The Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has likened Dr. Joseph Boakye Danquah to the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, famously known as ‘Chairman Wontumi’.
According to the veteran journalist, Dr. Danquah should not be considered a founder of the country because he played a minimal role in the fight for independence.
His comment came days after the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his Founders’ Day address, argued that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was not the only founder of the country. This assertion has caused public backlash, with some describing the comments as ‘unnecessary.’
Speaking on Pan African TV, Mr Pratt argued that “Only people who don’t know our history can be pushing Danquah as a national hero. Do you know Danquah true decision in the UGCC? Danquah was the Eastern Regional Chairman of the UGCC, that’s all, that’s the height he got, Eastern Regional Chairman.”
He added that “if you are looking for the equivalent of Danquah in modern politics today it is Wontumi. The level that Danquah attained in UGCC has been attained by Wontumi in NPP. J.B Danquah was simply just the Eastern Regional Chairman of the UGCC.”
Explaining why the former statesman could not be considered as one of Ghana’s founding fathers, Mr Pratt indicated that “Even in his town, Kyebi, they voted against J.B Danquah. He couldn’t even win Kyebi. If J.B Danquah cannot be the founder of Kyebi, his home town, how can he become founder of Ghana?”
“He lost elections in Kyebi not once. He was beaten by a teacher. So you go and bring Wontumi equivalent and want to impose him on us,” he said.