Changing the game with Dr Palgrave Boakye-Danquah: From chess board to squash court

Ghana’s development conversation has too many grandmasters and too few players.

For years we have approached nation building like a game of chess. Careful. Sequential. One move, then wait. Protect the king at all costs. Sacrifice pawns quietly. Plan from a distance while the board stays still.

That model formed me. But the moment I stepped into politics, missionary apologetics, and the lecture halls of UPSA, I realized the board was too small for the moment we are in.

It is time to change the game. From chess board to squash court.

 The Chess Board Years: Strategy, Patience, Apologetics
My journey began in missionary apologetics. In that space, truth is tested. Questions come hard and fast. You learn to think in frames, anticipate objections, and defend conviction without losing civility.

Apologetics is chess. You study patterns. You think three moves ahead. You protect the core while engaging the margins. That discipline shaped my mind. It taught me that ideas have weight, and that leadership without a moral anchor drifts.

Chess also taught me patience. In a world addicted to instant reactions, chess rewards the person who can sit with complexity. That is still valuable. But patience without action becomes paralysis.

Politics: When the Board Became Too Small
Politics pulled me off the board and onto the court.

On a chess board, your opponent is across from you. In Ghana’s reality, the challenges are all around you. Unemployment does not wait for your turn. Infrastructure gaps do not pause while you calculate. The youth cannot be put “on hold” while leaders plan the perfect move.

Squash does not allow distance. The ball rebounds off four walls. You must move, pivot, and respond in real time. You cannot delegate the shot. You either return it, or you lose the point.

That is the political lesson I learned. Leadership today is not about making the cleverest move. It is about having the fitness to stay in the rally. It is about covering the court when the pressure comes from every angle. It is about understanding that your opponent’s shot off the wall can become your best scoring opportunity if you read it correctly.

UPSA and the Next Generation: Training Players, Not Pawns
My classroom at UPSA confirmed what politics taught me.

If we only train students to be pieces on someone else’s board, we produce followers. If we train them for the squash court, we produce leaders.

So my approach is deliberate. I do not just teach theory. I train for endurance, recovery, and court awareness. I tell my students: the economy will test your lungs more than your memory. Governance will test your reflexes more than your grades. Entrepreneurship will test how fast you get up after you miss a shot.

The wall in squash looks like an obstacle. In business and policy, it is the same. Regulations, limited capital, market failures. Chess players avoid the wall. Squash players use it. That is the mindset Ghana’s next generation needs. Turn constraints into angles. Turn setbacks into setups.

The Business Case for Changing the Game
Because markets reward players, not spectators. Investors do not fund perfect plans. They fund teams that can adapt when the ball comes off the wall. Companies that win are not those with the best 10-year chess strategy. They are those with the stamina to play 50 rallies in a quarter and still be standing.

Ghana’s economic future depends on this shift. From long planning cycles to rapid execution. From protecting positions to creating opportunities. From silent calculation to engaged competition.

*From Waiting to Winning*
I am not dismissing chess. Strategy matters. Foresight matters. But strategy without stamina loses to execution with energy.

So the call is simple. Let us raise leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers who train for the squash court. People who do not ask “whose move is it?” but ask “where is the ball, and how do I return it for Ghana?”

The game has changed. Our playbook must change with it.

Dr Palgrave Boakye-Danquah is a missionary apologist, political strategist, and lecturer at UPSA. He writes on leadership, security, governance, and nation building.

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