On February 4th, 1965, a significant event took place in the history of Ghana. J. B. Danquah died in Nsawam prison, as a result of Kwame Nkrumah’s detention laws. He had stood up for his belief in freedom and opposition to tyranny. On this day, patriotic conservatives in Ghana will not celebrate with fireworks, parades, or family gatherings but instead, they will reflect solemnly on the significance of his death.
The death of the Danquah is significant due to his call for individual wealth creation, which was best expressed in the declaration of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) at Saltpond in 1947. This call championed individual liberty, equal rights, decentralization, free markets, free trade, and the unalienable right of all Ghanaians to life, liberty, property, and the rule of law.
As we look back at Danquah’s life, we cannot deny that he left a significant legacy. He played a vital role as a delegate at most of the Constitutional conventions, and was one of the main advocates for policies that emphasise freedom and liberty, aiming to establish a Ghana with policies that enable individuals to use their intelligence and abilities to provide for their families, without minimum state intervention.
J.B. Danquah advocated for an independent Ghanaian constitution that would safeguard citizens from an all-encompassing interventionist welfare state, which would leave the state and government with excessive control and planning:
- “The party’s policy is to liberate the energies of the people for the growth of a property-owning democracy in this land, with the right to life, freedom, and justice, as the principles to which the government and the laws of the land should be dedicated in order specifically to enrich life, property, and liberty of every citizen”.
He fought sincerely for the freedoms and limitless opportunities that came with Ghanaian independence. Danquah believed in rewarding those who work hard, take risks, and prioritize long-term goals to improve their lives and that of their families. His philosophy is still very relevant today.
During Ghana’s independence, there were two opposing groups with different ideologies. Nkrumah’s group criticized the values of Western democracy and identified what they wanted to move away from. On the other hand, Danquah’s UGCC had a positive vision of a free society and believed in pluralism, tolerance, free markets, and free expression.
Danquah did not just express frustration at colonialism; he painted a brighter future picture of free individuals who were willing and ready to develop the country in freedom.
First taking office in March of 1957, Kwame Nkrumah, the first independence leader and opponent to the ideals of Danquah, rapidly set in motion a centralized socialist planned economy. As he put it ‘no newly independent country was strong enough to defeat neo-colonialism’.
His ‘Work and Happiness’ agenda in effect, imposed a fascist-style economic system over the country that was partly inspired by the communists in Russia and was sustained by massive government spending and borrowing never previously experienced in the country’s history.
Nkrumah’s ideology, which Danquah strongly opposed, divided the world into two categories: oppressors and oppressed which are opposed to each other. If you are oppressed, you belong to the ordinary class, and you are entitled to protection, compassion, and the bigotry of low expectations.
If you have money you are an enemy, and you get taxed heavily to give to the poor. Those deemed oppressed are by definition innocent victims of the rich and are incapable of doing anything wrong. The rich are always complicit in the poverty of the poor.
During Nkrumah’s regime, the environment for individual wealth creation was destroyed. The Industrial Development Corporation imposed strict regulations on almost all Ghanaian government-mandated industries, which controlled prices, wages, work conditions, and output levels in both manufacturing and retail businesses.
This was accompanied by a large-scale government employment program that focused on infrastructure that was determined by politicians and bureaucrats who supervised government activities, programs, and projects, including farms that engulfed almost everything and everyone in the country. This created competition with peasant farmers and those in retail trade.
It could have been better — but some of the underlying trends Danquah warned have become more marked and more ominous. The politics of oppression continue to use popular slogans and refrains such as “Food for the people,” 24-hour economy,”and others. While these slogans express a deep passion and appreciation for development, they do not necessarily make a philosophy.
The key to Danquah’s freedom philosophy lies not in the slogans themselves, but in the substance that underlies them. For example, the slogan “Self-government now” is a nice sentiment, but without a robust understanding of what ‘self-government’ really means and why it is important, the words can be somewhat empty.
Danquah’s freedom and liberty philosophy emphasizes individual rights, personal responsibility, self-improvement, and creating value for others. It recognizes the benefits of free markets. However, our economy stagnates due to high taxes, fixed interest rates, and inflationary monetary policies imposed by ‘progressives’.
It is ironic that 67 years ago, there was a wide ideological gap between Ghanaian political parties. Nowadays, there is just a small divide separating them. Most politicians are fond of and fascinated by the power of the big government, and their policies are quite similar.
The political parties in Ghana have been taken over by closet capitalists who use socialist slogans to get ahead and take advantage of the state. If someone like J. B. Danquah, a capitalist, were to exist today, he would still be shunned and prosecuted by all political parties in Ghana.
Today, everything is hyper-partisan. With not many differences in economic policy, each party must prevail and control the rents and penalise the other. Politicians have become power-mad, obsessed with establishing totalitarian rule.
They covet irresistible and unquestionable dictatorial power, so any means justify the ends. They have convinced themselves they can take care of the people more and know better, so they should have absolute power over everyone else.
Just like the 1960s,our policies seek to enhance the role of government and do not encourage wealth creation. Parties refuse to accept growth-promoting prescriptions that work. Basic economics indicates that private ownership, the rule of law, and monetary stability are the cornerstone of prosperity.
Nearly Seventy years ago, Danquah was right to identify the inbuilt weaknesses of government control of the economy and the strengths of the free market and to perceive that independence alone would not necessarily bring prosperity.
He correctly identified the enemies within, which would turn against the individual rights of citizens. We cannot compromise with them or negotiate with them—they must be defeated!
Especially, when we do not have institutions fit for purpose to exploit and benefit from prevailing scientific and technological opportunities. State control of the economy and governance at root means a stifling of individual ingenuity and creativity.
It was no wonder that the demand for self-government was so attractive since the citizens thought it offered the chance to create individual wealth, well, until they were betrayed by local politicians and socialist slogans.
The increasing poverty levels in Ghana are not due to a lack of democracy, but rather a lack of strong law institutions. As long as the legal institutions remain weak, the rights to property and business in the country will be subject to the will of politicians and their bureaucrats.
It is important to note that due to the limited property rights in the country, the negative appropriations imposed on citizens have no limit, leading to increased poverty levels.
Death anniversaries are a time of honouring the life of a loved one, but this February 4th should also be a time of reflection. At 67 years old, Ghana is still a young nation. The people should determine her direction and her destiny.
The contrast has never been clearer, the choice simpler. Will we continue to embrace those things that have made Ghana poor, or we will choose policies that enable individuals to create their own wealth?
Ghana needs the ideas of Danquah because we are at war for the soul of the country. This is an existential struggle for individual liberty, free market capitalism, and an environment in which citizens can achieve their potential. We are facing the last opportunity to save Ghana by peaceful means before we slip into who knows how many years of poverty.
Danquah was a warrior for Ghana first! If the ideas he espoused cannot restore the country, Ghana as we know it is lost.
By Kwadwo Afari
