30th anniversary of June 4 Uprising marked in Accra

Page 16
June 5, 2009

ADHERENTS of the ideals of the June 4 Uprising have re-affirmed their faith in the principles that underlined the action and contend that public office holders must be made accountable for their stewardship.
Those principles of probity and accountability rhymed through speeches of various speakers at a symposium held in Accra last Wednesday night to mark the 30th anniversary of the revolution which toppled the government of the Supreme Military Council on June 4, 1979.
The speakers included former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, the Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Kwabena Agyei, the Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, a Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Fiifi Kwetey and a private businessman, Mr Herbert Mensah.
Mrs Agyemang-Rawlings said it was unacceptable to sweep wrongdoing under the carpet and that people, no matter their stature, should be held accountable for their stewardship.
She said the current government believed in due process and that was why it had set out to investigate allegations of impropriety against some former government officials before charges were preferred against them.
According to her, Ghanaians needed to rededicate themselves to the principles and values of June 4, which included probity, accountability, justice, transparency, integrity and honesty.
The former First Lady spoke at the June 4 lectures as part of activities marking the 30th anniversary.
Thirty years ago, a group of young officers and men of the Ghana Armed Forces led by Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings seized political power under the Supreme Military Council (SMC II) to purge the society of social and economic vices.
According to Mrs Agyemang-Rawlings, June 4 and its ideas stood for equity, equality, positive defiance and gender balance, among other things.
She cited for instance that the last eight years had been full of lies, stealing and injustice, and that the current government would restore confidence and hope in the people.
She said June 4 needed to be examined in the context of what happened in the country at the time when there were social and economic decadence, and that former President Rawlings intervened to bring hope to the people.
Mrs Agyemang-Rawlings underscored the need for the youth to have role models as there was no country which could develop without the contribution of its youth.
The NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Nadowli West, Mr Alban Bagbin, said former President Rawlings was so much respected in the rest of the world because of his contribution to institutionalising democracy in the country.
Unfortunately, he said, the same was not applied to him in the country as some people said a lot of negative things about the ex-president, adding “a prophet is not welcomed in his own town”.
Mr Bagbin said there was gloom on May 15, but the country was liberated on June 4.
“We cannot afford to fail the people of Ghana. We do so at our own peril,”he summed up.
The National Chairman of the NDC, Dr Kwabena Adjei, said June 4 had come of age whether people liked it or not as it awoke people to humanism.
He said the government would continue to preach the principles of probity and accountability to instil discipline in the people.
A businessman and a sympathiser of the NDC, Mr Herbert Mensah, said although his heritage was from the United Party (UP) tradition, he shared the social democratic tradition of the NDC.
He said there was no conflict to being a businessman while adhering to the principles of social democracy.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney General,Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, said the June 4 revolution delivered many Ghanaians from the period of oppression.
The June 4 Revolution, she said, also ushered Ghana into the 1992 democratic governance which had been uninterrupted till date.
According to her, the revolution had brought Ghanaians together as one people for the past 30 years.
Mrs Iddrisu also expressed commitment to bring any former government official who had abused his office before the law.
“No one is above the law,” she said, adding “So long as I am the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice, I pledge to bring anyone found guilty under the law of Ghana before the court”.
The Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Fifi Kwetey, said June 4 was a historic milestone and therefore needed to be celebrated.
He said the June 4 revolution was neither against wealthy people nor aimed at settling personal scores but to ensure that all Ghanaians would achieve wealth irrespective of their social status.