The Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has paid tribute to veteran journalist Kwasi Pratt Jnr, describing him as a principled scholar whose work has championed social justice and public accountability for five decades.

In a post on X on Saturday, September 19, Mr Dafeamekpor said his tribute was written not in his capacity as an MP, Government Chief Whip or President of the Ghana Law Society, but as a younger brother, comrade-in-arms and student of Mr Pratt.

He was reacting to the University of Cape Coast’s decision to confer on the veteran journalist a Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa.

Mr Dafeamekpor said the honour was long overdue, describing it as a formal recognition of qualities that Ghanaians had witnessed throughout Mr Pratt’s career.

Read Also: UCC confers honorary doctorate on Kwesi Pratt Jnr

“What UCC, Ghana's citadel of critical humanism, has done is to clothe you in formal academic honours, what the people of Ghana have known for half a century: that you are a scholar of formidable proportions,” he wrote.

He described Mr Pratt’s newsroom as his “lecture hall”, the daily struggles of ordinary Ghanaians as his “library” and his lifelong defence of social justice as his “thesis”.

“This honour is therefore not merely ceremonial. It is historic. It is deserved. It is earned,” Mr Dafeamekpor said.

EULOGY TO SNR COMRADE DR. KWASI PRATT Jnr.
——————————————

Dear Snr Comrade Kwasi,

1. I write this tribute not as the President of the Ghana Law Society, nor as Govt Chief Whip of Parliament, and certainly not as Member of Parliament for South Dayi.

2. I write simply as your…

— Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, Esq. MP. (@etsedafeamekpor) September 19, 2026

The South Dayi MP praised Mr Pratt Jnr for what he described as five decades of consistency in Ghanaian public life, recalling his activism during the 1970s and his continued involvement in grassroots organisation and political education in the 1980s.

He said Mr Pratt Jnr had remained committed to his principles throughout the Fourth Republic despite changes in Ghana’s political landscape.

“In the Fourth Republic, when many of your contemporaries converted activism into patronage, you remained anchored to principle – unbought, unbowed and unbroken,” he wrote.

He said Mr Pratt Jnr's steadfastness was a defining quality of his public life.

“In a Republic where many become politically storm-tossed like a driftwood in water, you have remained rooted. That rootedness is your greatness,” Mr Dafeamekpor said.

The Majority Chief Whip also praised Mr Pratt’s leadership of The Insight newspaper, saying he had used journalism to make complex public policy issues accessible to ordinary Ghanaians.

He said Mr Pratt had helped explain how major economic and legal decisions affected people in their everyday lives.

“You taught market women how IMF conditionalities translate into the price of kenkey. You taught farmers why Article 267 of the Constitution on stool lands is not abstract law but the legal foundation of their livelihoods,” he wrote.

Mr Dafeamekpor also credited the veteran journalist with helping mining communities understand their rights under Ghana’s mining laws.

“You demystified power when others deliberately mystified it,” he added.

He further described Mr Pratt as a leading figure in the Committee for Joint Action and the Socialist and Pan-African movement in Ghana, saying his work had consistently emphasised equity, jobs, justice and national sovereignty in assessing public policy.

Mr Dafeamekpor said Mr Pratt’s influence had extended beyond formal political office.

“You have never sought political office, yet you have shaped every office. You never held state power, yet you have audited state power more fiercely and more effectively than many paid to do so,” he wrote.

He said the honorary doctorate was therefore a recognition earned through decades of journalism, activism and public commentary.

“Your pen is your gown. Your life of sacrifice is your citation. Your integrity is your real doctoral certificate,” Mr Dafeamekpor said.

He concluded by encouraging Mr Pratt to continue his work of writing, teaching and inspiring future generations.

“May you continue to write, to provoke, to teach, and to inspire for many more years,” he added.