Parliament has marked the 61st anniversary of the passing of Dr Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah with a solemn reflection on his enduring intellectual, constitutional and moral legacy, as lawmakers across the political divide reaffirmed his place as one of the nation’s foremost architects.

Delivering a commemorative statement on the floor of the House on Tuesday, 4 February, the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Dr Kingsley Agyemang, invoked Order 92 of Parliament’s Standing Orders to honour the late nationalist, jurist and philosopher, who died in detention on 4 February 1965.

“On that day,” Dr Agyemang told the House, “Ghana lost a philosopher, a jurist, a nationalist, and a moral voice whose ideas continue to inform our constitutional and democratic life.”

Quoting Proverbs 4:7, he described Dr Danquah as a man who pursued wisdom not for personal elevation, but for “national awakening”, adding that his life defied narrow political classification and belonged to the entire Republic.

Beyond Party Lines

Rather than rehearse what he called the “familiar catalogue” of Dr Danquah’s achievements, the Abuakwa South MP said his statement deliberately focused on a more exacting measure of national stature, how Dr Danquah has been assessed by those who did not share his political ideology and, in some cases, stood firmly opposed to it.

“When voices across ideological divides converge in their assessment of one man,” Dr Agyemang argued, “then history itself has rendered its verdict.”

He cited reflections from clerks of Parliament, professional bodies, academic institutions, policy think tanks, and Members of Parliament from both the Majority and Minority sides spanning several decades.

One of the most striking testimonies, he noted, came from Mr K. B. Ayensu, Clerk of the National Assembly from 1955 to 1966, who wrote in Echoes from the Past: Timeless Tributes to J. B. Danquah that after Dr Danquah left Parliament, “slowly but inevitably, the rot set in”.

“The proceedings began to acquire a certain element of insipid farce,” Mr Ayensu observed, adding that many MPs privately longed for “a return to ‘the Danquah days’”.

Institutional Endorsements

Professional and academic institutions, Dr Agyemang said, have equally affirmed Dr Danquah’s legacy without partisan sentiment.

In 2025, the Ghana Bar Association reiterated that Dr Danquah’s role in Ghana’s struggle for independence “remains unparalleled”, recalling his leadership of the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society, which successfully resisted colonial attempts to appropriate indigenous lands.

The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, he noted, has documented Dr Danquah’s instrumental role in shaping the Burns Constitution of 1946, his foundation membership of the United Gold Coast Convention in 1947, and his description by the Watson Commission as the “Doyen of Gold Coast Politics”.

A pan-African policy think tank, Africa Leadership and Policy for Humanitarian Action (ALPHA), also stated in 2025 that “the history of Ghana and Africa would be incomplete without recognising Dr Danquah’s contribution to constitutional development and democratic consolidation”.

Voices from the House

Dr Agyemang reminded Parliament that some of the most persuasive affirmations of Dr Danquah’s stature are found in its own Hansard.

According to him, on 5 February 2022, Rockson-Nelson Etse Dafeamekpor, now Majority Chief Whip, acknowledged that although Dr Danquah lost elections and clashed with the security apparatus of the state, he remained “a towering figure of legal mind”, whose criticism of government was significant.

The MP also claimed that on that same day, Parliament observed a minute’s silence in his honour, an act Dr Agyemang described as “a profound symbol of bipartisan respect”.

Similarly, on 4 February 2025, Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga told the House, “You cannot write the history of this country without recognising the contribution of J. B. Danquah,” Dr Agyemang said.

Mr Ayariga also highlighted Dr Danquah’s enduring scholarship in Akan customary law, which continues to inform legal education.

Former Minority Chief Whip Kwame Governs Agbodza had earlier warned Parliament that Dr Danquah’s experience under the Preventive Detention Act should permanently caution lawmakers about the long-term consequences of laws passed in moments of political urgency, Dr Agyemang said.

Other tributes recalled his role in the Africanisation of the Legislative and Executive Councils, the establishment of the University of Ghana, advocacy for farmers, and contributions to the Cocoa Marketing Board.

Perhaps the most sweeping parliamentary affirmation came from Fritz Baffour, former Minister of State, who declared:

“It was people and men like Dr J. B. Danquah who gave us the ethos of nationhood. He gave us the name of the nation. He gave us the purpose of the nation.”

A Cautionary Legacy

Dr Agyemang concluded by warning that Dr Danquah’s detention and death remain a timeless reminder of how liberty can be eroded quietly through laws and practices that normalise excessive restraint.

“The erosion of liberty rarely announces itself loudly,” he cautioned. “It often returns quietly, through prolonged detention, excessive restraint, or punitive bail conditions that test the boundaries of constitutional reasonableness.”

He stressed that honouring Dr Danquah must go beyond remembrance.

“To honour him,” the MP said, “is not merely to remember his past, but to ensure that the dark chapters he endured are never reopened in our present.”

As Parliament observed the anniversary, the message was unmistakable: Dr J. B. Danquah’s legacy is no longer a matter of partisan inheritance, but a shared national trust, one that continues to shape Ghana’s democratic conscience.