Kofi Abrefa Busia: Man with a distinct vision

The Ghana Political Tradition and the Men who made it- Kofi Abrefa Busia: Man with a distinct vision

Abena Kwatemaa Offeh-Gyimah

It is important to discuss Kofi Abrefa Busia in examining the Ghana political tradition. Busia was a Ghanaian political leader, an intellectual in politics, a man concerned about the Ashanti political system but most importantly, a man with a distinct vision for Ghana.

Busia was born in Wenchi, in July 11, 1913. He completed his elementary education at Wenchi Methodist School then proceeded to Mfantsipim College at Cape Coast. He trained as a professional teacher between 1931 and 1932 at Wesley College in Kumasi. Later, he became a teacher at Achimota Secondary School from 1936 to 1939 during this period he did a corresponding course to gain a first degree with honors from the University of London in History.

Furthermore, Busia continued his education at Oxford University and earned his BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics as well as an MA and Ph.D. degree in Social Anthropology. He returned to Ghana and worked as a District Commissioner. He was appointed as the first lecturer in African Studies at the University of Gold Coast in 1949. Busia held a strong background in education; a major part of his life can be described as academic.

Moreover, when Busia returned to Ghana, he was appointed to the Legislative Council by the Ashanti Confederacy. A year later, in 1952, he became the leader of Ghana Congress Party. During this time, Busia took an anti-Nkrumah stance. He was concerned with the radical stance of Nkrumah and the vision he held for Ghana. After Ghana’s independence in 1957, Dr. Nkrumah used his power to decimate his oppositions. This led Busia to merge the Congress Party with the oppositions into a United Party (UP). However, their tactics fell into the hands of Nkrumah. Their opposition failed because the people of Ghana, who had just won independence strongly supported Nkrumah. Busia was threatened and thus fled Ghana.

However, when Nkrumah was overthrown in February 1966, Busia returned to Ghana after negotiations with National Liberation Council. Busia and his party were better organized. While in power, he was concerned with the position of the chief in the political systems of the Ashanti. In his earlier years, around 1941, he began a research on the Ashanti political system. It is important to note that Busia was an Ashanti cum Brong, and the Ashanti’s wanted power after so many years. This led the people to question his commitment to the parliamentary system.

Dr. Busia’s years as president was brief. He came into the economic turbulence Dr. Nkrumah had left the country in. The debts contracted by Dr. Nkrumah’s government proved a fatal burden to Dr. Busia’s government and it became a heavy burden for future administrations. The years facing Ghana was now bleak and difficult. Evidence from Ghana state at that time demonstrated that Dr. Nkrumah’s development policy was a costly failure. Dr. Nkrumah’s attachment to his economic ideas and doctrines were inappropriate to Ghana’s circumstance. Dr. Busia was sufficiently far sighted to lead the country out of its economic troubles and political bitterness. Unlike Dr. Nkrumah, Busia adopted a liberalized economic system and devalued the cedis by 44%. This attracted great resistance from the public and while he was away in London his government was overthrown. The widespread discontent led to a second military coup. His presidency was abolished and the National Assembly was suspended under the new regime of Ignatius Kutu Acheampong. In the late 1970’s Ghana’s economy was terribly chaotic.

Dr. Busia held a different vision for the future of Ghana. When he returned to Ghana in the 1960’s, his vision was to initiate a civic education programme, which purpose was to revive a spirit of sensibility by Ghanaian traditional values. However, many of the younger Ghanaians saw Dr. Busia revivalism as irrelevant and unattractive. Others, with a more conservative view saw this as a way of solving the country’s current turbulence.

In 1968, when the constitutional proposals emerged, it was clear that Dr. Busia’s government was to do things differently from Dr. Nkrumah’s. The constitutional proposals drew from the anglo-saxon political tradition. Provisions were made for a president and head of state, who was to stay on for a term of eight years and thereafter would be ineligible for re-election. This was to avoid the concentration of power in the hands of one man. The constitution provision presented by the second republic was a model of Western political liberalism.

Although it was Dr. Busia’s intention to revive Ghana, the legacy of debt bequeathed to his government by Dr. Nkrumah presented him with problems he could not solve. Unemployment continued to increase whilst the economy remained largely stagnant. Policies designed to put Ghana on the course of financial prudence, to stabilize the currency, increased unemployment. The repayment of massive debts dominated the country’s economic policies. By early 1970’s, Ghana’s economic situation was worse than it had been.

Dr. Busia’s short lived second republic came to an end in 1972 after only thirty one months. He did not share the optimistic view of Dr. Nkrumah’s triumphant progress. Dr. Busia’s party failed to capture the imaginations of many Ghanaians. However, his scholarly contributions were geared toward seeking an African identity after Colonial rule. He claimed that colonial rule had not only physically, but mentally bonded the African people causing them to despise their culture. Therefore, he felt that Africans would be free of colonial rule through intellectual liberation. This could only happen through systemic analysis of African institutions by Africans. Although a part of his vision was for Ghana to have democratic institutions, he noted that it would be much difficult to implement democratic traditions.