a lot of uncomplimentary and un- true things about him. One fact that comes out of these letters is the way in which Nkrumah succeeded in concealing his real motives from J .B. and his colleagues for such a long time. We also find that Nkrumah was a fraud who had no use for truth. He had made certain assertions in his Autobiography, which he arrogantly captioned "Ghana - the Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah," and had told a number of lies which had to be refuted. J .B.'s letter, in which he demanded an apology from Nkrumah, shows that part of Nkrumah's character which is evident in all his books - his capacity for taking credit for what he had not done. He had wanted a Ph.D. very badly because it was a status symbol in xxv Africa, and especially because his arch-rival, J.B. Danquah, had one. So he gave himself one, and told lies about it until he had to confess the truth to J.B. in prison! When he was unmasked, he had to change his tune and say tbat be had cbosen a title for the thesi and was working under Professor A. J. Ayer in Univer- sity College. London, at a time when Ayer was a philosophy don in Oxford! Lincoln University later helped him out of the difficulty by awa rding him an bonorary doctorate, and thus began the use f honorary doctorates in Ghana. His cowardice before tbe Colo- nial official and his inferiority complex before Saloway and those wh had a command over the English language - a quality which he lacked - are aJl brought out in the letter to the Ghana States- //Ian n ' Why L declared Positive Action'. Those foreigners who regarded Nkruma1l as charming and Danquab as difficult could see tbat it wa ea y to win over Nkrumah with words he could not under land, ju t as a man once silenced a fishwife by calling ber an "iso celes triangle"! No wonder tbe ColoniaJ Service officers received uch generous term from Nkrumab before independence. Tbe letter onta in some intere ling comments on some pro- minent men in the Gold oast - Coussey, Bossman, Ollennu, Baeta, Tsibu Durku an I others. He gives his views on tbe judiciary in the letter to the Chief Justice, Sir Mark Wilson , and in bis ongratu!atory letter to Me. Bos man on his appointment to the Bencb. In that letter he states : "You are aware of my personal intere t in the bigbe t tandurd of every bran h of life in our country. Often time I have been appalled at tbe lack of cholar- ship, even mere command of Englisb, in certain members of our Gold Coa t Ben 11 ." He began his fight to get tbe judiciary inte- rested in the sanctity of the constitution by urging on Sir Arku Kor ah in a letter of March 2, 1957 to get a clause inserted into tbe constitution empowering tbe Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution. But this wa not done; and his long struggle with the judiciary which followed the passage of the Preventive Deten- tion Act may be said to have had it origin in this omission. That J .B. was not permitted by fate to serve bis country to the best of hi ability was not due solely to Nkrumah and his Convention People's Party. Part of the calise lies in the character of educated Ghanaians and part in the cherished values of Gha- naian society. We need to be reminded that our national hero in xxvi beast fable is Kwaku Ananse, the wily spider; and in our society the crafty unscrupulous person is acclaimed, while the person who aims at selfless devotion to duty and maintains a high standard of integrity is extremely unpopular. The colonial system made educated Ghanaians accept as a self-evident truth the principle tbat one can only get on in life by slavishly supporting all actions of the government of the day. Therefore a man like J.B. Danquah, who always rebelled against the evil acts of governments, was regarded as a real nuisance, "a factious disturber of government." Such men become pariahs in our society, because their detractors make it known that their criticisms are the result of envy at the prosperity of their more fortunate countrymen. Some of those detractors were hypocrites enough to write tributes to J. B. two years after his death, and the historians will know the truth when the records of meetings he attended with those very men are open to inspection. The situation remains unchnged twenty years after J .B. sounded his clarion call to independence in the famous letter announcing that "the hour of liberation has struck" . The men who still get on in Ghana are generally those who pander to the preju- dic~s of men in authority, and dismiss critics of our society as jealous men. Most successful Ghanaians in the Establishment are men who obtained decorations from the British Colonial Administration or from Nkrumah. Some have continued to obtain decorations since Nkrumah left. If, however, the statements of such prominent patriots about British colonialism after Ghana's independence are accepted , if their loud denunciations of tbe Nkrumah regime after the coup express their genuine feelings about the regime from which they profited. then they have estab- lished the truth of Dr. Johnson's saying that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." In compiling these letters for the reading public Mr. Akyea- mpong has done educated Ghanaians a signal service. For, by reading through them, one can see the evil in adopting double moral standards in any society. It will become clear to the dis- cerning reader that the British. who supported our mlj,d rush to dictatorship, sincerely believe that that is all we were capable of. J.B.'s stand was that, given the best men, we could achieve something more noble. But in a country where real talent of the xxvU type di played by l.B. is resented because it makes the conformists and compro01lsers look foolish, such noble achievement ill publIC life may well be wishful thinking. The letters may be read either as illustrating the fate of a martyr who was ahead of his times, or a an example of good life worth emulating. Whichever way one looks at l.B.'s life, one cannot fail to draw the conclUSIOn that he was one of nature 's true aristocrats, a man who put more into his country than he got out of il Ghana would have been all the poorer without him . L. H. OFOSU-APPIAH ENCYCLOPAEDIA AFRICAN SECRETARIAT. ACCRA. viii THE AKIM ABUAKWA YOUTH ASSOCIATION 4th February, 1952. Seth H. Appiah I, Esq., School of Pharmacy, Korlebu, Accra. My dear Mr. Appiah, I am ever so grateful for your letter. I have had intimations of what is going on, but I have not been over-worried, as I think this ebullience of youth will soon find its own level, unless of course, the motive is anti-Akim Abuakwa, in which case it will fail and fail ignominiously. So far as I am personally concerned, if there are active youths in Akim Abuakwa who believe that after 39 years of service to the State, from 1913 to date, altbough I had not betrayed the State, or done anything disgraceful to sully its name, I should be got rid of because of late I had become more of a national Gold Coast figure and less of an Akim Abuakwa figure, they are quite welcome to their opinion, provided they are them- selves able to do better for the State and for the country than I am doing now. I am myself very anxious for active young men to come into the field and help. I am myself quite willing to retire and leave my place for others to fill. But I will do so on only one condition: tbat the men to succeed me should show evidence that their motives are pure and that they are capable of doing the work they think I bave failed to do. I should very much like to see a youth Association working in Akim Abuakwa, but it must not be led by people wbose aim is motivated by evil thoughts to destroy this or that man. I wish to destroy no one. I wish to see my State united and strong; the largest State in the Colony must also be the greatest in the land. People forget tbat wben from 1943 to 1948 the name Akim Abuakwa was made so obnoxious in the eyes of ordinary Gold Coast people as well as of the Government, the real figbt was not in Akim Abuakwa, but in the centre of things, to rebabilitate the name of our State in the eyes of t11e world. We, the people of Akim Abuakwa, came and told the world that we I. Chairman of the Akim Abuakwa Progress Society (Accra Branch) In 1952. 29 arc "ritual murderer n, whereas it was quite the contrary. But tbe world bebeved u~ and ~ent 1:1 o[ our people to the gallow~ tor It. I have neen ~truggling cvt.:[ ~incc to Jet tbe people ot the Gold Coast forget that stigma on our name and to think of Ul> as people as good as. If not better than, any other people in any other State. I think 1 have made a SUCCC5S of this poltcy. 1 think the ~uccess of Mr. William Ofon Atta and my~elf 10 the As:,embly - just two men holding forth against a great party, dnd getting our views and names re~pected - have compelkxl yuite a numbel of people in the Gold Coa t to think dlfferentl) of the Akim Abuakwa of 19~3- 1948. If now, ju~t as Mr WillIam Ofori Atta and myself are about to succeed, our ov.n people should choose to come forward and disown u , I can only sa), I am sorry. Already our name, our Ak im Abuak v.. a name. stands high in A hanti. You wilj recall tbe speech made recently, [ tbink last Tuesday, by Me. Abubekr in the A sembly. He said they would place no one over tbe Asante- hene. Actually In my frequent visll to Kuma ·i. I keep in close touch with affairs. and what T see IS tbat the C P.P. tn Ashanti j~ now becoming an shantl Party nol an 'krumah Party. I hope you understand what [mean . The recent Odwira J by the Okyeo- hene has set the A han tis th1Oking. Thee. and many other matter. make me ';,)rr. to learn that certain people of buakwa bIrth t11ink it right to break me and break Willie. and lea\'c Nana Ofori Alta II alone to strugglc agdir,st all the \~orJd. I can a :,urc you that 1 am determineJ to 'any out my plans ~\ithout shouting too much about them. I am determlOed to have the Abuakwa namc rehabilitated and to make Abuakwa lead the naIJon . If t1Jere are an) Abuakwa born who are willing to a si t or to give me help or to lead better than I am doing, let them come forward. but for God'~ ake. Jet them oat tr) to ruin the unity of the State. let them not try to destroy the delicate I'~me that makes Abuakw.l fearcd and respected. OUf next target must be to make Abuabva loved by all, but disunity in our ranks '" ill not bring u love from abroad. As for t11e Abuakwa Society.] took. great care not to become any of ib office bearers. They are all in the State. not even io Accra. It has not failed. The c.P.P. have tried to make it fail. See "Aklll1 Laws and Customs" by Dr. J. B. Dlll1qullh. - page 231. 30 but trust me, there are plans afoot to confound t4e policies of the c.P.P. in Akim Abuakwa so that whilst it can remain a party in the State - (I cannot object to that), it will not betray Akim Abuakwa and destroy its unity. I note what people are saying about sanitation in the Akim Abuakwa State. I shall look into this matter on my next visit to Kibi and find out what is wrong with the Treasury Department - why all the men have resigned. As to the Assembly, people who want to set a standard for me by the stand of Krobo Edusei and Atta Mensah pay me a very dubious compliment. Merely to speak in the Assembly about the needs of one's Constituency is not the whole story. One has to get the actual work done. This is quite often done not by speechifying, but by Ministerial approach. Willie and myself are doing a tremendous job for the State in the Assembly as also in personal contacts with the Ministers, and people should give us credit for what is happeing just now. The roads are being . given to contract, the hospital is to be extended at Kibi, the State College is to be aided by Government, with salaries of teachers paid by Government, to release fresh money from the State to start another College as soon as we can. And many other things are being done of which we cannot at present speak. Do please let me hear from you from time to time and come and see me personally whenever you can. I am. my dear Appiah, Yours in the service of Abuakwa, J . B. DANQUAH. 