Ghana Congress Party
The Ghana Congress Party ( GCP ) was a political party in what is now Ghana . The founding of the party in 1951 reached into the independence process of the Gold Coast colony .
Founding history
After the division of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) due to the splitting off of the younger members in particular, which was forced by Kwame Nkrumah, and the founding of the Convention People's Party (CPP), the remainder of the UGCC formed the Ghana Congress together with a smaller group, the National Democratic Party Party. The founding phase was determined by the power struggle between Nii Amaa Ollennu , a barrister who presided over the National Democratic Party (NDP) and JB Danquah , the chairman of the UGCC. The party's general secretary was Saki Scheck. This power struggle between Ollennu and Danquah ended with Ollennu's temporary withdrawal from politics in favor of his legal career.
Following this dispute, Ghana's future Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey , who later founded the Nationalist Party , fought for political supremacy. From today's perspective, including the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the GCP is in the political tradition of Ghana's first party, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).
The GCP went under the chairmanship of Busia at the end of 1957, beginning of 1958 in the United Party (UP) as an amalgamation of various opposition parties. This was preceded by a law from 1957, which came into force shortly after Ghana's independence and forced all regional, religious or tribal parties oriented almost overnight into illegality. The opposition united in the UP.
Election results
In the elections to the Legislative Assembly ( Legislative Assembly ) of 15 June 1954, the GCP scored 104 parliamentary seats in total. The popular Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia himself. In the elections of June 17, 1956, no GCP member entered parliament.