On July 14, 2008 At the 2008 Busia Foundation Annual Lectures, New Patriotic Party Presidential Candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo delivered a lecture on democracy, security, and the rule of law in Accra. Devoted to Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, the lectures address issues facing Ghana, including democracy; rights & duties, liberty & responsibility; criminal justice reform; police/population ratio; combating the drug trade; focus on youth; and securing the borders. For the complete transcript of the lecture, follow the link below. Akufo-Addo began the lecture with:

In “The Challenge of Africa”, written in 1962, in which Dr Busia showed a profound understanding of the problems confronting Africa and the solutions most likely to yield lasting results, he argued against the post-colonial myth, propounded with convenient ease by Africa’s first generation of leaders, that multiparty democracy was allegedly a luxurious western concept alien to African society.

He wrote:

“The principles of democracy – freedom of speech, including the right to criticize and to make propaganda against the government; freedom of assembly and association, including the freedom to organise opposition parties and to propose alternative governments; freedom of the people to choose their governments at general elections and to change them peacefully; freedom of religion; freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment without trial; the rule of law; guarantees for human rights and civil liberties – all these principles of parliamentary government are universal. They can be adopted and applied by any nation that chooses to do so. They can be institutionalized in any culture.”