31 2 FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND SPEECH Ref. 2255 jP j 52 5th August, 1952. Lord Hermingford 1 House of Lords, Westminster, LONDON, S.w. 1. Dear Lord Hemingford, I could not agree more with you than in your statement in the House of Lords debate that "It is still possible for people in the Gold Coast to have freedom of thought and speech". I quote from the official version as published by the P.R.O. H does not say whether you went on to say that meetings are usually broken up by organised hooting and stone throwing and other violent attacks, and that the turn of affairs at the inaugural meeting of the Ghana Congress Party which was so treated by the supporters of the c.P.P. was endorsed by the Prime Minister as expressing the desire of the Gold Coast to have no second party in the country. The report did not say whether you went on to say that the Government recently challenged members of the Assembly who had subscribed themselves as members of the Opposition to answer to a Government motion "to clarify their position" and that in the course of the debate the Chief Government Whip 2 said that the five members of the Active Opposition ought to be de- ported merely for daring to form an Opposition. It is true that you lived in the Gold Coast for 17 years, but as you did not take part in any political meetings, one cannot tell whether you have suffered: stoned, spat upon, hissed at and hoot- ed and booed just because I would dare to exercise what I thought I possessed, or to use your own word, "had", namely, freedom of thought and speech. It is quite true, of course, that it is still possible to have free- dom of thought and speech. The question is how long will this possession last under the present conditions, and even though the A former Master of AGhlmota College, II'Ild later Rector of the Teacher Training College. 2. Mr. Krobo Edusei. 32 freedom may be there, can one exercise it freely? Your speech as reported did give the impression that you must have said that you knew that totalitarian methods were being practised here, but that it was still possible to have freedom of speech and thought, and that it was not quite as bad as behind the iron curtain. I should be happy to know whether this is so. Otherwise your use of the term "still possible" puzzles me. Yours faithfully, J. B. DANQUAH. 3 WHY NKRUMAH AND THE u.G.C.C. PARTED COMPANY Ref. 2264 / GCP 150 9th August, 1952. Lord Ogmore, House of Lords, Westminster, London, S.W. 1. Dear Lord Ogmore, I have now seen the P.R.O.'s official version of the recent de- bate in the House of Lords about the Gold Coast 1. It is a revelation to learn that in your view the actions of the Gold Coast Government did not support a belief that there was a move towards totalitarianism in the Gold Coast. Probably you ex- clude from the term "actions of the Gold Coast Government'· certain utterances and acts of the Prime Minister and other Repre- sentative Ministers as spoken from time to time in the Assembly or published in their own newspaper The Accra Evening News and 'in the Daily Graphic, a European newspaper which supports the Convention People's Party, See The Gold Coast Revolution by George Padmore - page 64, 33 Alan Burns did not say in the Cocoa Marketing Board's Or- dinance that the Governor or the Chief Secretary was to tell the Board what to do with the farmers' money. This the present Government has done. What Queen Victoria said was that she did not want her people's lands in the Gold Coast but their love. This Government bas deprived tbe Stools of the right to manage their lands or to own or control their revenues. Guggisberg did not state that to make it impossible for indi- viduals to enrIch themselves at Takoradi and Sekondi by reason of the Takoradi port he must acquire 63 square miles of Sekondi and Takoradi lands for a port and a town. Our Minister for Local Government and our Minister for Housing gave that as their prin- cipal reason for the acquisition of 63 square miles of Tema land, by reason of which the Tema stool has been expropriated com- pletely of its lands. Only 315 acres are wanted for the Port. Why take over 39,320 acres? (An area bigger than present Accra). The Prime Minister and his supporters have declared time out of number that they would not tolerate any party outside the c.P.P., and they have ceremonially with either Christian or heathen rites buried the Ghana Congress Party in all tlle principal towns in the Gold Coast, with the Prime Mini t<>[ himself officiating or looking on with approval . I enclose herewith photographs of ~ome of these burials. In the Legislative Assembly on July 4, after the Speaker had announced the names of 23 members who had agreed in writing to be given seats in the Opposition, the Government tabled a motion for ilie persons concerned "to clarify their position". Is that free- dom of thought? Is it not intimidation? The Prime Minister has declared that Chiefs who do not sup- port his Party will be dealt with by him. and we have had the example of Wenchi. He recently declared at a special meeting of c.P.P. Local Government Councillors in Kumasi that c.P.P. members of r ocal Councils should vote for the Party even against their conscience althougb the Minister of Local Government2 on the same platform had advised that they should conduct themselves in the interest of the community. 2 E. O. Asatu Adjaye 34 And I trust you have seen and read that part of the same speech in which he revealed that "he was trying to have the cons- titution amended so that by-elections would be held in those cons- tituencies where people elected into the Assembly on C.P.P. ticket have been sacked from the Party. If that amendment were effec- tive, people like Kwesi Lamptey 3 would have left the Assembly long ago"! In the same speech he counselled the c.P.P. Councillors that "the Chiefs were just mere ornaments and had nothing to do with the affairs of the Councillors. They had no control over the deli- berations of the Councils, and therefore c.P.P. Councillors must deal very severely with any Chief who tried to influence the affairs of the Councillors from behind the screen". As a parting shot the Prime Minister is reported to have said "Local Government was a foundation for self-government. There- fore if it failed each and everyone should shoot himself". Would these things happen in England? They happen, as you know, behind the Iron Curtain. Communist methods of rule threaten our new nation at its very foundation; and I wish to God the Socialist Party in u.K. would wake up to that and stop thinking that this nasty baby is their type of baby or that the way it is being brought up is their own projected design. Yours sincerely, J. B. DANQDAH. P.S. It grieves me to think that Nkrumah and the D.G.C.C. parted company because of a quarrel concerning the safety of your life during your visit here, and now those of us who were on the side of the law on your behalf are your targets in the House of Lords. I canno{ tell you the facts of what I obscurely hint here, because I think you ought to have known of it by now. The first C. P .P. member to cross the carpet In 1952 to join t he Opposition. 35 4 THE GHANA MAN IS INTELLIGENT Ref. 2453/PPC/52 1st December, 1952. Bankole Timothy, Esq. I Daily Graphic, Accra. Dear Mr. Bankole Timothy, This is a personal letter. I am beginning to get concerned about a certain new tone in your articles. On the fundamental life and death issue of the constitution your article "Action" in the November 1st issue gave the impres- sion that you would castigate as disloyal and unpatriotic anyone who sincerely believes in the entitlement of the Gold Coast to unconditional liberation in the 1948 vintage, and disobeys your command to "put at the disposal of the Government" his views, suggestions and constructive criticisms on the issues raised in the recent proposals for constitutional reform, even though such pro- posals may not appear to such person to guarantee that uncondi- tional liberation. On the politically inopportune question of fee-free primary education, you gave the impression that your statement that "it was an error to have introduced a fee-free primary education scheme without first providing the teachers and the school buildings" was a new and a great discovery as great as the recent discovery by Dr. Armattoe and his colleagues of a cure for the disease of swollen shoot, a disease previously declared as cli- nically incurable in so far as science could tell. Your fear that political opportunists might make political capital of your "verdict" puzzles me. I thought the gist of your verdict was quite the 'curren t' thought or verdict of the country and not such a 'capital' verdict as you would make one believe. Quite apart from what the seasoned politicians have said on the subject ad nauseam, I seem to recall that some four months or so ago a young school teacher of Ashanti, Effua Nyamekye, I A former columnist of the Dany Graphic. He was deported trom the country to Sierra Leone in 1957. 36 think her name was, said much about the same thing in a feature article in the "Graphic". As you are probably aware, I hardly read anything now in the "Graphic" besides the headlines and your own column, unless there is a particular attractive and exclusive news item or objec- tive comment. But this new tone which appears again in your "Note Book" of Wednesday November 26, dims all the more any attraction that the "Graphic" ever had for me. You state further, "To indulge in vilification and to discredit in toto the semi-African Government of the Gold Coast overseas tantamounts to national suicide. The repercussions of such indis- cretion are grave and if we persist in such acts, the economy of the Gold Coast will ultimately be adversely affected". Quite apart from the strong term "national suicide", this statement, in so far as it claims that if our Government behaves discreditably in national or international or other affairs we must not say so, is a denial of the very sanction, namely exposure, which keeps any self-respecting Government from discreditable acts, especially in a democracy. But in so far as it claims that such exposure should be restrained and decent in language, it is fair enough . I wish you had said a word also to the Government itself in like measure as you said to Government's critics: Would not the Gold Coast Government be equally discredited overseas if mem- bers of the Government who are also politicians, and some of them journalists. made indiscreet statements about "nationalisation", "bankruptcy" and the rest? Reading the Assembly debates of December 1951, I came across the Minister of Labour! saying in the debate that "even if this Government would go bankrupt by paying the ordinary worker 3 / -, we prefer to go bankrupt than refusing to give him sufficient increase to keep the body and soul together". Perhaps as in this 20th Century you are a believer in political evolution for an oppressed African people. some of these ideas of unconditional liberation which springs from hearts yearning for radical or revolutionary changes "now" or "in the shortest possi- ble time" can make little appeal to you . K. A. Gbedemah. 37 But if I know anything of the Gold Coast man, I know this much, that he is highly intelligent but very long suffering and is worthy of a very close study. Best regards, Yours sincerely, J. B. DANQUAH. 5 BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION Ref. 2475 j P j 52 8th December, 1952. His Excellency, Sir Charles Noble Arden Clarke, G.C.M.G., Government House, Accra. Your Excellency, The enclosed is the original of an anonymous letter reaching me with a Kumasi post mark. Distressing accounts of this kind of thing going on all over the country, in the Government and out of Government continue to reach me in several forms, in writing or otherwise. The latest reaching me from England affect the Takoradi harbour. Tbere must be an authority into whose final hands the order and good government and public faith of this country are en- trusted. I conceive Your Excellency to be such authority and I pray to you in the name of God to delay no longer but appoint a Com- mission of Enquiry into corruption and bribery as well as misuse of public funds that is going on in the country. I have already brought to the notice of the Finance Committee information that bas reacbed me regarding the Assembly Press. which, scheduled to cost some £20,000 has cost the country about £84,000. It is distressing that such things should happen under Your 38 Excellency's governorship, and I bring this anonymous letter to your notice to ask that Your Excellency may make use of your powers to save this country from being ruined by failure to tighten the screw against wholesale demoralisation of administration in the highest quarters. I am, Your Excellency's obedient Servant, J. B. DANQUAH. 6 REW ARD IN POLITICS 2483jPj52 12th December, 1952. Dr. K. A. Busia, M.L.A., University College, Achirnota. My dear Kofi, About ten days ago you delivered into my hands two letters from the United Kingdom one of which was from Miss Ayimadu and the other from Mr. Cyril Fairhurst. I was unable to decipher the gentleman's signature or to establish his identity until later. Enclosed is a copy of the letter from Mr. Fairhurst. You will notice that he speaks of my "talking to the boys and to come to the decision that now is the time for making a stand". He asks me also to call upon certain members of the Assembly "not to take into consideration the move as far as politics are concerned", but to realise "the urgency of the situation and forget party politics while a job must be done". And he finally asks for my full co- operation "in what is to corne soon". He ends with words which, coming from a complete stranger, 39 are, to say the least, mystifying. He said: "Personalities cannot be allowed to mix with the cause neither fOor self gain, or for a place in the future. All such rewards should rather be judged on the individual and his actual accomplishments". As you are probably aware this kind of ranting communica- tion frequently reaches politicians, but two things puzzle me about this particular letter: Firstly, it was apparently sent by a special bearer to you from Mr. Fairhurst in London for delivery by you to me, for it bore no date stamp; and secondly, it speaks of "the boys", "the move", "a job", "rewards" "the cause" and ends with a suggestion that he would be meeting me soon in Accra. These dark hints together with his talk of forgetting "parry politics" in the Assembly or elsewhere, are puzzling to me, and in view of the fact that you are reported to have met Mr. Fairhurst in London during your last visit and to have had ,alks with him, I should be grateful for some useful information to enable me to advise myself in regard to any of the suggested "moves", "causes", and " jobs" in the offing. With my regards, Yours very sincerely, J. B. DANQUAH. P.S. As you are aware, any kind of jobbery and planning for reward in politics is anathema to my soul, and I should be happy to have an opportunity of making my position clear to Mr. Fairhurst. 7 THE GOVERNOR AND THE ASSEMBLY Ref. 024/P/ 53 9th January, 195J Secretary to the Governor, Government House, Accra . Sir, I am grateful for your letter No. G /792 of the 22nd December, and I note the action that has been taken on my letter by forward - 40 ing the anonymous letter to the Police for investigation. 2. You will, I hope, permit me to express my profound dis- agreement with the proposition that unsupported allegations con- tained in an anonymous letter cannot constitute sufficient evidence for the purpose of appointing a Commission of Enquiry on Bribery and Corruption. 3. My view is that where allegations are supported by evi- dence the need for public enquiry does not arise, the proper remedy being a public prosecution. Where, however, allegations of bribery and corruption on a large and alarming scale continue to come to the notice of the authorities the only remedy is an enquiry, first, to find out the source of such anonymous allegations and, secondly to check from the bottom up, by a process of elimination, whether the persons suspected could have taken bribes. This public enquiry has the double effect of putting an end to the anonymous allegations, if they are without foundation, and putting an end to or checking further attempts at corruption in defiance not only of the law but of the public weal. 4. I feel convinced that where the public conscience is made sensitive to such acts, those tempted to fall into them often take the public sense in the matter to be their guide, but when the practice is rampant and there is no active public conscience to check it, there is little to stDP its gFowth. Eventually it comes to be taken for granted as a matter of course or even as "custom". 5. Forgive me arguing with you in this matter, but I feel that Government takes a wrong view of the matter when it mixes up evidence for public prosecution with need for public enquiry. There is a difference not only of degree but of kind between the two public measures, and I sincerely trust that this real difference will be appreciated and the Police left out entirely of the demand for a public enquiry, except of course to assist the Commission of Enquiry as it may direct. 6. The Police Force have their own work cut out for them and we cannot hope to get at the root of this trouble if we are to make the Police Force the judge of public faith or of good govern- ment. Were that the case, the provision in the Constitution reserv- ing to His Excellency the Governor the right to override a decision of the Assembly in the interests of public order, public faith or good government, would cease to have meaning. 41 7. I respectfully appeal to His Excellency to review the deci- sion of the Cabinet not to proceed with the appointment of a Commission of Enquiry until the Police have in their possession evidence of alleged cases of corruption, and to treat the country's demand for a Commission of Enquiry on Bribery and Corruption as a specific reflection on the good faith and good government of the administration and therefore calling for Enquiry. Yours faithfully, J. B. DANQUAH. NOTE In a letter No. G /792 dated 9th February, 1953, the Secretary to the Governor, replied as follows: "Sir, I am directed by the Governor to refer to your letter 024jPj53 of the 9th January on the subject of a Commission of Enquiry into bribery and corrupt practices, of which you were sent an interim acknowledgement No. G /792 of the 15th January. "2. His Excellency requests me to say that he has care- fully considered your letter and is not prepared to use his powers to review the decision of the Cabinet regarding the appointment of a Commission of Enquiry. I have the honour to be Sir, Your obedient servant, G. Hadow SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNOR." 42 8 THE VISION OF THE FUTURE IS CLEAR Ref. 108/UC/53 2nd March, 1953. The Editor, Time, 540 N. Michigan Avenue Chicago, 11, Illinois, U.S.A. Dear Sir, Your correspondent's article on Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, our Prime Minister, excellent as it is, errs in two or three matters which affect my colleagues of the UG.c.c. and myself. His first false suggestion is that when the Parliamentary Commission hustled out to Accra and chastised the Colonial Administration for deny- ing us a voice in the Government, the upshot being a brand new constitution, with popular elections, "Gold Coast Leaders were stunned". That is the kind of mis-statement which reveals igno- rance or recklessness. Moreover, it is not fair to history nor to our leaders. On February 28, the day of the 1948 disturballces, the Parlia- mentary Under Secretary had told the House of Commons that the Governor of the Gold Coast was competent to deal with the situa- tion and no commission was to be sent out. The very next day our £30 cablegram to the Secretary of State demanding full Self-Gov- ernment and a commission to come out to supervise the setting up of a COnstituent -Assembly was published to the world. The Par- liamentary Under Secretary had no alternative but to yield to our pressure to send out a Commission. The '-man most stunned by this tum of events was Mr. Creech Jones, British Colonial Secretary. He was at the time in New York attending the United Nations Trusteeship Council with Sir Alan Bums, ex-Governor of the Gold Coast. Ten months later I en- quired from Creech Jones in his Office at Church House, West- minster, what was his Government's reason for telling the world that the Gold Coast disturbances were communist inspired. His answer was a revelation. He said, "Sir Alan Bums had been tell- ing me in New York that he left the Gold Coast in peace and that everybody was happy with the 1946 constitution. When therefore 43 r read in the NEW YORK TIMES that violent disturbances of a political nature had broken out in the Gold Coast I could not help but surmise that they were inspired from abroad." There is not, and so far as I care, there will never be any Communism in the Gold Coast. Our present movement for total liberation from imperialism is purely nationalist. Nothing short of a denial of our right to self-determination could ever really do us a stunning. Secondly, the slogan of the U.G.c.c. was not "Self-Govern- ment in our time". That makes nonsense. Our slogan was "Self- Government in the shortest possible time", and it was embodied in the Constitution of the United Gold Coast Convention thus: "To ensure that the direction and control of Government shall in the sho,rtest possible time pass into the hands of the people and their Chiefs". Dr. Nkrumah's subsequent abbreviation of this into the simple slogan "Self-Government Now" captured the ima- gination of quite a large number of people who thought that, in staging a struggle with an imperial power, "Now" was of a shorter duration than "the shortest possible time". That was four years ago, and they are still saying "Self-Government Now", in Dr. Nkrumah's Camp. The third point is that my father, Emmanuel, did not name me James but Joseph. James is Jacob in the Bible and it means "the supplanter". Joseph has the plain meaning of increment, or in the language of the Bible "he shall add". I have made it my life long business to create and add to our literature and liberty and not certainly to supplant them. For myself I am happy in the thought that despite the fission in our united front in June 1949, (when Dr. Nkrumah broke away from the parent United Gold Coast Convention to form the Con- vention People's Party), there is every possibility that the struggle will now proceed according to plan. The LONDON TIMES' comment at the time was that the formation of the C.P.P. had enabled the British to re-capture the initiative. True enough, since that fatal day of June 12, 1949, the British have been shaping the pace and tempo of our struggle for liberation. But the wheel of fortune has now come full circle. In October 1952 Dr. Nkrumah read a Statement in the Assembly calling for "modifications" of the present Constitution, elimination of ex- officio Ministers of Defence and External Affairs, Finance and Justice. He called upon the Chiefs and all political organisations to send their views on the Constitution to him by post. On December 21, the new party to which I belong, the Ghana Con- gress Party, rejected the invitation to modify the Constitu tion by post and demanded full Self-Government guaranteed by an irrevo- cable Act of Parliament. On December 28, Dr. Nkrumah's own party, at a party conference, also rejected the call for modifica- tions and asked for full Self-Government by an "Act of Indepen- dence". On February 9, Sir Charles Noble Arden Clarke, the Governor, opening the Budget Session, was compelled to admit that "all the parties are now united in the demand for Self-Gov- ernment within the Commonwealth". The next stage comes in June when the Assembly will have to decide whether it will support the demand of the two parties for complete Self-Government or will endorse the proposals of Dr. Nkruma!1's Government for "modifications" of the present Colo- nial Status constitution. The vigion of the future is clear. Our liberty is in sight and our "statute" of it may be built on March 6, 1954, the one hund- red and tenth anniversary of the Bond of 1844, under which our Chiefs of their own volition assigned political control of this land to an astute Scotsman, Captain George Maclean, who was British Governor of the Gold Coast 110 years ago. Yours faithfully, J. B. DANQUAH. 