Recover African Culture - Bediako

Accra, Feb. 4, GNA - The Reverend Professor Kwame Bediako, Executive Director of the Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Centre, has called for a recovery of African cultural values that demonstrated African participation in a common humanity.

"Where such recovery exists," he noted, "and comes through well founded explorations of African tradition by European Scholars they must be evidence of the shared humanity which Dr Danquah shared." Prof. Bediako said this in Accra on the second day of the 2004 J.B. Danquah Memorial Lectures.

Prof Bediako argued that in an age when many African nations found themselves at various points of crisis, some were tempted to jettison indigenous cultural values.

Some of them even embrace values associated with so-called "global" culture.

He said Dr Danquah's attitude to culture pointed to another way because he held the view: "That unless we bring indigenous contributions of our own that are themselves, the sign of our part in a shared humanity, then we are more likely to become mere consumers of the products of other cultures."

Dr Danquah, who is described as a doyen of Ghana politics, wrote several books from 1928 to 1931 notably, "Akan Laws and Customs: and "Cases in Akan Law" and "An Epistle to the Educated Young Men of Akim-Abuakwa".

He also wrote articles on the Gold Coast Constitution and History and Traditions.

He established the "West African Times", a daily newspaper that was later renamed The Times of West Africa.

Dr Danquah formed the United Gold Coast Convention in 1947 with the sole purpose of achieving self-government for the people and their chiefs. He was arrested and imprisoned three times, the first by the Colonial Government in 1948 and twice by Dr Kwame Nkrumah Government in 1961 and 1964. He died in prison in 1965. 04 Feb. 04