The agendum to wipe out the UP Tradition from the annals of Ghana history, is becoming very obvious, with such diabolical project, spearheaded by people like Captain Smart who will invite chronic liars to come and re-write history to suit their evil plans.
He often showcases, a certain Anokye Yaw Frimpong, who claims he is a lawyer and a historian to come and spew lies. This born and bred liar, with lies dominating his genetic make-up, speaks like a semi-literate who goes about deceiving people that he is an enlightened graduate.
Recently, Captain Smart invited Yaw Frimpong again, who among other things, claimed that:
- The National Liberation Movement (NLM) was formed because the farmers did not accept Nkrumah’s good intentions of withholding part of their cocoa proceeds to award scholarship for their children;
- The UP was founded with parties who wanted to break away from the Union, and it lost the 1956 Elections;
- B. Danquah was expelled from the UP in 1954.
- The Big Six was irrelevant and
- There were no founding fathers of Ghana, among other lies.
Below is my response to what this decorated ignoramus, who celebrates his ignorance, with such indecent pomp and pageantry, said.
1). There are four main reasons why NLM was founded. a). During his campaign for the 1951 General Elections, Nkrumah promised cocoa farmers that he would increase the producer price when elected, however after winning he reduced the producer price by a third and hedged it for over four years. This made the cocoa farmers, who were mainly from Ashanti region, very disappointed and angry.
b). Nkrumah, decided to appoint chiefs for all traditional areas in the Gold Coast. This, our traditional leaders, especially those in Ashanti region did not like and protested against.
c). The 1953 Review of electoral seats, (constituencies), by the Van Lare Commission, did not favour Ashanti region, the most populous region, which comprised, today’s Ashanti, Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions. The seats in the Colony (Western, Central and Eastern regions), were increased by seven, from 37 to 44; seats in the North, also increased by seven, from 19 to 26; seats in Trans-Volta, increased by five, from 8 to 13, while the seats, Ashanti region, were increased by only two, from 19 to 21. All of Ashanti, including both the CPP and opposition parties, strongly protested and demanded that seats in the region should be increased to 30, and,
d). The CPP youth in Ashanti were not happy with the CPP headquarters, which imposed candidates on the constituencies for the Legislative Assembly (Parliamentary). Eighty-one of the youth who refused to toe party lines were expelled.
Nkrumaists, today, know for a fact, that aside from the chiefs and cocoa farmers of Ashanti, the dissatisfied CPP youth were among those who endorsed Baffour Akoto’s NLM, and took up some leading roles in that party. They include, Antwi Kusi Asante, E.Y. Baffo, Osei Asibe Mensah, Yaw Kankam and B.K. Owusu, who were also members of the Asante Youth Association.
In February 1955, CPP political giants like Victor Owusu, R. R. Amponsah, Joe Appiah, J.C. de Graft Johnson and E. Kurankyi Taylor also defected to join the NLM.
On October 9, 1955, during a normal political argument between NLM and CPP guys, E.Y. Baffo, the chief propaganda secretary of NLM, who was once a CPP activist, was stabbed to death by Twumasi-Ankrah, the then regional propaganda secretary of the CPP. This brought about the violence in Kumasi, which has been wrongly blamed on the NLM, but never on the CPP, which drew the first blood.
That nonsensical thing about Nkrumah telling the cocoa farmers that he was keeping part of the money meant for them to establish CMB Scholarships for their wards who passed the Common Entrance Examination (CEE), does not make sense. And adding that if the farmers were paid their due, they will use the money to marry more wives and have lots of children, is an insult to all cocoa farmers.
In the first place, how many wards of cocoa farmers had CMB scholarships? Was that scholarship not extended to the North to fund free education? Did wards of CPP party activists and gurus not gain from that Scholarships? And what happened in the situation where wards of cocoa farmers failed the CEE? And must money which was supposed to be for the farmers, be used to fund other people’s children’s education? I ask.
Now if truly, Nkrumah, ever said what Anokye Yaw Frimpong is attributing to him for reasons of establishing the CMB Scholarships, why did he not retain part of the earnings of miners, to establish Mining Scholarships for their wards?
2). With the formation of the United Party, to Anokye Yaw Frimpong, who knows nothing about where his grandparents came from, to know anything about history, this is my response.
