HISTORY

In the formation of the NPP, the resilience of the Danquah/Busia tradition was brought into play. As soon as it was revealed by the Justice Annan Committee that the mood of the nation was in favour of multiparty politics in early 1992, Mr B J da Rocha and a few others found it wise to revive the Progress Party and immediately convened meetings at the residence of the late Mr Steven Krakue, with the blessing of the late Mr Victor Owusu, the leader and presidential candidate of the Popular Front Party in the 1979 general elections.

It must be stated clearly from the outset that the Danquah/Busia Memorial Club, which was formed in Kumasi by Messrs Attakora Gyimah, John Bilson and Obeng Manu, was not the precursor to the New Patriotic Party as many erroneously believe. Indeed the involvement of John Bilson in the formation of the Club aroused the suspicion of many of the Progress Party stalwarts who had to move quickly to thwart his efforts to benefit from the party’s huge following in his attempt to revive his own party.

Nevertheless, many of its initial members were former Progress Party members. The meetings convened at the residence of Mr Stephen Krakue by the Progress Party group constituted the main route to the ultimate formation of the NPP. Two main committees were crucial to the formation of the NPP: the Interim National Executive Committee, chaired by Mr B J da Rocha and the policy and research committee under the chairmanship of the late Prof K G Folson.

The policy and research committee of the emerging party was responsible for numerous tasks that preceded the formation of the NPP. Sub-committees, all chaired by Prof. Folson, were set up to adequately prepare the grounds for the formation of the party. These included the manifesto and the constitutional sub-committees. A think tank that worked out of Prof. Folson”s office provided all the necessary background policy papers for discussion.

Mr B J da Rocha also drafted the emerging party’s constitution for the constitutional sub-committee’s consideration. A three-member sub-sub committee, headed by Mr da Rocha himself was then tasked by the interim executive committee to finalise the proposed constitution that was distilled by the constitutional sub-committee from his initial draft.Other interim committees that were formed to aid the smooth formation of the party included the organisational committee chaired by Nana Akufo-Addo, the publicity committee chaired by Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, the youth committee led by Alhaji Al-Hassan Malik Yakubu and the women’s committee led by Ms Theresa Tagoe.