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Tag: B.J. da Rocha

  • Who is B.J. Da Rocha?

    B.J. Da Rocha was a prominent lawyer, politician, and founding member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Ghana.

    He was born on May 16, 1927 in Cape Coast, where he attended Adisadel College for his secondary education. He later studied law at the University of London and was called to the bar in England and Wales in 1955.

    He returned to Ghana and became the first Ghanaian director of the Ghana School of Law in 1958. He lectured at the school for almost two decades before retiring in 1992 as the first Ghanaian director of legal education. He also served as the general secretary of the Progress Party, led by Kofi Abrefa Busia, who became the prime minister of Ghana from 1969 to 1972.

    He was also one of the founding members and the first national chairman of the NPP, which was formed in 1992 as a successor to the Progress Party and other pro-democracy movements that opposed military rule in Ghana. He played a key role in shaping the party’s ideology, vision, and policies. 

    He was known for his outspokenness, integrity, and dedication to the party and the nation.

    He died on February 23, 2010, at the age of 82, after a long illness. He was honored by the Ghana Bar Association for his contribution to the legal profession in 1993.

    In 2012, a book titled “B.J. Da Rocha: A Life of Integrity” was launched by President John Atta Mills to commemorate his life and legacy. In 2017, Mountcrest University College in Ghana instituted a lecture and a chair in law and politics in his memory and honor.

    He became relevant following conversations around Alan Kyerematen and him back in 2005. Alan Kyerematen was one of the presidential aspirants of the NPP who contested against Nana Akufo-Addo, who eventually won the party’s nomination. 

    In 2008, B.J. Da Rocha wrote a letter criticizing his choice of Hajia Alima Mahama as his running mate and accusing him of being influenced by tribalism and nepotism. 

    He also described Alan Kyerematen as a “disruptive factor” who should be expelled from the party for resigning after losing the primaries.

  • B.J. da Rocha’s ‘prophecy’ about Alan Kyerematen in 2008

    In April 2008, when Alan Kyerematen resigned from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and there were attempts to persuade him back into the fold of the NPP, a former Chairman and elder of the NPP, Mr. B. J. da Rocha made a prediction.

    Mr. B. J. da Rocha said it would not be in the best interest of the NPP to receive Mr. Alan Kyeremanten back into the NPP.

    His reason was that he could become a “disruptive factor in the party, a stumbling block and loose cannon”.

    “The party has an election to win. We should concentrate our efforts on the task ahead and let him go his way in peace,” Mr da Rocha said in a report filed by the Ghana News Agency in 2008.

    Official: Alan Kyerematen quits NPP again, decides to contest 2024 as independent candidate

    It is now official, following the personal confirmation by Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen that he was going to contest the 2024 presidential election as an independent candidate.

    Alan officially submitted his resignation letter indicating he was no longer interested in being a member of the NPP on Monday [September 25, 2023].

    Immediately after that, he addressed a press conference and announced his decision to contest 2024 as an independent candidate.

    He is now forming a movement, called “Movement for Change” with a Monarch Butterfly as the symbol.

    This is a big blow to the governing New Patriotic Party as the move would greatly affect the unity of the party going into Election 2024.

    The NPP has been at the helm of affairs in governance since January 7, 2017, and hoping to break the eight-year cycle of change of government which usually alternates between the NPP and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

    The speculations about Alan Kyerematen’s resignation and independent presidential ambition intensified over the weekend and got NPP members jittery after a poster announcing his planned press conference at the Movenpick Hotel on Monday afternoon was released by his aides and supporters.

    In fact, the speculations had actually started earlier, before September 5, 2023, the day he announced his withdrawal from the current NPP presidential race.

    Alan was shortlisted as part of the top five candidates who were going into the final selection on November 4, 2023, but some people believed that he would have lost the November 4 election, considering the popularity gained by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and Kennedy Ohene Agyapong as the leading candidates in the Special Super Delegates conference. 

    Alan placed third in the August 2023 Special Delegates conference having garnered less than 100 votes out of the over 900 votes.

    Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, considered by some as a “non-presidential” material who entered the NPP presidential race just recently beat Alan, who had been in the race for more than 16 years.

    Alan’s name first came up in 2005 as the replacement for the then President John Agyekum Kufuor who was retiring on January 6, 2009, as the leader of the NPP.

    In 2007, Alan contested with 16 other candidates and came second, as Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo [now President of Ghana] beat him and became the leading candidate. Akufo-Addo has led the party since 2007 as the first presidential choice and has subsequently beaten Alan Kyerematen in other NPP presidential primaries.

    President Akufo-Addo is retiring on January 6, 2025, hence the NPP is looking for a replacement.

    President Akufo-Addo’s vice, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has shot up as the next preferable choice, with many party members throwing their support behind him. He garnered a convincing endorsement of over 50 percent votes at the special delegates conference held in August 2023.

    The larger Electoral College of the NPP will on November 4, 2023, select the next leader.

    However, Alan Kyerematen expressed his unhappiness with the process that led to Dr. Bawumia’s convincing victory in the Super Delegates Conference.

    Some of Alan’s aides alleged that the presidency was supporting Dr. Bawumia behind the scenes and also influencing delegates clandestinely.

    To Alan, his spokespersons and supporters, it was Alan’s time to lead the NPP, having waited for over 16 years for his turn and that it is not time yet for Dr. Bawumia whom they claim only joined the race recently. They wanted Alan to lead after which Dr. Bawumia could have also taken the baton. 

    Supporters of Bawumia however think otherwise, and argue that since it was a contest, they should allow the delegates to decide who leads the party.

    Second time Alan is quitting NPP

    Feeling bitter about the loss in the 2007 presidential primary and what he described subsequently as being sidelined, Alan, in 2008 resigned from the NPP in a similar move but was politically coerced and later rejoined the party.  

    But while those discussions were underway to bring Alan back to the NPP, former Chairman and elder of the NPP, Mr. B. J. da Rocha [deceased] sounded this caution.