The Chairman of the Council of Elders of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Clement Kubindiwor Tedam, has passed on. He was 93.

The founding member of the NPP died in his sleep at his Mamprobi home in Accra.

C.K Tedam, a revered figure in the party played a founding role in merging two political traditions, Busia and Dombo into what is now the New Patriotic Party.

A teacher by profession, he began his political career in the pre-independence era and contested in elections for the Legislative Assembly held for the second time in the Gold Coast on 15 June 1954. 

He was one of 11 independent candidates who won a seat in the 104-seater assembly dominated by the Convention People’s Party which controlled the House with 71 seats.

In the next election in 1956, C.K Tedam, a royal in Paga in the Upper East Region would stand on the ticket of the Northern People’s Party and win his seat.

In the dark days of unconstitutional governments, C.K Tedam served as a Local Government minister in the Supreme Military Council.

After Ghana returned to civilian rule in 1993, C.K Tedam was key in forming the NPP that contested the presidential elections and lost.

He was elevated to join the Council of State after the NPP first won political power in 2000. After the party lost the 2008 elections, Mr. Tedam became chairman of the party’s Council of Elders.

The party honoured C.K Tedam in 2014 during a thanksgiving service with a citation, "for your enormous contribution to the growth of the Danquah-Dombo-Busia tradition, for your unwavering dedication and all the sacrifices you have made to see the party and tradition established firmly in the political landscape of Ghana…”

He was married to Winifred Tedam and is survived by six children.