9 GIVE BUSIA A CHANCE Ref. 296/GC/53 16th June, 1953. K. Y. Attoh 'l Esq., Ghana Congress Party, Accra. Dear Mr. Attoh, I notice in the report of our Saltpond rally sent by you to the 1. "K.Y."· was sent to detention by Nkrumah in 1958, but he was released Imme- diately after the first Coup. He died ten months later. 45 country saw evidence of its High Court Bench rising to the level of the High Court in England. There has been no permanent appointments from the Bar direct to the High Court Bench for nearly 10 years now, but the policy of not appointing judges from the Magistracy appears to have been reversed, and the High Court Bench looks very much like becoming a career post for Magis- trates. There is a certain prestige which, in our over-all plans for the future Gold Coast State, we desire to create for our Judges of the High Court, and the co-operation of those responsible for appoint- ing Judges at this stage is needed, if that absolute independence of the judiciary of the future political administration is to be main- tained in a self-governing Gold Coast. Experience throughout the Commonwealth appears to show that this is best achieved if the High Court Bench does not look to the Civil Service for its Judges. As both a lawyer and a politician this is a matter which is very dear to my heart, and those of us who are engaged in this business of nation building will be grateful for any assistance you may render to make successful this plan of affecting the British idea of separating the Magistracy from the High Court Bench, so as to make it possible for a class of eminent lawyers long practised at the Bar to build up a specialist legal milieu sufficiently close to be impervious to the .assaults of the Civil Service. A year or two before Sir Emmanuel Quist became Speaker of the Legis~ative Assembly, a successful experiment was made in appointing him on Commission "-s a Judge. It seems to me with the forthcoming Bar Vacation, and with so many of our Judges going on leave, a fine opportunity presents itself for the experi- ment to be repeated. I am quite sure the general public will wel- come an appointment of one or two of our leading practising law- yers to act as Judge instead of further acting Judges being appoint- ed from the Civil Service. In Accra alone I can think of at least two or three members of the Bar who could fill any form of appointment of the High Court Bench with efficiency and con- summate ease. Such qualified men are also available at the other centres. I should be grateful to hear from you. Yours sincerely, J. B. DANQUAH. 47 11 GOD HAS DEALT BOUNTIFULLY WITH ME Ref.30/P/53 19th June, 1953. The Pastor-in-Charge,1 Presbyterian Church, Kibi . Dear Pastor, When last Sunday I entered the church at Kibi on June 7, the text that was being read was Psalm 116. I thanked the Lord for his gracious mercies, and I now wish to offer a sacrifice of thanks- giving and to pay my vows unto the Lord in the presence of all his people. I enclose a cheque for £10 which please accept for the Church, and may the name of the Lord be praised, for he has dealt bounti- fully with me. Yours sincerely, J. B. DANQUAH. 12 THE BOND OF 1844 CENTENARY FUND (1944) Ref. 301/P/53 19th June, 1953. K. B. Ateko.2 Esq. Treasurer, Bond of 1844 Centenary Fund (1944) Accra. My dear K. B. The High Court of the Gold Coast has given judgement in my favour in respect of the article entitled "Danquah Taken to Task" which was published in the Daily Graphic of June 25th I A copy of this letter was sent to the Accra Presbyterian Church with a cheque for £10. 2. A former master of Achlmota College . 48 1952, by Mr. Price of the University College of the Gold Coast under the false name of "Scipio." As you will recall the article stated that because of certain utterances imputed to me by Mr. Price I was a danger to the attainment of self-government in the Gold Coast and should be made to go to Kibi lest I do what Mr. Price calls "more damage" . The High Court found that the article was libellous, that is to say, it exposed me to hatred, ridicule and contempt. I was award- ed £200 damages on the ground that it was a minor libel, and I was not awarded costs. I have therefore had to pay my own costs (£60) from the award, together with £78 expenses in securing evidence. I have given a tithe of one-tenth to the Presbyterian Church at Accra and Kibi (£20), and have reserved 5% for income tax. There remains a net balance of £32 out of the sum of £200 paid by the Daily Graphic. My Counsel and great friend , Mr. E. O. Obetsebi-Lamptey, did not of course charge me a fee and has refused to take a penny out of the £200. In my view, greater satisfaction will be given me to devote this sum, £32, to a deserving charity. As this libel case arose out of my political activities, I can think of no charity more deserving than the purpose which we set before ourselves when 10 years ago we established the Bond of 1844 Centenary Fund during the Cen- tenary Celebrations. The Fund which is held by a Board of Trustees with Mr. A. M. Akiwumi as chairman with you as Treasurer stands at the Post Office Savings Bank at £217. In order to raise the Centenary Fund to a round sum of £250 I send herewith my cheque for £33, and I ask you to accept this sum on behalf of the Board of Trustees as my further contribution to the Centenary Fund, 1944. I attach no condition whatsoever to the gift except to ask that, if the Board of Trustees agree, the Centenary Fund should be made the initial capital of a learned or scientific society to be called the Ghana Academy of Science to be set up as early as possible, say in the year of our attaining self-g~vernment, which I hope will be in March 1954" ten years after the Centenary of the Bond. It must be a source of great delight to you, as it is to me, iliat 49 we have now nearly attained the first and second of the three-fold plan we set before us in the dark and uncertain days when we dreamt of the complete liberation of our land politically, economic- ally and culturally. By the radical changes in the constitution since we founded the U.G.c.c. six years ago, the political aim of self-government is soon to be attained; by the establishment of a Gold Coast Bank this year the national aim of economic independence is also at our doorstep. But our politicians, most of whom condemn learning and culture, have as yet not heard the still small voice of philoso- phy without which men's mighty deeds are like dross. I am aware that your pursuit of one aspect of philosophy and culture, which you call theosophy, has so completeJy weaned you away from our modern form of materialist politics that our youth of today are probably unaware of you as one of the great found- ation builders who made today's superstructure possible. Let me hope, however, that as an Academy of Science is the nearest thing to theosophy, your astral soul may permit you to touch on this earth, and that you will take early steps to get the Ghana Academy of Science established, and so put the crown over our long hours of labour and sacrifice for the land. Believe me to be, Yours very sincerely, J . B. DANQUAH. 13 BICAMERAL LEGISLATURE Ref. No. 314jP/53 23rd June, 1953. Nene Azzu Mate Kale, M.B.E., MLA. Konor of Manya Krobo, Odumasi Krobo. Dear Konor, On the lIth September 1944, I wrote you two letters No. 619/P j 44 and No. 522 / Pj 44 in relation to the Native Authority Bill of that year. Going through my file I find that letter No. 619 in 50 which I gave a full statement of my views of the Bill runs into more than 3 pages. The copy I have on my file, however, finishes at puge 3 (paragraph 15), and there is nothing left on my file to show how I concluded my letter to you. I should be grateful if you would cause your clerk to look over your back files and send me a complete copy of my letter No. 619. And may I refer to another subject which has been exercising my mind of late. Information reaches me that you spoke strongly against the idea of a second chamber being set up for the Gold Coast based on our tradition of Youth and Elders. I hope my information is wrong. But if it is not, I would like you to consider that a second Chamber for the Gold Coast can very well cut out the Chiefs, and be simply a Senate of elderly statesmen and mer- chants and Government Officials or nominees, as it is the case in Jamaica. I am told that it is your view that Chiefs must stand out of politics entirely and therefore a second chamber must be re- jected if it would mean putting Chiefs into the second chamber and to expose them to political targetting. I do not want to pass judgement on the allegations reaching me. as they may not be true reports. But I would like you to note that for the next 25 years (I said so at Achimota in 1950, but I would reduce it to .15 years) with present drift of affairs in politics, politics are going to be centred around the possible elimination of Chiefs or liquidation of chieftaincy, and if the Chiefs are not pre- pared to meet that struggle face to face, they can expect the fate that met every aristocracy that refused to do what aristocracy did to stand up strenuously for their rights and not to stand aloof until they are completely forgotten or 'forbidden', as happened in France. With my warm regards and best wishes, Yours very sincerely, J. B. DANQUAH. N.B. The information was not passed on to me by a Chief but by a non-chief who took part in your discussions. 51 14 110 ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOND OF 1844 14th July, 1953. The Editor, African Morning Post, Accra. Sir. Apparently your Tom Pry has not read my motion 1 nor taken the trouble to read my speech. If he did, he would clearly under- stand that I do not, by my amendment, set a date line in the sense he uses the term in his "Live Letter" to me in your issue of July 14. As I understand it, "kpodziem'J" is a date line. A father fixes it as the day the child would be outdoored. If, as Tom Pry sug- gests, one fixes a day for a child and the event does not happen, the child would be greatly disappointed. But laying a foundation stone for a new house is not a date line. At least, if I fail to do so on the date fixed by myself, for myself. and of myself, the dis- appointment, if any, will be mine and mine alone. And in the circumstance, there is no real disappointment, for the day was appointed by myself, and it is in my power to appoint another day earlier or later - an act of my own will. My motion does not say the U.K. Goyernment (a third party) should declare us free on March 6, 1954. It says we should declare ourselves free and independent on March 6, 1954. If, for any assignable reason, such as objection from the N.T's, we do not want that day, we can appoint another day, say tomorrow, or a month hence, or three years hence. It makes no real difference what day we choose, but I prefer that historic day, the 110th anni- versary of the Bond of 1844. The great thing is that it must be an The followIng Is the full text of the motton In question : .. THAT THIS ASSEMBLY. HAVING DISCUSSED THE GOVERNMENT'S WHITE PAPER ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM, DO AUTHORISE GOVERNMENT TO NOTIFY HER MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM THAT IN PURSUANCE OF THE GENERAL DEMAND OF THE CHIEFS AND PEOPLE OF THE GOLD COAST FOR A SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENT STATE WITHIN THE COMMONWEALTH, A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE GOLD COAST SHALL BE MADE BY THE LE.GISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ON MARCH 6, 1954: AND THE GOLD COAST GOVERNMENT IS FURTHER AUTHORISED TO TAKE ALL NECESSARY AND PRACTICABLE STEPS TO SECURE RECOGNITION BY THE UNITED KINGDOM GOVERNMENT, IN AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT, OF THE GOLD COAST AS A SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENT STATE WITHIN THE COMMONWEALTH AS A DOMINION", 52 act of our own will - our decision, not some one's, a "father's" or "master's" decision. The real point of interest which those opposed to the Opposi- tion amendment have not raised and could be raised with real benefit is this : Can we be certain that any Great Power, say United Kingdom, or United States, or United Soviet Socialist Republic (Russia) or France or India would recognise our declaration to make it effective internationally? Because, until our Declaration of Independence is recognised by a Great Power, or by even one of the nations of Africa, such as Egypt, or Liberia, or Ethiopia, it remains a de facto act and not de jure. And that is where the second part of our motion comes in : That our Government should be authorised to take all necessary and practicable steps to get our great Master and professing friend, Great Britain, to give us that recognition. And we of the Opposition, including the Party, are fully con- vinced that Great Britain will be persuaded to do it because, if she hesitates and temporizes over the question, India or United States may jump ahead of Britain and do it, thus leaving our old friend of the United Kingdom at a great disadvantage. ... In the event, Her Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom, whose country has a great many stakes in this country, would become not the first friend of the New Ghana, but its second or third friend .. .. Be certain Britain would like to avoid that. It is. as can be seen clearly, a scheme that requires diplomatic skill of the highest order to effectuate. But it is better than wait- ing, cap in hand, at the doorsteps of No. 10 Downing Street, to beg Winston Churchill (What we have we hold) to let off his hold on the Gold Coast for us to become free. It is my own view that to secure self-government by forcing our will on the United Kingdom will accord us a higher other- respect and self-respect than if we went abegging for it. I person- ally hate begging or being specifically obliged to anybody, least so Great Britain, our country's great oppressor. Yours 'faithfully, J. B. DANQUAH. 53 15 TAWIA ADAMAFIO - "NKRUMAH IS OUR MAN" 23rd September. 1953. The Editor. African Morning Post. Accra. Sir. Tawia Adamafio spoilt his relatively excellent analysis of the political situation in the Municipality of Accra by his confession that what the voters of Accra meant by the verdict of the polls is: "Nkrumah is our man". That attitude. I am afraid. is the present curse of this country. It will continue to be its curse and its damnation so long as voters .:hoose people to our Assemblies and Councils not because such people have a good policy. but because they accept the "Welbeck- ian" idea of blind and unquestioning adulation of a person - howsoever excellent that person may appear in their eyes. I must confess myself to have been one of those residents of Accra who showed little interest in the recent Municipal election because I could see quite a number of the voters of Accra were as yet unready for a serious talking to. Perhaps I am so much to blame for that state of Accra's mind as anyone of Accra's seven thousand men "all the knees of wbom have not yet bowed unto Baal". Perhaps Accra yet awaits its Elijah. or is it Elisha? But I was not a little abashed to notice that despite the fact that the Chief of the Imperial General Staff of the Mosquito Army has made Accra his GHQ during the last three years of c.P.P.'s militant occupation of the Metropolis. all but one or two of the C.P.P. candidates were returned to the Council without the voters paying the least respect to the Headquarters Command of the Mosquito Army's very noticeable invasion of Accra by night as well as, even. by day. But, perhaps. I misjudge the voters of Accra in this respect. Nearly 700/0 of Accra's voting population stayed away from the recent election - and that, if I may say so, is as good as Elijah's 7,000. Perhaps their idea is that the c.P.P. having already opened 54 our flanks to make the Mosquito Invasion possible, through their carelessness and neglect, the same party should be sent back to the Council to clear the Augean Stables - sent back to power to eitber clear out the enemy or remain to be completely defeated. We of the Congress in Akim Abuakwa did that in the last local council elections by yielding all to the C.P.P. The results are already bearing a rich harvest. As to Adamafio's prediction that "at this rate" of the adula- tion or exaltation of a person against policy, the c.P.P. would next year clear the 103 Assembly seats, does not the main reason lie in the fact that it is so desired by the c.P.P. and that with the c.P.P. and other advantages at their command they intend to use every possible means, fair or foul, to achieve that end? Is it not the avowed c.P.P. desire that none but their own should have a say in the affairs of the country? Do they not jubi- late when their opponents are booed and stoned and shouted down at public meetings, even within the precincts of the Legislative Assembly? And has not Gbedemah sought to justify that by say- ing in the Assembly that they do it in England and therefore it should be done here? If it is the desire of the c.P.P. that other people's voice should be heard and that all people should enjoy true freedom, why do some of them organise hooligans to drown that voice whenever it is raised? Adamafio is an intelligent person and sees as well as I do that the spectre of dictatorship, or one Party Government, looms large over our Gold Coast horizon. "At this rate" of blind adula- tion, can we ever hope to stop the coming of party dictatorship if we continue to believe that what counts is the person and not his policy? But I have never lost my faith in the Gold Coast man as a sensible person, and nothing that has happened has been adequate to alter that faith. From the facts there are still available in Accra 70% of the voters who would appear to be waiting for a strong party able to meet the c.P.P. on its own terms. I promise Adamafio that they will get it in a day not far distant, and with a big surprise. Yours faithfully, J. B. DANQUAH. 55 \\ 11,\ The 1954 OPPosition Members of the Legislative Assembly. Sitting (from left to right) : Kwesi Lamptey, Dr. J . B. Danquah, Magnus Sampson and R . S. Blay. Standing (left to right), Kot! AmpOnsinn the same tunc. onl) hoping that people \\ould thlOl- ou r tunc v.a~ ~\\ccter. You will remember that when. at the Labadl Conference of De<:ember, 19<;2, I put foJ'\\, rd a radical polic) of independence. you and 1r . hoft BahJ were inclined to oppose it. In the ne:o::t weel- the CP P. Dckrat ~ onfcrenc' sci/cd upon it and made it their own and now it j, In eVLr) body' m(1ulh, even in the Briti,b pe pic's mouth as our ne t goal My poem on the subjed of in· dcpendenC' puhli hed in the ColJ C" au Oherl'cr \\as the subjcct of mu h bitter adlt:r e comment by you and other, and 1 r call viVidly that >ou and Ir. Bat a calJeu on me It) per'llJde me to abandon ~lIch a fJdical pl hc),. I am, toay tbe lea t, sr II ing imp::llient with the to cautious approach to a PL)itC) of out and out radicali m 'ow that ~ rumah. the agitator. i. in ollic<: a re ponsible ruler. tl'e only real counter· blast is not to s lk his own language in a s\' tel' form, but to hit harder than he can Ill)\\' do, and dCl'i,e ,I radical relic} I\hich he C1nnot and dare nOI t ueh hi hand. TUlllah has captured the m3"CS abo by his talk 3nd pretence of "c mmon man", Ther.:: are other re'pon<;es in the communIty 1\ hich may be scn'itive to orne other basic appeal to s~ntiment I Iwpe \\C find \1 hat this is _ But thi\ is a far CT) I Jour call for £5 a month t \Ianj, p:lfty funds. I d not Ihinl- T can 'a ve tbe party hy paying that sum m~nthly. and, hc,;jdes b. ing c\)f"))'Julsor}. I an't agree Il) pay ing it. \ ours sincerely, B. 0-\ Ql J\H N Tl; The truth is that Dr. Danquah ~ as never bappy \\ ith the Icaucr~lllp of the Ghana ongress Party. \\ hich \ a~ formed out of the [limp of the II Ge.e. HK.A. 6R 20 THE POOR COCOA FARMER Hotel Tudor, 304 East 42nd Street, New York, N.Y. 8th October, 1954. The Editor, Ashanti Times, Obuasi, Gold Coast. Sir, Your leader writer commenting on my article "New Slavery in Ghana" rightly refers to the dangers of "gradual imposition of economic slavery as opposed to freedom of economic action", and emphasizes the need for industry being "safeguarded against poli- tical exploitation from economic pressure". He, however, rejects my protest against the Government depriving cocoa producers wholly of the legal ownership of the total of any rise in price above £260 per ton, a form of bulk blocking of income which he des- cribes as a "levy". The reasons offered by him in support of this bulk blocking or "levy" are, to say the least, depressing. He appears to believe that cocoa producers deserve to be singled out as a group for de- privation of that higher level of income because of "the disinclina- tion of individual farmers to expend on capital investment and provide for future expansion." He believes that direct taxation on individual farmers is difficult to administer, and asks: "How many cocoa farmers pay Income Tax?" He appears convinced tbat "an appropriate tax on their (producers') profits from cocoa, at today's prices, would probably amount to much the same as the present levy by Government. .. " In a grand finale he concludes that my comparison of the effect of this imposition on producers with what would mean to other industries if their incomes above a certain level were also blocked, seems "somewhat to justify the levy on the cocoa farmers as bringing the charges on that industry in line with that imposed on other businesses and producers in the country". Not being an economist, and not being informed that anyone in the Gold Coast is in possession of accurate figures of the amount of each capital invested by cocoa farmers in the purchase of land, 69 the planting and care of cocoa, the loss of the old farms through swollen