Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said current socio-political and economic events around the world were a vindication of the ideals pursued by the fore fathers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
�Dr. J.B. Danquah and Professor K.A. Busia and other leaders laid down their lives in defense of fundamental human rights, free speech and property owning democracy among others. Today look at what is happening across the globe, particularly in the Arab world where everybody is pushing for freedom�it is a vindication of the ideals that they stood for in independence struggle and the new Ghana,� he stated.
The former president was speaking as a guest of honour at the maiden Liberty Lecture in Accra organized by Danquah Institute (DI), a media, research and policy analysis group.
The lecture was themed �Building A Society Of Opportunities� and was addressed by Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, flag-bearer of the opposition NPP.
According to DI, the lecture had been instituted to celebrate and recognize �the contributions of the several people and many others that led to March 6, 1957, the birth of Ghana from the Gold Coast�.
Mr Kufuor said the contributions of NPP fore bearers in the socio-political and economic development of Ghana could not be underestimated, saying, �Truth is truth�if you suppress the truth it will surely come out.�
President Kufuor noted that in the 8-year rule of the NPP, �We achieved a paradigm shift without which I tell you, Ghana wouldn�t be anywhere near where it is today. And we were able to do it, again, following the vision and beliefs of the old people. Unfortunately, the government was betrayed and this is why Ghana is in the current hardships and stagnation.�
He said judging from the manner in which the world had developed, it had become apparent that the world had no time for visionless leaders, adding, �The global village is already here and it is a village that hasn�t got time for visionless leadership.�
�The NPP is only pleading to the entire country of Ghana to hear. We are like missionaries; we are not in there for ourselves, we are [here] to lift Ghana up to be the true beacon. It is not fanciful politics we want to do. Ours is a mission to put Ghana on a pedestal to be the real beacon, not just for the sub-region of West Africa but even for the entire continent of Africa to see that truly Africa can come into its own to take its rightful place side by side with the other continents,� he noted.
He said, �The NPP can do it so please let NPP come and continue where it left off so that all of us will be restored to the aspirations and the opportunities that we heard the flagbearer say.�
�God willing when we come back next year, we are going to get back [to our works] so that the truth our government achieved for our country will prove to be like the proverbial cork: no matter how deep you try to suppress it under water it will shoot up,� President Kufuor stated.
Professor Paaku Kludze, a retired Supreme Court judge who gave an overview of the significance of August 4, the basis for the lecture, said it had become fashionable for people to twist the facts of the country�s history, saying, �We must rise above the conception that truth is an opinion.�
�The struggle for independence for Ghana did not start in 1947 or 1949. Our forebears started the struggle way back in the 19th Century and you cannot change these facts,� he noted.
He said Ghanaians had been afflicted with �selective amnesia� whenever the history of Ghana was told, noting, �A cow is cow�you cannot do anything about it.� Professor Yaw Twumasi, who chaired the lecture, said the DI was using the platform to consolidate the country�s democracy.
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