President Akufo-Addo in a tribute has asked God to bless the late Dr Joseph Boakye Danquah (JB), one of the founding fathers of Ghana’s independence, and keep him in Hold of His Bossom until the Lord’s Day of Resurrection when they shall all meet again.
According to President Akufo-Addo ‘No words can express this gratitude of the Ghanaian people for your life and work. They are imperishable. God bless you and keep you in Hold of His Bossom until the Lord’s day of Resurrection when we shall all meet again’’.
President Akufo-Addo said this in a message he penned in the Book of Condolence Message at the Ofori Fie over the weekend during the remembrance Service in honor of Dr. JB Danquah, held at Kyebi in the Eastern Region.
On February 4th, 1965, a significant event took place in the history of Ghana, where 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.
However, exactly 59 years after the day, which falls on 4th February 2024, the family held a memorial service at the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Kyebi to remember the late J.B. Danquah.
The all-black-and-white attire event, which was held under the auspices of the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, formed part of activities to commemorate Dr. Danquah’s passing and the organization of a fitting burial service for him.
The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Most Rev. Dr. Abraham Opare Kwakye, speaking at the event urged the family of the late Dr. J.B. Danquah to let go of any pain suffered as a result of the circumstances leading to the death of Dr. J.B. Danquah.
He said the family should rather live the J.B. Danquah ideals of promoting freedom and justice for all and respect for traditional institutions, and also advised Ghanaians to emulate the J.B. Danquah spirit by speaking truth to power without fear.
The Okyenhene Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, in his tribute, narrated that the whole nation stood in grief and shock at the untimely demise of Dr. J.B. Danquah in the Nsawam Medium Security Prison, where he had been detained on the orders of the Kwame Nkrumah-led Convention Peoples Party (CPP) under horrendous circumstances.
Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin said the impact J.B. Danquah made on the understanding and preservation of Akan culture, heritage, and tradition can be seen in his cogitative rendition of a theoretic and scientific treatise of the customary institutions of the Akan people in his celebrated work, “AKAN LAWS AND CUSTOMS—AND THE AKYEM ABUAKWA CONSTITUTION,” published in London in 1928.
The Okyenhene added that, even in his death, J.B. Danquah was punished.
The Nkrumah-led CPP government decreed that the burial was to be held within 12 hours.
His body was not to be publicly laid in state, and there was to be no public mourning and crying.
In attendance were the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia; a former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye; the Okyenhemaa, Nana Adutwumwaa Dokua, ministers of state and some members of Parliament.
Others were traditional rulers, and the clergy, including the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rt. Rev. Dr. Abraham N. O. Kwakye, who presided over the event, families of Dr. Danquah, Paa Grant, Oko Adjei, Obetsebi-Lamptey, some of the founding fathers of Ghana’s political independence, and the general public.
Meanwhile, the Okyenhene Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin is set to conduct the final funeral rites of the late scholar and politician.
JB Danquah was at the time of his death, Twafohene of Okyeman, with the stool name Barima Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Dankwa I.
The event is scheduled to take place on February 10, 2024, at the forecourt of Ofori Panin Fie in Kyebi, Eastern Region.
The stool of Twafohene had remained vacant since the passing of Barima Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Dankwa I, until the enstoolment of Katakyie Kwame Boakye Dankwa II on 16th December 2023, as the successor to his grandfather.
-BY Daniel Bampoe