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Ex-President John Kufuor has hailed the significant role the late J.B Danquah played for the establishment of Ghana as an independent state.

Speaking at the 50th anniversary celebration of the death of JB Danquah, ex-President Kufuor said: “JB Danquah irrefutably played a titanic role in the making of our nation that we are all proud to belong to today.”

J.B Danquah was a member of the ‘Big Six’; a group that led the struggle for the independence of Ghana. 

He however died in detention without trial at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison on February 4, 1965.

According to Kufuor, although the New Patriotic Party (NPP) sees itself as the rightful heirs to JB Danquah’s political tradition, “his role in the struggle for independence and the establishment of democratic process should always be remembered and honoured not only by our party but I will say by all of Ghana.”

He added: “We are launching a formal, tradition and public laying to rest of the uniquely great man that began it all in this land that we now call Ghana… this thing should have taken place a long time ago but it is better late than never.”


Speaking at the same event  the flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo said  Danquah’s struggles and even his death have not been in vain, adding that the memory of the late J.B. Danquah will continue to live on for as long as the nation Ghana lives.

He commended J.B Danquah for giving “our country its name Ghana after years of research into the history and traditions of the people of the Gold Coast. He fought for Ghana to be established as free independent state.”

“…we live in a Ghana today where governments can change by ballots and do change by ballots and will change by ballots,” and according to Nana Addo, this is the political freedom Danquah and his colleagues fought for.