They came from far and near to drink from the rich fountain of knowledge bequeathed to this nation and Africa by Prof. Kofi Abrefa Busia, Prime Minister of the Republic of Ghana in the Second Republic, and to commemorate his 110th Birthday.
A Wenchi royal, Dr. Busia was born on July 11, 1913, and breathed his last on August 28, 1978. To celebrate the world renowned academic, statesman and social icon, a symposium was organised by the Busia Institute for Rural Democratic Development and the Busia Foundation at the Regency African Hotel in Accra last week, attended by the gurus and ordinary folks drawn mainly from the Busia-Danquah-Dombo tradition.
Speaker after speaker praised the vision the former Prime Minister had for the nation, particularly, his dream of developing the rural areas of Ghana to serve as a beacon of hope for the whole country, and to minimise the alarming migration of the youth from their natural habitats into the cities and urban areas.
With the original Chairman, former President John Agyekum Kufuor, unable to attend because of the many problems associated with aging, Prof. Mike Oquaye, former Speaker of Parliament, a political scientist, sociologist and religious icon in his own right, steered the function with an insightful rendition of the vision the former Prime Minister had for transforming this country.
The huge numbers in attendance meant that the original conference hall allocated for the function had to be changed at the last minute to contain everybody. Even then, a number of unfortunate guests had to stand through the presentation of speeches, spiced by the former head of government appearing on the screen with his thoughts and vision.
The event started with a powerful prayer rendered by Nana Yaa Owusu Prempeh, who virtually brought the house down. It was only natural that Akosua Busia, daughter of the deceased Prime Minister, had the last word with the closing prayer.
Without space for the Chairman’s closing remarks, Prof. Oquaye delivered his sermon from the Regent Hotel before the speakers took their turns. He spelt out in no uncertain terms that one of the greatest tragedies of the history of this nation was the senseless overthrow of the Second Republican administration by a military junta, led by then Col Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, and his National Liberation Council. The NLC failed to liberate anybody, rather, the Yentua gang pushed Ghana further into the woods.
The first speaker on the night, Dr. George Domfreh, introduced as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon, demystified the concept of devaluation, which was cited mainly for the overthrow.
According to the academic, the Busia regime devalued the cedi in order to encourage importers to bring essential commodities that had been held up as a result of the high value of the cedi at that point in time.
In modern times, devaluation has another term. The economists refer to it as demonetisation. It explains why a single United States dollar is now valued over 10 cedis in Ghana, even though Kufuor’s regime’s removal of four zeros from the national currency brought the cedi slightly higher than the American currency in its monetary policy of 2007.
Dr. Domfreh described Busia as a capitalist with a conscience, whose policies were geared towards the alleviation of the plight of the rural poor.
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, told the audience that he represented the youth policy of the Busia regime which appointed the likes of Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor Minister at the age of 30. He also praised the idea of plantations pioneered by Busia with teak.
The Minister said Dr. Busia’s regime brought about the idea of teak lumber replacing concrete in the transmission of electricity.
“At the time, this might have sounded like too far a vision to realise, since teak takes almost 10 years to mature. But, today, millions of Ghanaians are enjoying the fruits of Dr. Busia’s foresight.”
Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, Minister for Environment Science and Innovation, told the audience that it was the Busia regime that initiated compulsory maternity leave in this country, while the Member of Parliament for Okaikoi Central, constitutional Patrick Yaw Boamah, cited the former Prime Minister’s concept of development in freedom, and Parliamentary reforms to pave way to free speech and the relaxation of tension in society..
I have my own story to tell on my encounter with the man we fondly referred to as the Best University Scholar in Africa. Dr. Busia’s rural development policy impacted hugely on my holy village Ekumfi Ekrawfo in a manner that has led to the community voting overwhelmingly for the Busia-Danquah-Dombo tradition, since the advent of the Third and Fourth Republican experiments.
Ekrawfo had a poor water supply system, the people relying mainly on ponds, mainly filled by gutter water when it rained. It led to rampant guinea worm infestation. I was a victim of guinea worm infestation right from school at the basic level at Ekrawfo through my first year at Suhum Secondary Technical School.
There were considerable number of times when I missed crucial lessons as a result of guinea worm attacks.
When the Progress Party came to power in October 1969, Nana Amua Sekyi, Tufuhen of Ekumfi Edumafa, became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ekumfi, Nana Amua-Sekyi, a merchant in Takoradi at the time, was said to be reasonably resourceful. He was said to have declined his wages and allowances as a member of the legislature.
Rather, he challenged the government to add to his MP’s income to develop Ekumfi. One of the very first projects initiated under this deal was drawing treated water from the Narkwa River, two miles away at Essarkyir, for the use of the two communities.
Naturally, the laying of pipes from Essarkyir was through communal labour undertaken by the two communities. Essarkyir, I learned, refused to take part in the communal job involved, claiming that they needed no pipe borne water, because the River Narkwa, flowing along in the town, was free to use.
Naturally, Ekrawfo, without water, embraced the project diligently. Pipe borne water was extended to Ekrawfo and the perilous guinea worm infestation vanished. Since then, Ekrawfo has been forever grateful to the Busia-Danquah-Dombo tradition.
The news is that some Essarkyir residents, who rejected the idea of digging to lay the pipelines, later travelled the two-mile journey to Ekrawfo for water when the need for iced water became acute.
Busia was my hero and role-model. I was at Suhum Secondary Technical School when the Convention People’s Party of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown and the former opposition leader, Kofi Abrefa Busia, came back to Ghana and was named head of the Centre for Civic Education.
As soon as I woke up from bed as a student, I headed for the visitor’s reception room to wait for the six O’clock news from radio re-diffusion box. In the afternoon, I would make myself available for news commentaries and news, as well as analysis from the regions.
My interest then was to catch the Prime Minister delivering a speech with simple words, paying attention to the phonetics. Later I would be on the compound trying to mimic Dr. Busia on his rounds.
Needless to state that I was one of the early volunteers for the National Service Corps concept proposed by the deceased Prime Minister. After the General Certificate of Examination in 1970, while considering further educational options available at the time, I went to my uncle, Kwamina Biney, one-time Executive Chairman of Accra Great Olympics, for financial assistance. Kwamina gladly acceded to my request and added that I needed to do something while whiling away in the house.
He took me to the office of Mr. Joao Da Rocha, General Secretary of the Progress Party at the time, and asked him to find me a temporary job. The General Secretary of the party in power took me to the offices of the Star, the official mouth-piece of the party, to read proofs. The rest, they say, is history.
I am glad to note that the Nana Akufo-Addo regime, drawing its strength from the Busia-Danquah tradition, has renovated the Nkrumah Mausoleum. The Asomdwee Park, the final resting place of Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills, has also been renovated. One believes that the government would think of a fitting memorial for Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia.
Who seconded the Motion of Destiny that finally gave way for the independence of our lovely country?
I shall returm!
Ebo Quansah in Accra
