Sue anyone who calls J.B Danquah a spy - Arthur Kennedy to family

"President Mahama should on behalf of Ghana render an unqualified apology..."


Source: adomonline.com  -  Dr. Kobina Arthur Kennedy has challenged the family of Joseph Boakye Danquah, the doyen of Ghana’s democracy, to sue anyone who maligns him.

According to him, the posthumous smear campaign that the co-founder of Ghana’s first political party- United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC)- was a CIA spy has done his legacy great harm.

Arthur Kennedy, who was speaking on Asempa FM on Thursday, said it is time “they sue somebody to shut the haters up”....

He could not fathom why the kinsmen of J.B Danquah, many of whom are renowned lawyers, have allowed the false allegation to thrive all these years.

“What will be the motive for this serious allegation against a nationalist who paid the ultimate price by dying under political detention for defending Ghana's democracy?” he quizzed.

To set the records straight, Dr. Kennedy indicated that nowhere in any declassified CIA files of the period is it recorded that J.B Danquah was a CIA spy.

The senior member of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) said though the freedom fighter was never president, “he still remains relevant in Ghana’s body politic.

“His commitment to freedom and principle, his tolerance, his intellect; are the kinds of things we should learn from”.

Arthur Kennedy stated that J.B Danquah’s corpus of written works, his ideas, legacy and other scholarly works about him are being used in many institutions both home and abroad.

He proposed that - given the circumstances surrounding his death at Nsawam Prisons on February 4, 1965 - President Mahama should on behalf of Ghana render an unqualified apology to the Danquah family.

The NPP man also charged government to ensure no Ghanaian goes through the ordeal of Danquah, “just because he wants to participate in our politics”.

Arthur Kennedy said Ghana must give Danquah a befitting memorial by naming the Supreme Court building or a university after him, 50 years after his death.