Samuel Abu Jinapor
Friday, August 4 marks exactly 120 years since the famous Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was formed in the Gold Coast [modern day Ghana].
On Friday, the ‘Ghana 60 years On’ Planning Committee intends to hold a memorial and thanksgiving service at Saltpond in the Central Region to mark the establishment of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), the first national political movement in the country established on August 4, 1947.
This forms part of events lined up for the celebration of the country’s year-long 60th independence anniversary.
According to Deputy Chief of Staff, Abu Jinapor, it is a momentous day in the history of the country since it was used to fight against the Crown’s Land Act Bill of 1897.
At a press conference, he said “it was at this gathering that the Ghana of today [the ingredients of today], the democratic, free, prosperous, liberal country was conceived, and out of that and many others our country attained independence on 6th March 1957 and we have the Ghana that was dreamt about on 4th August 1947 by the forbearers of our country.”
“The view of many pundits and ourselves is that this fight by John Mensah Sarbah and his colleagues led to the stability of our country and led to the kind of tenure system we have today; the examples to the contrary can be found in Zimbabwe and South Africa,” he emphasized.
President Akufo-Addo would be the guest of honour at event.
Later in the day, there would be the official 60th independence anniversary lecture scheduled to be held at the National Theatre in Accra to be delivered by eminent historian and Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye.
Prof Oquaye, the distinguished academic, politician, lawyer and religious leader, is expected to do justice to the topic, ‘4th August; Ghana’s day of destiny.
Facts Sheet
The Aborigines’ Right Protection Society was an African association critical of colonial rule in 1897 originally established by traditional leaders and the educated elite to protest against the Crown Lands Bill of 1896 and the Lands Bill of 1897, which threatened traditional land tenure.
The group was founded by J.W. de Graft-Johnson, J.W. Sey, J.P. Brown, J.E. Casely-Hayford and John Mensah Sarbah.
It later became the main political organisation that led organised and sustained opposition against the colonial government in the Gold Coast, laying the foundation for political action that would ultimately lead to Ghana’s independence on March 6, 1957.
The Gold Coast ARPS was formed as a conglomerate of different groups of intellectuals in Cape Coast and Southern Ghana, who sought to protect the traditional land tenure practices of the indigenous Gold Coast peoples from being usurped by the colonial government of Britain.
One of the initial goals of the Gold Coast ARPS was to ensure “…that every person may understand the Lands Bill of 1897 the same.”
The Gold Coast ARPS became a voice for the indigenous peoples by both broadcasting their aims in its own newspaper, Gold Coast Aborigines, and advocating on behalf of indigenous land owners by presenting the reasons for their dissent of the Lands Bill of 1897 in front of the Legislative Council.
Particularly, John Mensah Sarbah, a key member of the Gold Coast ARPS and lawyer, helped to advocate against the introduction of the Lands Bill of 1897 by arguing that it was no different from a previous, unsuccessful bill in 1894 and that its introduction would break family and society ties.
It said that the land was valuable to indigenous peoples due to its religious significance.
The Gold Coast ARPS sent a delegation to London in order to advocate for the dismissal of the Lands Bill of 1897 in the presence of Joseph Chamberlain, the Secretary of State of Britain at the time.
The delegation included not only members of the Gold Coast elite, but also prominent merchants.
It was through their meeting with Joseph Chamberlain that the Gold Coast ARPS was able to get support for the denunciation of the Lands Bill of 1897 and the assurance that “native law would remain and prevail with regard to devolution of land.”
The Gold Coast ARPS eventually fell out of fashion in exchange for newer nationalist movements such as the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA) in 1920.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent