The National Democratic Party (NDP) was a right-wing political party active in the
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
in the early 1950s.
The party was formed in May 1950 with the merger of the Accra Ratepayers' Association and the Manbii Party.
It was led by
Nii Amaa Ollennu
Raphael Nii Amaa Ollennu (21 May 1906 – 22 December 1986) was a jurist and judge who became a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana from 1962 to 1966, the acting President of Ghana during the Second Republic from 7 August 1970 to 31 Augu ...
, with
Frederick Nanka-Bruce as chairman. It supported a gradual transition to
self-government
__NOTOC__
Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...
, under the slogan "Sure, Solid, Self-government". It campaigned against
Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...
's
Convention People's Party
The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a Socialism, socialist political party in Ghana based on the ideas of the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. The CPP was formed in June 1949 after Nkrumah broke away from the United Gold Coast Conven ...
(CPP), claiming that the CPP's candidates were inexperienced and extreme, while its candidates were both experienced and respectable.
The British colonial officials welcomed the formation of the party, but privately expressed doubts about its popular appeal.
At the
1951 Gold Coast legislative election, the party ran in co-ordination with the
United Gold Coast Convention
The United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was a political party founded in 1947 whose aim was to bring about Ghanaian independence from their British colonial masters after the Second World War. The United Gold Coast Convention appointed its leade ...
(UGCC). It also aligned itself with two parties which did not contest the election, the People's Democratic Party, based in
Kumasi
Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...
, and the Independent Party, based in
Cape Coast
Cape Coast is a city, fishing port, and the capital of Cape Coast Metropolitan District and Central Region of Ghana. It is one of the country's most historic cities, a World Heritage Site, home to the Cape Coast Castle, with the Gulf of Guinea ...
.
The party did not win any seats; in the largest constituency, Accra, Ollennu took only 742 votes, and his running mate, Kofi Adumoa Bossman, 666, while Nkrumah won 20,780 and
Thomas Hutton-Mills Jr.
Thomas Hutton-Mills (14 November 1894, AccraMichael R. Doortmont, ''The Pen-Pictures of Modern Africans and African Celebrities by Charles Francis Hutchison: A Collective Biography of Elite Society in the Gold Coast Colony'', Brill, 2005, p. 266 ...
, also of the CPP, 19,812. Two UGCC candidates also beat the NDP.
In May 1952, the party merged with the UGCC and dissident members of the CPP, to form the
Ghana Congress Party
The Ghana Congress Party was founded in May 1952 by Kofi Busia who also its leader. The party was formed by dissatisfied former Convention People's Party members, along with the United Gold Coast Convention
The United Gold Coast Convention (UG ...
.
References
{{Ghanaian political parties
Defunct political parties in Ghana
1950 establishments in Gold Coast (British colony)
Political parties established in 1950
Political parties disestablished in 1952