Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh Calls for a Return to Busia’s “Democratic Welfare” Vision in 2026 Busia Institute Lecture

London, UK | 9 August 2026 – Speaking at the first international edition of the Busia Institute Lecture in London, Hon. Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh urged Ghanaians to judge the Second Republic “through evidence, through proportion, and through gratitude” and to translate its principles into present-day governance.

The lecture, delivered at the London Hilton on Park Lane under the theme _“Centre-Right Political Thought in Africa: The Ghanaian Experience”_, framed the governance of Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia’s government of 1969-1972 as a model of _“democratic leadership and national development”_ with direct relevance today.

*1. Dignity, Freedom and a “Democratic Welfare Society”*
Dr Prempeh said the moral centre of Busia’s administration was captured in one sentence from his inaugural address: _“Our goal is to enable every man and woman in our country to live a life of dignity in freedom.”_

He described this as one of the clearest statements of humane, centre-right thought in postcolonial Africa. For Busia, he argued, the state was not to dominate the citizen, but to be _“an instrument for enlarging the citizen”_. Welfare was not _“a hammock”_ of dependency, but _“a ladder”_ that widens opportunity so people can stand on their own productive strength.

This philosophy, he said, deliberately walked _“a harder, more human middle”_ between an all-devouring state and a cold economy that abandons the weak.

*2. Rural Development as Equal Citizenship*
A key focus of the lecture was Busia’s rural agenda. Dr Prempeh noted that Busia’s government treated rural development not as charity, but as _“an argument about equal citizenship”_.

_“Our independence was not yet complete… so long as the accident of where a Ghanaian happened to be born decided whether they would have a road, clean water, electricity, a clinic, a market, a school”_. Rural Ghanaians, he stressed, were _“creditors, owed a fairer return, in infrastructure and services and opportunity”_.

The government also embraced participation over paternalism — a principle _“the whole development world would only fully embrace decades later”_.

*3. Local Government, Chieftaincy and National Unity*
Dr Prempeh highlighted the Local Administration Act 1971 and Chieftaincy Act 1971 as efforts to give power closer to the people and to recognise tradition within the constitutional order.

Quoting Busia, he said: _“Whatever of value that we can contribute to the cultures of the world must stem from our own traditions and achievements”_ and _“chieftaincy… gives us a special identification as a people and we must cherish it”_.

National unity, he argued, does not require _“cultural erasure”_ but equality before the law, to _“stop inherited identity from ever becoming a weapon of exclusion, while preserving everything in that identity that gives people belonging”_.

*4. Constitutional Fidelity and Independent Foreign Policy*
On the controversial Sallah case, Dr Prempeh urged precision: the Supreme Court issued a declaration, not an enforcement order, and the courts continued to function throughout. He conceded that disagreement with courts _“must always be expressed in a way that protects, rather than corrodes, public confidence in the courts”_.

On foreign policy, he defended Busia’s call for dialogue with apartheid South Africa as aimed at _“the elimination of that system”_ and seeking _“a multiracial society in which every citizen… enjoys the same human dignity”_. The deeper principle, he said, was that _“a sovereign African state must never allow international fashion… to do its thinking for it”_.

*5. A Call to the Diaspora and the NPP*
Dr Prempeh told Ghanaians in the UK they are _“a reservoir of knowledge, of investment, of professional standards”_ that Ghana must better tap. He urged them to bring home _“unglamorous habits”_ like record-keeping, punctuality and enforcement of standards.

He concluded that fidelity to the UP tradition’s forebears — _Paa Grant, Danquah, Akoto, Dombo, Busia, Kufuor and Nana Addo_ — means _“to translate the principles behind those names into how we actually govern”_. The responsibility now rests with the New Patriotic Party and _“every one of us who claims to stand within the UP tradition”_.

_“May this lecture deepen our understanding, strengthen our fidelity to constitutional government, and renew our commitment to a Ghana governed by law, developed through enterprise and social responsibility, and united around the dignity of all its people”_.

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