The United Party (UP) was not formed in 1956. It was formed on October 13, 1957 after independence, and the first elections it participated in was the 1960 Presidential Elections.
When the CPP Government, passed a bill, Avoidance of Discrimination Act, to come into effect in December 1957, which was to ban all parties and organizations that confined or identified only to tribal, regional or religious groups, six minority parties came together on October 13, 1957, to form a more broad-based party, the United Party (UP). They were:
a). The Togoland Congress, formed in 1951 out of a number of political parties already in existence in the indigenous Ewe areas in the Colony, and in the Trans Volta Togoland, was to intensify the campaign, which raged from the 1920’s for the unification of the British and French UN mandated trust territories of Togoland, formerly German Togoland.
b). The Anlo Youth Association, like the CPP, opposed the agenda of the Togoland Congress which sought to united only Ewes in the two mandated trust territories. It advocated for the unification of all Ewes.
The Plebiscite of 1956, resolved the issues, when the people in Trans Volta Togoland voted to join Ghana after independence, and the two backed out from their original agenda and contested elections in the Gold Coast.
c). The Northern Peoples Party (NPP), was formed in April 1954, two months to elections. It was formed out of the fear that people of the Northern and Upper Regions could be dominated by the Southerners after independence. Its aims were, to win respect for the culture of the people of the Northern Territories; to ensure just treatment and protection against abuse, to ensure political and social developments, and to see that only people who truly had the interest of the people at heart, and not carpetbaggers, represented them in the Legislative Assembly. The NPP never considered breaking away from the Union?
d). The National Liberation Movement (NLM), as stated above, was formed in September 1954, to ensure that the cocoa farmers were paid what was due them; Ashanti seats were increased, appropriately; no imposition of candidates and respect for tradition by allowing only the rightful traditional kingmakers to install chiefs. The NLM never deliberated on forming a separate nation.
e). The Muslim Association Party was formed in 1954, out of the Gold Coast Muslim Association which was founded in 1932. It was to cater for the interest of Muslims in the Zongos or Muslim quarters. MAP concentrated on the welfare of Muslims and had no intention of forming a breakaway state.
f). Ga Shifimokpee was formed, after independence, in July 1957, due to the growing tension between the CPP and the Ga people. The CPP would always attack the Gas whenever they were meeting to deliberate on matters affecting the community. The Gas, never considered driving away other ethnic groups from Ga lands and this is a very libelous statement to make.
In summary, this is about the formation of the UP.
With S.D. Dombo; in the 1956 General Election, his NPP had fifteen seats, the highest on the minority side in the Legislative Assembly, with 72,440 (10.29%) of valid votes cast. He ceded the leadership of the minority to Dr. K.A. Busia whose NLM had twelve seats but with 145,654 valid votes (20.89%). It had nothing to do with level of education but with popular representation.
3). J.B. Danquah was never expelled from the UP or made redundant. On April 27, 1960, Ghana had its first Presidential elections and the two candidates on the ballot, were CPP’s Nkrumah, who won with 89.7% of valid votes cast and J.B. Danquah of the UP who secured only 10.93%. So, how can Anokye Yaw Frimpong, justify such a lie, that J.B. Danquah was not a UP man?
On October 3, 1961, J.B. Danquah was arrested and jailed. He was released on June 22, 1962. He was re-arrested and jailed on January 8, 1964 and was in prison until he died on February 4, 1965. This was what made him redundant in politics. He died, a UP activist. And never had Asantes resolved not to have anything to do with Akyems. Today, the King of Asanteman has an Akyem as a wife.
4). Now, the Big Six was the name given to the six of the leading members of the UGCC, who were arrested during the 1948 riots, for writing to the Crown, demanding that the administration of the country was immediately handed over to the chiefs and people.
5). And lastly, the foundation for our independence was started by the Aborigines Rights Protection Society, led by J. Casely-Hayford and John Mensah Sarbah in 1910 and completed by Paa Grant’s UGCC in 1947 before Nkrumah was invited to join. All who prepared the way to our independence are founders of the nation.
It is about time Ghanaians resolve to make sure that such evil agenda do not gain roots and must never succeed. All the stupidity raised by Anokye Yaw Frimpong can never be found in any authentic history book. We can stop this insanity if only we all read about our nation’s history.
Sicut scriptum est, they say, what is written is written!
Written by Hon Daniel Dugan
