The Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, has insisted that the late Dr Joseph Boakye Danquah, one of the ‘Big Six’, popularly known as JB Danquah, coined the name “Ghana.”
According to Afenyo-Markin, the late JB Danquah came by the name Ghana through thorough research he conducted on the ethnicities of the people who were in the then Gold Coast.
The MP, who made these remarks at an event to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the passing of JB on March 9, 2025, said that JB Danquah found that the people of the Gold Coast were from the ancient powerful Ghana Empire, which he thought would be an excellent name.
“We are called Ghana today because of the research and advocacy of Dr Danquah. Prior to independence, Dr Danquah travelled near and far to conduct extensive research on a suitable name that would reflect the history, identity, and heritage of the people of the Gold Coast.
He added, “He spent considerable time at the British Museum and other libraries, meticulously studying primary historical sources on the origins and traditions of the ethnic groups within the Gold Coast. Through his scholarly investigations, Dr Danquah discovered a historical connection between the people of the Gold Coast and the ancient Ghana Empire. He argued that adopting the name “Ghana” would symbolise the strength, heritage, and continuity of the region’s ancestral past, fostering a shared national identity and pride.”
The Effutu legislator, who is also the Minority Leader of Ghana’s Parliament, added that the leaders of the UGCC – who were fighting for Ghana’s independence, came to a consensus that the name “Ghana” should replace “Gold Coast” when the country attained independence.
“The United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), formed in 1947 by Paa Grant, Danquah, RS Blay, Edward Akufo-Addo, and others, agreed to use the name ‘Ghana’ upon independence. This proposal was ultimately accepted when the country attained independence in 1957,” he said.
Some historians, including Yaw Anokye Frimpong, have refuted assertions that JB Danquah was the one who propounded the name ‘Ghana’ to replace the country’s previous name, Gold Coast, after the country’s independence.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews on August 5, 2024, Anokye Frimpong pointed out that the name Ghana existed long before the country gained independence from the British in 1957.
He said that Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, established a school and named it Ghana National College nearly 10 years before the country’s liberation.
The historian added that the history books show that the name JB Danquah penned for an independent Gold Coast was Akanman.
“Speaking about Danquah, he lost his Abuakwa constituency seat to a nephew of his. JB was shocked to the marrow of his bones by this defeat. In 1955, the state council of his home state of Akyem Abuakwa, in recognition of all his services, enstooled JB as the Twafohene of Akyem Abuakwa. That was the highest accolade that he got to. He fizzled out.
“Nine full years before we had independence, Kwame Nkrumah had put together the students of Mfantsipim, Adisadel, and Augustine’s and their teachers who had been dismissed because they had gone out to support all the demonstrations for the 1948 riots. He put them together, set up a school at Cape Coast, and he called the name of the school Ghana National College. That was nine full years before Ghana’s independence,” he said.
Anokye Frimpong added, “So, please, I would never accept any argument to the effect that JB Danquah, who had written in all the thesis that he made, that Ghana should be called Akanman, would metamorphose into becoming the originator of the name Ghana.”
BAI/AE
Meanwhile, watch the latest Twi News on GhanaWeb TV below:
Watch videos from the 68th Independence Day celebration below:
