The Busia family has taken exception to a claim said to have originated from Prof Kwamina Ahwoi that were the late Prof K. A Busia to be alive, he would desert the NPP because of the divisive leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo.
The said statement by Prof Kwamena Ahwoi was made at Subinso, Wenchi, in October this year, 2016 and published on peacefonline.com.
“We are all too familiar with the stark fact that during an election year, reckless statements are made by certain politicians with the singular aim of scoring political points, knowing all too well that such statements bear no resemblance whatsoever to the truth.
What has been attributed to Prof Kwamena Ahwoi is one such statement,” a release from the family stated.
According to the family, “This is not merely false but defamatory, since the hard facts suggest otherwise. While portraying Nana Addo falsely as bad leader when Nana Addo’s leadership has shown respect for party structures and prevented offshoots of NPP.”
Continuing, the family pointed out that “the Busia family has pondered over this outrageous comment by no less a person than a professor of governance at such a significant location and has decided to set the record straight about our great patriarch, late Professor Busia.”
With his lieutenants such as J. B. Danquah, Edward Akufo-Addo, S. D. Dombo and countless others in tow, they continued… “Busia successfully navigated the choppy waters of building a formidable political tradition called the United Party which continues to be the only political party in our country today that governs effectively.”
“So, the pertinent question the professor of governance must strive to answer for his students of contemporary Ghanaian politics is: if Professor Busia did not jump ship at that critical post-independence period of bringing all these groups together to kick against the CPP hegemony, why would he have deserted the NPP now?” they asked.
Like Nana Akufo-Addo, now the family said, “Professor Busia was a handler of challenges and as a family we know that he would have been tied to the mast to steer the ship to calming waters as Nana Akufo-Addo is slowly but inexorably doing for the UP tradition today!”
On who Busia was, the family stated that “he was a very tolerant leader who accommodated divergent views and espoused the philosophy of each being the others’ keeper. Unbeknown to you, professor, Nana Akufo-Addo shares all these traits that are essential in sustaining our budding democracy.
However, like Professor Busia before him, Nana Akufo-Addo is the quintessential disciplinarian who puts party interests above individual idiosyncrasies and as such would not think twice about preserving party unity.”
“That is what rule of law is about; rules, whether within the private or public sphere, are no respector of persons regardless of their social status.
In the recent case, when disciplinary action was meted out by the party disciplinary committee, against certain senior party members, Nana Addo was in the end vindicated in a sense by the courts for the collective decision he took responsibility for as a party leader,” they pointed out, adding, “And this meant that rule of law was adhered to.
Just as Busia would have done in his time were similar aberrations by members taking place in the party of similar kind, Nana Addo did not hinder party structures from dealing with the situation.”
As a family, they said about Nana Akufo-Addo, “we can testify that Nana Addo takes after Busia in many other ways. Few examples may suffice.
There is a clear convergence of political philosophy of Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP and that of Dr Busia. Nana Addo like Busia believes in constitutionalism as the basis of democratic governance in Ghana as elsewhere.
This explains why Nana Akufo Addo like Busia the principles of the rule of law and human rights are respected and promoted.
“In particular, both Professor Busia and Nana Akufo-Addo are both unapologetic defenders of political pluralism.
This is evidenced by the fact that both individuals have sought to champion at different times the restoration of multi-party politics to Ghana after years of suppressive authoritarian rule,” the family concluded.
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