University Of Ghana Was Built With Cocoa Money; JB Not Founder

A historian and researcher at the University of Ghana, Kweku Darko Ankrah, has disputed claims that Dr. JB Danquah is the founder of the University of Ghana, Legon.

President Nana Akufo-Addo at the launch of the University's 70th Anniversary Endowment Fund said that his uncle, JB Danquah founded the premier University.

“…It will be wholly appropriate and not at all far-fetched to describe Joseph Boakye Danquah as the founder of this University,” the president added.

The comments sparked widespread commentary particularly on social media., with many accusing the President of seeking to twist the country’s history, whereas others are of the view that he’s only seeking to correct wrong impressions created for years.

Sharing his view on the matter in a Citi News interview, Mr. Ankrah said although Dr. JB Danquah played a role in the establishment of the university, it must be noted that the university is the product of collective efforts of several other people.

He stated that:

“The University of Ghana from my own point of view is a collective effort of the Gold Coasters. The Gold intelligentsia, the Gold Coast elites as well as the farmers, the ordinary people, it is their money that established University of Ghana especially the cocoa farmers.”

“And they need to be congratulated. But when we talk about individual efforts, first and foremost we need put historical chronology and see who the primus inter pares in all this debate is. You will realize that, many people made arguments, the arguments they made from 1861 up to 1940s, these people wrote it down, the colonial government did not barge. But in 1943, they formed Eliot commission.”

About JB Danquah
Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah was a Ghanaian pan-Africanist, statesman, and a lawyer.

He is considered one of the founding fathers of Ghana and played a significant role in the colonial era of Ghana.

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