TRIBUTE TO REVEREND CHARLES BINEY

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By Kwesi Pratt Jnr.

Charles played many roles in his very active life.

He was a classic poet who wrote about love, religion, family, education, activism, Pan Africanism and many other subjects which caught his fancy. He sometimes came across as a journalist pouring out his hatred of all forms of oppression and on some occasions, the priest in him poured out with sermons on life on earth and in the heavens. He was a trained biochemist and also a professional driver.

Charles as all his friends called him, livened up any space he entered with his loudness and very provocative thoughts on all issues. In spite of his diminutive structure, he had a presence which was larger than life.

He is perhaps the only person I have known who managed to be ideologically Nkrumaist and an extraordinary supporter and member of the Danquah-Busia political tradition. He saw no contradiction in this and went on to contest for the parliamentary candidature of the New Patriotic Party in one of the Ablekuma constituencies.

Charles was resident in Dallas, Texas in the United States of America but he missed nothing at home. He was a leading or founding member of the Democratic Alliance of Ghana (DAG) which was headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. This organisation was rabidly opposed to the military rule of Mr. Jerry John Rawlings and published and circulated its mouthpiece “Gye Nyame” throughout Ghana.

He was part of the group which conceived the idea of forming an all-party group, the Movement for Freedom and Justice (MFJ) to struggle for the return to multi-party rule in Ghana in 1991. In this enterprise, he worked very closely with heavyweights like Professor Albert Adu Boahen, Johnny F.S. Hansen, Akoto Ampaw, Kwame Wiafe, Owusu-Gyimah, John Ndebugre, Dan Lartey and many others.

Charles also played a very key-role in the work of the Alliance for change (AFC) whose spokesperson is the current president of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He became the representative of the Alliance in North America.

Reverend Charles Biney played his part in the struggle for democracy in Ghana by contributing his all in the bold confrontation with dictatorship.

May his deeds continue to inspire all of us to continue the struggle for total liberation from oppression until final victory.