Renaming University of Ghana after JB Danquah UNACCEPTABLE : Razak Kojo Opoku writes

I strongly disagree with H. E. Nana Akufo-Addo for stating that the University of Ghana could be named after JB Danquah.

The University of Ghana can maybe name a Hall of Residency or any facility within the University after JB Danquah but suggesting that the whole University of Ghana should be named after JB Danquah is absolutely ridiculous and provocative to the University community and Ghanaians at large.

For strategic marketing perspectives, the brand, University of Ghana, serves as a promotional and National tourist destination for the Republic of Ghana. This is the only University carrying the brand name, Ghana and you want to change to what? In fact, any attempt to name the University of Ghana after JB Danquah SHALL Be RESISTED AT ALL COST by academia and well meaning Ghanaians.

Was University of Ghana built with the personal funds of JB Danquah?

Was the University of Ghana built on the personal lands of JB Danquah?

Does the University of Ghana use personal funds of JB Danquah to pay staff of the University Community?

Why must we named a whole University of Ghana after JB Danquah because of his Advocacy for the University?

Was JB Danquah the only person who advocated for the establishment of the University of Ghana?

Why then not named the University of Ghana after:

1. Chairperson and members of Asquith Commission.

2. Mr. David Mowbray Balme, the first Principal of the University College of the Gold Coast.

3. Chairman of the College Council who made a request to Nkrumah’s Government in the 1960-61 academic year for a legislation that constituted the University College of the Gold Coast into a full University with power to award its own degrees.

4. Speaker and Members of Parliament who passed an Act of Parliament on October 1, 1961(Act 79).

5. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who assented the University of Ghana Act into law and became its first Chancellor.

6. Nana Kobina Nketsia IV, then Omanhene of Essikado who served as the first Interim Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana.

7. Notable personalities below who also largely advocated for the establishment of the University of Ghana:

(a). Sir Arku Korsah

(b). Dr. F. Nanka-Bruce

(c). Rev. Prof. C. G. Baeta

(d). Sir E. Asafu-Adjaye

8. Chiefs and People of La who made lands available for the establishment of the University of Ghana.

9. Cocoa Farmers who raised substantial amount of monies for the establishment of the University of Ghana.

10. Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II who agreed to Bradley’s recommendation that the Premier University of the Country should be located in Accra provided that another University would be established in Kumasi. This was rightly so because substantial amount of the Cocoa Revenue for the establishment of the University of Ghana came from the ASHANTI REGION.

We SHALL STRONGLY RESIST any attempt by Akufo-Addo’s Government and any future Government to re-name the PREMIER UNIVERSITY OF GHANA after JB Danquah or any individual.

Just like, President Akufo-Addo and his family members, and to large extent members of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) have REFUSED to accept that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is the Sole Founder of Ghana because he is not the only person who advocated/fought for the independence of Ghana, why must Ghanaians and the University Community accept the assumption from President Akufo-Addo that, the University of Ghana should be re-name after JB Danquah because he led advocacy against the minority report of the Elliot Commission which was suggesting that the University College for the whole of British West Africa should be established at Ibadan in Nigeria? The fact that JB Danquah led an advocacy means that there were equally Prominent Personalities, Scholars, Civil Society Organizations, Committees etc that also separately and jointly advocated for the establishment of the University College of the Gold Coast.

If we don’t accept the Founder’s Status of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah for Ghana then it is absolutely morally, politically and ethically wrong for President Akufo-Addo to suggest that we should re-name the University of Ghana after his grand-uncle JB Danquah.

Mr. President, instead of re-naming University of Ghana after JB Danquah, can your Government establish a new “University of JB Danquah”?.

Fellow Ghanaians, regardless of political affiliations, it is our collective Patriotic duty to protect and preserved the brand name of the only Premier University in the country, the University of Ghana.

Again, it is very important that, the management of the University of Ghana takes steps to update its history on the official website of the University to reflect every significant personality or institutions and traditional authorities that contributed to the establishment of the University.