Dr Nana Joseph Kwame Kyeretwei Boakye Danquah was born in December 1895 at Bempong and died on 4th February 1965 in Nsawam. He was Dean of the Ghanaian nationalist politicians, and one of the principal opposition leaders to Kwame Nkrumah.
Educated in law and philosophy in London, Danquah established a private law office after his return to the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1927. He founded a newspaper, the “Times of West Africa”. In 1931 and served as secretary of a delegation to the British Colonial Office in 1934 and as Secretary General of the Gold Coast Youth Conference (1937-47).
He actively sought for constitutional reforms in the early 1940s and became a member of the Legislative Council in 1946. He helped to found the United Gold Coast. Convention (UGCC), that demanded self-government.
Danquah was arrested, briefly after riots in 1948 together with Kwame Nkrumah, which greatly enhanced their prestige. Danquah was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1951 but failed to be re-elected in 1954 and 1956. In 1960 he decided to run for President against Nkrumah. Danqua received only 10% of the vote. He was imprisoned in 1961 under the Preventive Detention Act. Released in 1962 and elected President of the Ghana bar Association, he was again imprisoned early in 1964 and died a year late.
His writings include “Gold Coast: Akan Laws and Customs and the Akim Abuakwa Constitution (1928) and the Akan Doctrine of God (1944)”.
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