shoot, the purchase of new land for new farms, the wait of seven years for the first full yield, etc., etc., I am not in a position to equate the unknown "£x" of Cost of Production with the known "£x" of Price of Cocoa today to enable me to state categorically that at today's prices the producers are earning "profits" on their unknown "£x" of capital investment of, say, the last 16 years, i.e. the war period plus ten years after. What the whole world knows, and what the Government are convinced of, is that the farmers are heavily in debt, that their cocoa farms have been heavily mortgaged, and that even with the price at 72/ - a load they need to be relieved with an elaborate system of loans, otherwise they would go under. It is inconceiv- able that Government would embark on this loan adventure were they not convinced from irrefutable evidence that, far from making profits, the farmers were groaning under an unendurable yoke of debt. Far be it from me to deny that the two other major industries of the country, commerce and mining, are paying heavy taxes and that "in some cases (they) pay well over half their profits in direct taxation and duties". But the facts do not support your leader writer's other suggestion that the "levy" recently imposed by the 1954 Amendment was a way of "bringing the charge on that in- dustry in line with the levy imposed on other businesses and pro- ducers in the country". Being away from home, I cannot lay my hands on accurate facts and figures; but I recall that a year or two ago. I believe in the 1953 - 54 Estimates, it was disclosed that the mercantile firms were unable to pay an estimated income tax of £600.000 which Government had hoped could be paid by them that year. On the other hand, in that year due mainly to the 1951 Cocoa Duty and Development Fund Ordinance, Government earned so much reve- nue that they were able to declare a surplus of £16.000,000. Under the 1954 Amendment, the members of the industry which gave the Government its millions of revenue, plus an extra £16,000,000 surplus, are being called upon again, despite the Government's knowledge that they are in debt and in need of loans, to shoulder an additional imposition, an impounding or confiscation of the so-called windfall of a rise in price above the 70 fixed and immutable figure of £260 per tOll. Is it a sign of the absence of "gradual imposition of economic slavery a oppo ed to freedom of economic action" or of "political exploitation from er...onomic pressure" for the peasant producers to be called upon to accept a stationary price of 72/ - a load for four years with the consolation that they could stave off their impoverished condition by the dismal prospect of a 6% loan from money which is their own and which could have been paid to them as the price of their produce? Your leader writer complains that when other industries pay export duties and income tax to Government, "no part of these funds which are appropriated, is used in stabilizing prices at a sound economic level for the benefit of the industry." The stabilization fund is not created out of taxes or export duties. It is part of the farmers' own money kept for them by an agency created for them by Government in 1947. Never in the history of the land of Ghana has Government paid a stabilization price to the farmers out of the public revenue. 1954 is a year of Gold Coast cross roads. We have reached a stage in the nationalist movement towards liberation when hard decisions must be taken, hard decisions for economic liberation. The 1948 cross ro~ds was political. A direction was taken then from which neither the Imperial Power nor the protestant jitter- bugs at home could run fast enough to turn us back. Today, the goal is nearly reached, though many a boulder, such as Togoland "integration", is being thrown in our way to turn the long jump into obstacle race. It only needs a torch to let the people see with their plain eyes what is happening to obstruct the Gold Coast libe- ration movement, the perfervid effort of the last remnants of the Imperial Power to use some of our own men in power to keep postponing the day of doom. But the creative act of 1948 cannot be obliterated. The liberation of Ghana is a creative fact; the giving of flesh and blood to it, the making of it real, depends on an apprehended possibility, the simple strategy of radical action. The problem is different in the economic field. Today we are faced by our Government with a choice between two way~ of life: The Government to become the principal possessor of wealth (land and capital), or individuals to own their own wealth (land and capital), the Government taking portions, by direct or indirect 71 taxation, to run the countr~'s services and to stimulate develop- ment from year to year. By some of its recent Acts and Ordinances it is clear that our Government would favour the first type of fiscal policy, namely, the Government to possess the wealth not only for its annual needs but to be kept in a series of reserves and surplus funds held on the promise that they would, in a near or distant future, be used to service the needs of the general public. This policy implies the individual, especially the individual peasant farmer, being starved of the urge to initiative and of room for expansion. Its solution by Government is the offer to feed such perishing individuals with 6% loans, a situation which Imperial and declining Rome met with "bread and games", until at last Rome fell, and the whole works collapsed. With our country passing rapidly from a tribal system of rule to national government on the modern pattern, and with our needs and supplies passing from subsistence to cash economy, one would suggest that our new and emerging society should demand above all a creative process of equable expansion based, not on the economy of the niggardly one talent from fear of losing which our peasants may, like the man in the parable, go and hide it "in the earth", but on an economy of the five talents, placing in the hands of our people large incomes which would leave them with surplus or idle money which they can put "to the exchangers", i.e. which they can "expend on capital development and provide for expan- sion." Indeed, saving myself from the charge of preaching, I would suggest that one of the principal lessons of the parable of five talents is that a good master is he who encourages independence and self-rule for the individual. "Well done, good and faithful servant", said the master to the servant who multiplied five talents into ten; "thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord". We cannot hope to teach our peasants the habits of indepen- dence and of individual initiative if we compel them perpetually to depend on Government for loans to meet a hand to mouth existence. And, in the nature of the case, it is futile expecting a man in debt to save or to invest in "capital development and pro- vide for expansion." Loans to farmers are inevitable because they 72 are in need, but we should evolve a policy which would place farmers in the position of being able to give loans themselves from a surplus of funds in their hands. Nature has not ordained that Gold Coast cocoa farmers should always be poor. Quite tbe con- trary. By their own efforts they have created tbe world's greatest market for cocoa, and the labourer is at least worthy of his hire. Let the farmers have money and prosper. But it may be asked: Is it safe for peasant proprietors who ought to maintain their present level of one talent existence on 72/ - a load to be allowed suddenly to blossom forth into Croesuses at 150 / - a load ? Would it not lead to inflation? Personally, this talk of inflation leaves me cold. I am at pre- sent in New York, where no one is surprised to see a fa rmer dr iving his own car and where a worker, such as a hotel attendant, is paid 45 dollars a week in wages, roughly £56 a month. New York society has not, in consequence, broken down and tbose wbo de- serve to be richer than these are still rich, but there is an assurance that each human being shall at least have enough to live on a toler- able, even comfortable, standard of life. If inflation is to be avoided, are inequalities to be perpetuated? Under present conditions are costs evened out for the peasant and the Minister? The. distribution of the power called wealth, ex- pressed in the ability to educate one's children to the highest university or professional level, ability to improve one's living conditions from primitive to enlightened type of life, of shelter and home, ability to co=and a greater variety of food and goods for the family and its dependents, and, above all, the ability to com- mand health and leisure and to enjoy the goodness, the arts and beauties of life - the distribution of this ability among the people who now possess it , and who guard it jealously, and the many who are at present almost wholly and totally deprived of it, may cause a revolution in the standards of living of the general mass of the people. Indeed, the Gold Coast revolution will not have worked itself out to completion without the political being succeeded by the economic and social revolution. But that revolution, inevitable as it appears to be, can be made as painless and noiseless as was our political revolution, provided our Government would take its courage in its hands and turn its face from its vested-interest-advisers centred in the academic 73 school of economic thought in the Gold Coast today, and look for a native and creative solution in the fertility and freshness of that native genius which. when it set to work in the political and cons- titutional field, caught the British power unawares and surprised the Imperial colossus. In the earlier portions of your leader writer's article. he posed certain questions on the political aspects of our struggle from libe- ration in the earlier years of 1943 to 1949. He seems to hold the view that the British Authorities were justified in the policy which would have separated Ashanti and the Northern Territories from the Colony proper. each Region to shepherd its own Regional Government. (The old policy of 'divide and rule'). In my personal opinion. the British Authorities. after delay- ing for eight years too long, acted wisely in abandoning that policy "due to the pressure brought to bear from the native leaders in Ashanti and the Northern Territories." The effect of that pressure which obtained its stimulus from the south is the creation of a unitary government for the entire Gold Coast to which the British in their wisdom have given their blessing in more ways than one. But, if by reason of the new and black-faced imperialism confronting Ashanti and the Northern Territories today, after only four years of certain Africans in control of government, there is a resurgence in the two Regions. in particular, Ashanti, of a desire to re-consider their position, and, on the principle of self-determi- nation, to suggest a new type of alignment of power in the Gold Coast. there is no principle of the constitution upon which that right to self-determination can be denied to them. Speaking for myself I should be sorry if the 'miracle' of our Gold Coast unitary Government which, contrary to the general belief. was not a single-handed achievement but was brought about by the assiduous planning of many minds for many years. should be supplanted with a new regime based on the movement for fede- ral government in Ashanti today. Ashanti. for one, decided to join hands with the Gold Coast Colony upon certain understand- ings. If those understandings are abused or not respected by those in power today. it may be because they consider governing a people is cheap. especially with a people easily moved by the pangs of centuries of pain and suffering for something to liberate them. 74 But there is no royal road to liberation. Like every creative act, it is the work of genius, and the Ashanti and the Northern Territories, as well as the Colony, building upon the traditions and understanding of the past, must pull together for the native genius to shine and find a way to solution. Ashanti, the buffer between the Colony and the North, is too important a territory to be treated as a mere region of the country. Gold Coast self-gov- ernment stands or falls by the Ashanti stand. For this reason I think we should be warned against any precipitate action or policy which may determine the Ashantis to re-consider their position ere independence itself is achieved. Yours faithfully, J . B. DANQUAH. 21 AFRICAN ISM IN THE UNITED STATES United Nations (Room 919) Department of Public Information, New York, N.Y. P. O. Bempong, Esq.. 15th November, 1954. President, Exploratory Committee, Organization for Akyem Abuakwa Citizens living in Accra, P.O. Box 917, Accra. Dear Mr. Bempong, New York and the United States are so far away from home and so different from the Gold Coast that the only way I can keep in touch with the home land is to write to friends and to let them know that all is going on well with me. First of all, I would like you to convey my thanks officially to the Abuakwa Union of Accra for the great send-off they gave me before my departure, and to say that the imprint of it in my me- mory is still fresh. I hope to see the Union still active and in good function on my return, which I hope will be some time in Decem- ber. 75 I have checked up with many of the schools and Universities nere and I find that we are losing a great deal by cutting off the United States educated type from the development of our new culture. There is talent here as also experience, particularly in technology, of the kind we need most at home today, and I wonder when our people at home, those in authority, are going to wake up to it. I have met two Akim Abuakwa students here, both from Asiakwa, and they are worlOng and attending school, and, being two brothers, own one car between them. One is doing geology and the other mechanical engineering. Mr. Bredu Pabi, who is from Tafo, is at present away in Canada; but I met many people who have been attending his Twi classes, and many of them greeted me W\iJth "wo ho te de.n, m'adamfo". There is a new spirit of Africanism in the United States amongst the Negroes and I sin- cerely believe that we ought to cultivate it. The American Univer- sities have a different system but the products are as good as ours, sometimes better. Well, I do hope you are keeping well, and that your work and your union are in good shape. Give my regards to your wife and let everybody know that I still feel that nationalism is the finest thing that could have happened to the Gold Coast and that it is good that AlOm Abuakwa playa great part in that - ism. Yours sincerely, J. B. DANQUAH. 22 TIlE NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT 18th February, 1955. The Editor, The Times, Printing House Square, London, B.C. 4. Sir, Quite a number of people in Britain appear perturbed by the recent turn of political events in the Gold Coast. Some seem pain- 76 fully surprised why anyone in the Gold Coast should think of opposing the Government. Others have described the opposition as inevitable and healthy but dislike its regionalised character - Togoland, the Northern Territories and, now, Ashanti. Apparently most people in England have, during the last six years, based their judgement of Gold Coast events upon what was dished out to them from a single pipe line. That is unfortunate. Window-dressing is an old art, but the robust Gold Coast character does not stand its one-sidedness for long. Opposition to the Nkrumah regime does not date from 1954, nor even from the beginning of its first government - in 1951. The regime had a bad start, and opposition was inherent in it from the start. It dates from June 12, 1949, when, without resigning from membership of the Working Committee of the United Gold Coast Convention, Dr. Nkrumah broke the national united front to form the Convention People's Party, with its membership drawn from the United Gold Coast Convention. The prophetic comment by The Times that the breach in the United front will enable the British "to capture the initiative" has been amply fulfilled. The British have never let go their capture. When one hears a Minister in Dr. Nkrumah's present Government accuse the "Imperialists", namely, the British, with instigating the present liberation movement in Ashanti, one must somehow sympat'hise with the captives. If one recalls that during the General Election of 1951, when Africans were first to assume power, British-born political officers openly instigated African electors to vote against the present writer and his colleagues who were opposed to the pros- pective ('aptives, one must needs ask: What price the captivity? The truth, of course, is that, despite the difficulty of news of it rcaching London and abroad, the original stern and unbending nationalist spirit has never died down. It escaped capture. Driven underground by the rigorous propaganda machinery of modern press, radio and "despatches" which give an ugly pic- ture that any form of opposition to the African regime is prompted from the sordid motive of envy for office, the general outcry against bribery and corruption and other forms of abuse and misuse of power had to go on unheeded. There could be no voice to chal 77 lenge these practices which was not already conceived as tainted by that easy cover of "envy". As if no Gold Coast man outside the c.P.P. ever entered natianal politics for the sheer love of cauntry! The rabust Gald Caast character could nat stand far long this mean trick without at last kicking. In consequence, erruptions have braken out where valcanic mavements were least expected - the North, Tagaland and Ashanti. At present all is quiet at the Calony front, but the liberation mavement has been re-barn and is raIling down sauth fram the North - the Northern Territaries and Ashanti - while at the same time the United Natians Trust Territary af Togaland cantinues to. puncture "the saft under-belly af the Axis Pawers" - the Captar and its Captive. It is wholly cantrary to the facts to suggest, as was dane in the editarial af Wednesday, that "The Ashanti feel that they have been ignared and excluded fram a fair share in the fruits of office". Quite the contrary. In Dr. Nkrumah's first Cabinet af eight Africans (with three expatriates and the Gavernar), two Ministe- rial posts were held by Ashanti Members: Mr. E. O. Asafu- Adjaye, Minister of Lacal Gavernment and Hausing (a Tradi- tianal Member af the Legislative Assembly) and Mr. Archie Casely Hayfard, Minister of Agriculture (an elected member of the Assembly far Kumasi, capital of Ashanti). The Chief Whip in that first Gavernment, Mr. Krabo Edusei, is Ashanti. He held the substantive past af Ministerial Secretary to. the Ministry af Justice. Twa other Ministerial Secretaries were Ashanti. One af them, Mr. Jantuah, is naw Minister af Agriculture in the present Gov- ernment. Altagether Ashanti has naw three Ministers in the new Cabinet of 12. And that is a fair enough share. Apart from these and other Ashantis halding juniar affices in the present Government, there is hardly a public corporation under the Gav- ernment, such as the Cocaa Marketing Board or the Industrial Development Corparatian, of which at least a quarter of the membership are nat Ashantis. Campared to that, Accra, capital of the Colony, had Dr. Nkrumah to. represent it in the Ministry af 1951 with anly ane native barn Accra man, Mr. T. Huttan Mills, now Deputy Gald Caast Cammissioner in Londan, holding a Ministerial post. A second native born Accra man is in the second Ministry, Mr. Aka Adjei. 78 The people of Ashanti have said that they are asking for a federal in place of a unitary system of government and for a Con- stituent Assembly to determine that and other vital constitutional questions, because (1) the economy of their nation (not 'tribe', for Ashanti is composed of several tribes) is being wrecked by the policies adopted by the c.P.P. Government, e.g. the low price of £3 12/ - a load for cocoa where about £15 a load is obtainable; (2) their tradition and culture are being undermined by the policy of the present government, e.g. the Local Govern- ment Ordinance; (3) bribery and corruption, tolerated on a colossal scale, are corrupting the morals of the people and undermining the strength and integrity of the public service; (4) Government is deliberately fostering the growth of mis- government and mal-administration by suppressing the report of a public enquiry, appointed by the Govern- ment, in respect of mismanagement and other acts of ill- repute charged by the Government's Minister in charge of that Department (the C.W.E. Report); (5) the Government's refusal to appoint a Commission of Enquiry into serious allegations of corruption and bribery made against members of the Party in power in respect of the Cocoa Purchasing Company and the Cocoa Market- ing Board, is unhealthy for a new nation with a new system of democratic government; and (6) the Government's approach to the constitutional question has all the marks of a desire for the Government itself to dictate a constitution for the country without consult- ing the people and the Chiefs in a Constituent Assembly. Not all these are exclusive Ashanti questions. Every national newspaper in the country bemoans the fright- ful situation. What else could the people of Ashanti do but revive the National Liberation Movement? That it is 'national' is un- doubted. That it was started in Kumasi is beside the point. The C.P.P. was started in Accra. The u.G.C.C. was started in Salt- pond. What makes it 'national' is that others besides Ashantis are members, and the objectives are national. '}9 In the context of the contemporary Gold Coast situation. it hardens. and does not ease. the position to refer to the shanti as "cruel", or that they are "a proud and cruel people". Wbat people are not cruel? In any case, after 55 years of peace and 'colonial' friendship, cruelty is bardly a good name to give to a gallant enemy. Nor does it help the Gold loast situation to stir up feeling between the Colony and Ashanti by suggesting that the Ashantis " have always feuded with the Coastal tribes". The first shanti war agai nst Denkyira was in about 1699. The first British adven- turers to land on the Gold Coast. Sir John Tintam and Sir William Fabian, did so on 8th April. 1482. i.e. 217 year before the first Ashanti war with a coast tribe. The last Ashanti war (1900) was provoked by the British Governor Sir Frederick Hodgson. who, visiting Kumasi to ask for an indemnity of £64.000. after the e:l:ile of King Prempeh I in 1896, asked. in a pee h addre sed to the Ashanti nation. that U1e Golden Stool of hanti bould be given to him, as representative of the Queen, to sit on. t thi a woman. Yaa Asantewaa of Ejisu. called the shanti nation to a tion. and besieged the Governor in the Fort. Coa t tribe were callro in by tbe Briti b to a id in that wa r - the la t "feud" to be fought be- tween Ashanti and the Colony. Painfu l as it is to read of thi harl-ing ba k to 0- ailed Irib.l1 feud of long ago. every Gold oast on will bow hi h ad in shame to read from The Times of February I . "Until last year. it should be recalled. the Cabinet retained a minority of European Mini ter wh were able to warn within the four wall of tht; Coun i Chamber again t fal ~ tep. in the 1 'tion. all th Europeans. including the Governor. have from the Cabinet. The era of dual c ntrol i their fir t 010 flight the Nrican Mini ters difficultie ". As a matter of fa t the Governor i them (0 a count in respect f their Cabinet de i i n a House Ma tcr and his Prefect.. t this. tll v rn r',:' the G vern r pre ides, not the Prime Mini ter. In pia' 80 control we now have dyarchy - two Cabinets. What price this captivity? Yours faithfully, J. B. DANQUAH. 