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The Managing Editor of The Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has questioned the reason why people would continue to push for JB Danquah to be recognized as one of the founders of Ghana.
According to the veteran journalists, the attributions made to Danquah as a national hero are false, as he is undeserving of such plaudits.
Discussing issues surrounding the Founders’ Day celebrations in the country, on Pan African Television, Kwesi Pratt Jnr stressed that people who push such an agenda do not know the history of this country.
“This Danquah thing, only people who don’t know our history can be pushing Danquah as a national hero. Do you know Danquah’s true position in the UGCC? Danquah was the Eastern Regional Chairman of the UGCC. That’s all; that’s the height in the UGCC,” he said.
Kwesi Pratt Jnr continued that it disturbs him even more that JB Danquah is regarded so highly today when in actual sense, should he be compared to modern times, he would only be comparable to the likes of Chairman Wontumi, the New Patriotic Party’s Ashanti Region Chairman.
“So, if you’re looking for the equivalent of Danquah in modern politics today, it is Wontumi. I’m serious. The level that Danquah attained in the UGCC has been attained by Wontumi in the NPP. He was a regional chairman.
“Even put that aside, which election did J. B. Danquah ever win? All his attempts at contesting elections, he lost. Even in his hometown, Kyebi, they voted against J. B. Danquah. He couldn’t even win Kyebi. If J. B. Danquah cannot even be founder of Kyebi, his hometown, how can he become a founder of Ghana?” he said.
In 2018, the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo laid a Public Holidays Amendment Bill before parliament, which became the Public Holiday Act, 2001.
The amended act, signed by the Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery, quashed three public holidays and introduced two new holidays.
Among the affected holidays were the Republic Holiday, which used to be observed on July 1; African Union (AU) Day Holiday, which fell on May 25; and the Founder’s Day which was marked on September 21 – Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday.
It then brought in new holidays such as Founders’ Day which is marked on August 4.
