R R Amponsah Is Dead (Political Page)

June 10, 2009

ONE of the stalwarts of the United Party (UP) tradition, which has changed names over the years to become the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr R.R. Amponsah,died on Wednesday,June 3, 2009.
Mr Amponsah, a leading member of the NPP, and a holder of several political positions during his long political career, died at the age of 89 after a short illness.
He once served as Minister of Education under Dr K.A. Busia’s Progress Party (PP) government during the Second Republic.
Considered one of the most prominent Ghanaians who espoused different political ideas from that of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Mr R.R. Amponsah was forced into exile with others from both the CPP and UP traditions under Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s regime.
With the same conviction, he together with Messrs Victor Owusu, Apaloo, William Ofori-Atta, Dzenkle Dzewu and Joe Appiah, who were former parliamentarians, were convicted for planning a military coup with one Major Awhaitey and imprisoned under the CPP regime.
Those who went into exile included Prof Busia, one time parliamentary leader of the opposition, and Oheneba Kow Richardson, the General Secretary of the then proscribed United Party (UP).
Two other opposition members died in exile. They were Amponsah Dadzie, one time Member of Parliament for Cape Coast, and Mr Ashie Nikoi, a founder member of the CPP, as well as Ga Shifimo Kpee.
The latter had the honour of being present at the fifth Pan African Congress in Manchester and was also among the first victims of the obnoxious Preventive Detention Act (PDA).
Two personalities, Dr J.B. Danquah and Obetsebi Lamptey of the historical Big Six during the independence struggle, also died in detention without trial.
R.R. Amponsah never came to terms with the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, for the introduction of the PDA, which he introduced a year after independence.
In a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) interview a few years ago, the late R.R. Amponsah was reported to have said that "Many people still have a wrong view of him (Nkrumah). He was an autocrat and a dictator. People still think Ghana would be a place of roses if he had stayed in power. That's not true at all."
Mr Amponsah was charged for allegedly organising a coup against the CCP government and imprisoned without trial for more than six years.
"A British police officer came to me and said “you are under arrest", he recalls.
"He pulled a gun and said “come at once or I will blow your head off.” There were military men and senior police officers; they told me to sit and wait. Then they charged me with organising a coup. I was shocked. How? There was no truth in that”, he stated
Although not too strong due to old age, the former Chairman of the Council of Elders of the NPP, played a significant role in the last general election which saw his party lose power to the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
During one of his political assignments , Mr Amponsah at a meeting with some party members urged them to unite in their efforts and continue to work towards victory in the 2008 general election.
Addressing 14 dismissed members of the NPP in the Yilo Krobo Constituency and some top party members at a meeting to reconcile them, Mr Amponsah was reported by a national paper to have said that the party members should ponder over the call on some of them to prepare to go to jail for 30 years if they lost the elections.
The one week celebration of the late Mr Amponsah will take place today at his residence at Regimanuel Estates, Platinum Gate in Accra.
In a message of condolence to the family of the late statesman which was signed by Mr Kofi Adams, a special aide to former President Flt Lt J.J. Rawlings, he said the NPP had lost a dedicated son.