23 AMBASSADOR HOTEL Ref. 58/LA/55 8th March, 1955. The Honourable, K. A. Gbedemah, M.L.A.. Minister of Finance, Ministry of Finance, Accra. Dear Mr. Gbedemah, It has given me considerable pain to learn that your Govern- ment gives priority to a hotel in Accra over a Parliament House, and that while you consider that the scheme for a Parliament House might be taken up in a few years time, "at the moment", you are turning your attention "to more important things in the interest of the country". I have often expressed publicly my disagreement with your Government in quite a number of its policies, but this decision to relegate to the background a House of Parliament for Ghana and to advance the scheme for a hotel for the occupation of foreign and ,other visitors. gives me such profound sorrow that I cannot help but convey my feelings to Government personally. Can it be said that the orientation of the mind of the Govern- ment of the Gold Coast is still characterised by the foreign tradi- tion, and that the comfort of 100 foreign visitors to Accra is con- sidered more important than the comfort of our 104 legislators, not to mention the prestige and dignity of a suitable Ghana Par- liament House to serve as a central and mighty symbol of Ghana's independence? At the present time the Assembly meets in a theatre huilt originally for the production of Sir Arnold Hudson's "Zachariah Fee", a Christmas pantomime. It is, in my view, neither comPlQ- 81 dious for its present use, nor dignified enough in structure or in conception for the Parliament of a people liberated, or about to be liberated, "in the foreseeable future", from imperial rule. The original plan made part of the Five-Year Development Plan (1951 - 56) for a Parliament House suited to Ghana was dropped on the excuse by your Government that owing to the rise in cost of the Development Plan the sum required, £500,000 could not be obtained for it. Today no less than £750,000 is being squeezed out of the Treasury to build a hotel during the plan period, although no such thing was scheduled in the five-year Plan. Frankly, I am dismayed by the Government's decision. All that I can do now is earnestly to appeal to Government to aban- don the idea of building a hotel. I am not, of course, against the building of hotels. Government could sponsor a loan to suitable persons to build one in Accra with say l35 rooms, with others in Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, possibly Cape Coast, Tamale and Ho, with between 50 and 75 rooms each. But, above all these, the Parliament House must have priority. Government has its chance to stimulate the country's imagination on the dignity of independence by planning to build for Ghana immediately a Parliament House worthy of the generation that struggled for the country's liberation. In my view, future generations must be given an opportunity to receive from our hands a concrete symbol of the mighty con- cept of independence entertained by the present generation who, at a great cost, won for Ghana the struggle for liberty. There is a political side to the question upon which I would rather not expatiate, but would simply ask: What would 100 foreign and other visitors staying at the Ambassador Hotel think of Accra if, on going out at night, they saw 100 citizens of Accra without shelter, with some spending the night on the streets? If Government is really concerned with more important things in the interest of the country, why not start (1) To house Accra's slum dwellers, and (2) to destroy its great army of mosquitoes? Or is the Ambassador Hotel more important than Malaria? Yours sincerely, J. B. DANQUAH. 82 24 BANKOLE TIMOTHY Ref. 113 jP&Aj 55 14th April, 1955. The Editor, Daily Graphic, Accra. Sir, One begins to doubt whether the human race would ever attain the divinity of truth, to which it is entitled, to gather from Bankole Timothy's Notebook of April 14, 1955, that, after watch- ing the Gold Coast scene for four years, the truthful impression he has gained is that "The Prime Minister has, both in London and in this country lamented the absence of such an Opposition (a strong and well-organised Opposition which under the workings of a democratic country, may be expected to form an alternative Government in case the Government of the day falls)". True enough, the Prime Minister did appear to shed tears in London in 1951 and at Cape Coast in 1955 that there was not a strongly organised opposition. But is it not true, too greatly true, that whenever the Prime Minister was presented with what looked like a desire on the part of any persons to organise a strong party, he straightway performed fetish and Christian rites to have the new party buried alive? Did he not declare in the Assembly that he was not prepared to recognise, as the official Opposition, the Northern People's Party and its supporters who were opposed to his policies in tlle Assembly and in the country? Is not Bankole Timothy aware that the Prime Minister and his supporters have declared, whenever it suited them, that the country was united in the C.P.P. and that, until independence was atta ined, there was no need for any other parties? Have they not said that it is unpatriotic and a betrayal to disagree with the c.P.P. and its Prime Minister sitting on top of the coconut tree? Were the Prime Minister really inclined to favour the strength- ening of strongly organised non-c.p.P. parties, would he have tolerated the exclusion of the Leader of the official Opposition in 83 the Assembly (Mf. S. D. Dombo) from the Finance Committee of the Assembly and the Public Accounts Committee of the same Assembly? Can it be said that there is true recognition of Parlia- mentary Government where the official Opposition Leader is treated with scant, if any, respect in the councils or committees of the Assembly? Did the launching of "Operation 104" during the general election indicate that the Prime Minister and his henchmen would "lament" the failure of their own Party to monopolise the 104 seats in the Assembly? Is Parliamentary monopoly what we call democracy? Does it not smell of totalitarianism? Did the Prime Minister not declare openly that he was not sorry that the Leader of the Opposition 1 in the last Assembly was defeated at the General Election? Some people, when it suits them, say that deeds speak louder than words. Truth, properly defined, means correspondence of a statement with reality. Here , both philosophy and popular thought are in agreement. It is a pity that Bankole Timothy in seeking to let his readers think that the Prime Minister is, in truth, in favour of the formation of strong and well-organized non-c.p.P. parties, failed to remind his readers that whenever an attempt was made to form such a party, the Prime Minister, both by words and in deed, opposed the new party's birth and growth. It is good to think that, in Mr. Banh.ole Timothy'S judge- ment, the present line-up of what he calls "Opposition Parties" means to have something "in common", and that what they have in common "is that they are all anti-Nkrumah and anti-C.P.P.". There is an old English proverb: "Give a dog a bad name, and hang him". Having given the name "Opposition parties" to the non-c.p.P. parties in the country, thereby suggesting that they oppose merely, and have no constructive plans, Mr. Timothy asks: "What do the Opposition parties stand for?" Answer: On his own premises can an Opposition party stand for anything but "Opposition"? The truth, of course, is that no one has formed such a thing as an Opposition Party in this country. Neither the Congress Party, the Moslem Party, the Ghana Action Party, the Ghana Dr. J. B. Danquah. 84 Nationalist Party. the Togoland Congress. the N.P.P. nor the N.L.M. has told Bankole Timothy that it has come into being in order to be in the Opposition. What they have told Mr. Bankole Timothy is what he states himself in his notebook: that their "ideologies and objectives" are not the ideologies and objectives of the c.P.P. or of Dr. Nkrumah, and that, as between themselves, they have something "in common" which entitles and enables them to perform the commendable act of "holding hands together". The Gold Coast voter. like Mr. Bankole Timothy, must know what the c.P.P. or Dr. Nkrumah stands for. Can Bankole Timothy be heard to say the "Opposition Parties" have not shown what they stand for. and at the same time to say that the Opposition Parties stand for certain "ideologies and objectives?" How did he know? To be anti-C.P.P. or to be anti·Nkrumah must mean to be pro-the-opposite of what both C.P.P. and Nkrumah stand for. For Bankole Timothy to say "Being anti-this or that all the time will not fetch them the votes; they've got to be pro-something", is to beg the question. Are the c.P.P. and Dr. Nkrumah pro-something? The public associates the c.P.P. and Dr. Nkrumah with their 1fo;l~ consider a Constituent Assembly only after but not before. Inde- pendence; their proclivity to suppress the Young Report; their proclivity to oppose the appointment of a Commission of Enquiry into allegations of bribery, corruption and nepotism in the CO~': _ ,l! • • . Marketing Board and the Cocoa Purchasing Company; their PrO·~ ~-~'1 clivity to concentrate on wasteful commitments - such as a large hotel and a large hospital, before they have counted the cost of servicing and maintenance; their proclivity to concentrate on win- dow-dress developments in Accra and other centres to the neglect of the down-to-earth needs of the masses in the big cities and in the hinterlands - housing, water, food, education; their proclivity to impoverish cocoa farmers with price at 72/ - so as to enrich the Government and its servants; and their proclivity to oppose all constmctive suggestions for stabilizing the country's constitutional and political position: to daub such suggestions as motivated by "a criminal mind", and then eventually, after months or years of wasted energy, to go back on their spit, and to lick it asking for a Select Committee, formerly condemned by them; asking for en- 85 quiry into the claim for federal system of Government, already condemned by them; asking for enquiry into the place of a second chamber, already condemned by them. These proclivities are CP.P.ish and Nkrumahish, a veritable hashish to poison democracy at its very source. Agains~~on are the positive policies of those who re- ject such proclivities~~y demand or plan in the direction of Constituent Assembly before independence; publication of the Young Report; a Commission of Enquiry into bribery and corrup- tion; down-to-earth development of the rural and municipal areas; freedom for Togolanders themselves to determine the form of government under which they would live; consideration for a fede- ral system of government as best suited to the country and as a check against dictatorship and "democratic centralism"; respect for the traditions of the country and for government to be based on recognised Ghana foundations and not on pro-communist ex- periments; statesmanship and the vision to see and plan ahead and avoid licking spits; and 150/ - a load for cocoa farmers to encour- age individual enterprise. For Bankole Timothy to pretencJ .tP.at,l)e is not aware that tho parties which do not endorse thCPrOCflvrtles<-