Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Chairman of the NPP Council of Elders
By Bright Philip Donkor
The National Council of Elders of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will today mark the 78th anniversary of the founding of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) with a stirring call for national unity, youth empowerment, and renewed commitment to the values that inspired Ghana’s independence movement.
A press statement signed by Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Chairman of the Council, said they would host a landmark panel discussion today to commemorate the 78th anniversary.
The event will be held under the theme “Liberty, Markets & Ethics — Rethinking Development in Ghana” at the NPP Headquarters in Asylum Down, Accra, at 2:00 PM.
Tribute
The NPP Elders paid glowing tribute to the UGCC’s founding fathers for catalysing the nation’s political awakening and laying the ideological groundwork for Ghana’s democratic evolution.
“As we commemorate 78 years since the founding of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), we pay tribute to the architects of Ghana’s political awakening. The UGCC was the first organized force that demanded self-rule, economic justice, and the restoration of rights withheld under colonialism,” the statement said.
The statement recognised iconic nationalist figures such as Dr. Joseph Boakye Danquah, Paa Grant, A. G. Grant, R. A. Awoonor-Williams and Edward Akufo-Addo for their instrumental roles in challenging colonial domination, and inspiring a mass movement toward self-governance.
“Their struggle was not only political—it was economic, moral, and visionary,” it continued, adding that the UGCC’s principles were anchored in “the sanctity of individual rights,” “the protection of property ownership,” and “the fostering of free markets for broad-based prosperity.”
The NPP Elders also noted that while the UGCC’s primary aim was political liberation, its influence extended beyond nationhood into the moral and economic architecture of post-independence Ghana.
Legacy
The statement emphasised that the legacy of the UGCC was not only historical but continues to shape Ghana’s multiparty democratic experiment. “It laid the groundwork for a multi-party democracy — one that demands not just electoral participation, but active resistance to corruption and divisive partisanship,” it said
The statement further urged: “To the youth, this anniversary is not ceremonial—it is instructive. It challenges you to build, innovate, and lead with integrity. To create wealth, not only for self, but for community. And to ensure that freedom remains not just a memory, but a living, breathing reality.”
The Council called for national reflection, reminding Ghanaians that the UGCC’s ideals should not be confined to history books or monuments, but lived out in the “daily pursuit of liberty, justice, and unity.”
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