Exactly three years ago Leader Hon. Habib Iddrisu made a presentation in the chamber of the Parliament of Ghana eulogising Tali Naa Yakubu for his seamless contribution to the formation of the NPP and the development of northern Ghana and the country at large. Today, Tamale International Airport is named after his eminence the late Tali Naa Yakubu. This is a great recognition. 

Mr. Speaker, the late Alhaji Yakubu-Tali was the first child, born into a polygynous, extended and royal family system in 1916 at Tali in the Tolon Traditional Council. His parents were the late Tali Naa, Alhassan Sulemana, and Mma Ayishetu, of Tolon and Kumbungu respectively. He started school at an appreciable age of nine years in Tamale. In Dagbon, students in schools were identified by the names of their communities. This was intended to distinguish between students who bore similar names, hence the name Yakubu Tali. 

In the 1930s after obtaining his Gold Coast Standard Seven Certificate, and per the policy of the colonial government then, no student from the Northern Territory, no matter how academically sound, was allowed into the secondary division of Achimota School. However, he could not be kept out, and Yakubu Tali became the first Northerner to attend Achimota School and obtained a Teachers Certificate ‘A’ in 1936. As part of the policy of the colonial government, he was posted to the Northern Territory and for nine years, he taught in several schools in the Northern Territory, where he was a most effective teacher. He inspired and mentored several folks including parents and teachers during this period until his father the late Tali Naa, Alhassan Sulemana died in 1946 and he was ascent to the throne as Chief of Tali.

Mr. Speaker, in 1952 the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali became the Paramount Chief of the Tolon Traditional Area. It was on this remarkable development that the Commissioner of the Northern Territory remarked “It is the appointment of young literate and forward-looking chiefs such as this that the salvation of Dagomba Chieftaincy lies” (Staniland, 1975).

Mr. Speaker, the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali's political antecedents started when he was elected a representative of the Western Dagomba State Council to the Northern Territories Council in 1948. Following his unprecedented stewardship of the Western Dagomba State Council to the Northern Territory in 1952 he was elected as the President of the Northern Territory Council. A post in which his mandate was renewed six times in succession till 1958. During the period he was the President of the Northern Territory Council, he was also a member of the historic Coussey Constitutional Committee that drafted the Independence Constitution in 1950, and whose constitutional proposals provided the roadmap for Ghana’s independence in 1957.

In the Legislative Assembly of the Gold Coast, the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali served as a Special Member for the Northern Territory in 1950. He won the 1954 and 1956 parliamentary elections for Dagomba South as an Independent Candidate and, then, in 1965 he won again but as a candidate of the Northern Peoples Party where he served until 1965.

In 1954, during the formation of the Northern Peoples Party, which was established to advance the interests of the North in the new political atmosphere of the 1950s, it must be noted that the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali and other prominent Northern political personalities such as S.D Dombo, Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia and J.A. Braimah, launched the Party in Tolon Naa’s palace in Tamale, and the constitution of Northern Peoples Party (NPP) was drafted. Executives for various political positions were elected, and various electoral colleges and local branches were established. 

Mr. Speaker, as a new political party, the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali was specifically tasked to champion and build a solid machinery for the Northern Peoples Party in the great Dagbon Kingdom, a task he successfully executed. The role he played contributed to the successful organisation of the first congress and outdooring of the Northern Peoples Party here in Tolon on the 10th and 11th of April, 1954.

Mr. Speaker, in parliament, the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali was known as the Golden Voice of the North because of the clarity and fluency of his expositions. He was a very instrumental, effective and eloquent debater. He was a patriotic Icon who held the principle that matters of national interest must surpass political and parochial interest and that politicians should temporarily set aside their political philosophies and come together in unity for the good of the country. He remarked, “That is the principle on which we on this side are fighting for the government: fighting not as politicians for the next election, but as statesmen for the next generation” (Legislative Assembly Debates, 1955). In July 1960, the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali became the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, a position he held for five years, and he was also a member of the Ghanaian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1960, 61 and 69.

Mr. Speaker, the 1979 Constituent Assembly, which prepared the Constitution of the short-lived Third Republic, the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali was a Special Supreme Military Council II (SMC II) member of that Assembly. 

When he left parliament, he joined the Diplomatic Service: 

• He was the Ghana’s High Commissioner to Nigeria from 1965 to 1968. 

• He was Ghana’s Ambassador to the then Yugoslavia during the Second Republic.

• In 1972, he was recalled and appointed Ghana’s High Commissioner to Sierra Leone.

• He was also accredited to Guinea as an Ambassador. 

Mr. Speaker, during the formation of the Popular Front Party, he was a founding member and was made the first National Chairman of the party. He was also considered the surest bet and was nominated as the running mate to Victor Owusu in the 1979 presidential election, but the party subsequently lost the election.

Mr. Speaker, the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali at the tail end of his political career, was appointed a member of the Judicial Service Council as a representative of the Provisional Defence Council (PNDC) government.

Mr Speaker, as what seems to be an end to the political history of the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali, died as a great patriot and statesman on Wednesday 17th June 1986.

Mr. Speaker, in blessed memory of the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali, Mr Ladouceur remarked the late Alhaji Yakubu Tali was “An educated and cultivated man, one of the first Northerners to pass through Achimota in the 1930s, and teacher of many of the younger Northerners, an Alhaji and a man whom even his opponents regard with respect; a man who avoided the rough and tumble of the party conflict and was considered by many as the almost above politics” (Ladouceur 1979).

Mr. Speaker, H.E Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo describes him as, “this was a great man who led a full and varied life, worthy of celebration. Politician, diplomat and statesman, Alhaji Yakubu Tali was also a chief of high traditional standing. An educated and cultivated man. He was a person of deep-seated faith, a trait respected by all. He was a true embodiment of the dignity of tradition and chieftaincy in Ghana. He skilfully blended his faith, tradition and public service much to the admiration of his contemporaries. He belongs to the ages and represented the best elements of this noble tradition, the Danquah-Dombo-Busia political tradition of Ghana, reflecting integrity, loyalty to principle, selflessness, and commitment to honest public service in the highest degree. We, therefore, have a duty, as beneficiaries of their toils and as loyal members of the political tradition these great men left behind, to be part of the celebration of the life of the Tolon Naa, Alhaji Yakubu Tali” (NPP Delegates Congress, April 2014).

May the soul of Alhaji Yakubu Tali, Tolon Naa, continue to rest in perfect peace in the bosom of the Almighty God, thank you.

Source: Parliament Library.

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