UP was non-existent before 1957 - Historian

Professor of Political Science, H. B. Martinson, has revealed that there was no political party called United Party (UP) before 1957, the year Ghana gained independence.

He told Alfred Ocansey on the Sunrise show on 3FM Tuesday, August 4, which marked the Founders’ Day celebration, that the claim by some political scientists and researchers that the UP was formed before 1957 is erroneous and should be disregarded.

He also clarified that the UP was not formed in the Ashanti Region as being claimed but rather it was formed in the Greater Accra Region.

The United Party was the main opposition party in the First Republic of Ghana.

It was the only opposition party throughout its existence from 1957 until 1964, when Ghana became a one-party state.

Professor Martinson stated: “Before independence, many academics, even professors in Legon, politicians, media men arrogantly established that UP was vibrant. But I say no.

“There was no political party called UP before 1957. UP was not even established in Kumasi as they have it. UP was established in Greater Accra. UP came as a result of a union of parties in opposition to Nkrumah.”

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on the occasion assured Ghanaians that he will lay a strong foundation that transforms the Ghanaian economy.

“We must as a mark of reverence to or founders, work to free ourselves from the economic arrangements designed by former colonial power to serve its particular purpose at the time which continues to bind us.

“We must make concerted efforts to break away from the neocolonial structure of the raw material producing and exporting economy which has largely been our lot.

“As president of the republic I am determined to make leadership of Ghana the period that witnessed the laying of the foundation for the transformation of our economy from an exporter of raw materials and retailer of cheap imported goods to a modern, value-adding, industrialized one.”