President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has paid glowing tribute to Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, one of the founding fathers of United Party (UP) which the New Patriotic Party, (NPP) traced its tradition to describing him as one of the far-sighted political thinkers in Africa.
He said his overthrow deprived Ghana the full impact of his agenda for development. President Akufo-Addo stated this at the 40th anniversary of the death of Professor Busia, Ghana’s Prime Minister of the 2nd Republic.
Kofi Abrefa Busia was Prime Minister of Ghana from 1969 to 1972. As a nationalist leader and Prime Minister, he helped restored civilian government to the country following a military rule.
As one of the three founders of the Danquah-Dombo-Busia political tradition, from which the NPP was borne, Dr. Busia’s emergence onto Ghana’s political scene coincided with the period when one-party state ideologies were dominant in Africa, and appeared to be more appealing and relevant to developing economies.
Dr. Busia believed that individual freedoms were not just about the space and ability to speak freely, associate and assemble freely, and to vote freely, but also about their capacity to stimulate enterprise, creativity and innovation, and, thereby, provide the inspiration for rapid economic development.
President Akufo-Addo believes Some of the ills of contemporary Ghana, such as rural-urban migration could have been avoided if Dr. Busia had been given the opportunity to develop his visionary programme of rural development.
According to President Akufo-Addo, Dr. Busia was unequivocal that democracy cannot endure if the leaders and the people are not committed to it.
Dr. Busia believed democracy is consolidated when a majority of the people believe that democracy is the best form of government.
The General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu said the NPP is the only political party in Ghana that has stood the test of time.
This is because, the party did not build its tradition around individuals. He said just as the Kufour administration, the Akufo-Addo regime will be successful of the principles of the founding fathers are followed.
