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The Volta regional president of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Brigadier Henry Kwadwo Ametefe, urged President Akufo Addo to restore the celebration of the June 4 Uprising in memory of the late former President JJ Rawlings.
Speaking at the late former president’s residence on Friday when he visited to sympathize with the family, Brigadier Henry Kwadwo Ametefe stated that a state burial for Rawlings won’t mean much if events like the June 4 and December 31 celebrations, which were fundamental in the institutionalization of the fight against corruption is not restored.
“Today we heard that the President is going to sign the book of condolences. He is very sad about the death and is going to organize a state funeral for him. But there is something that he[President] You should not forget that if you do not restore some of your celebrations, particularly June 4 and December 31, you should forget about the state burial. Because why are you going to remember Rawlings? … that is what he defended and that has led this country to reduce the tension between the people. “
The then opposition New Patriotic Party (PNP) in 1993-94 proved the legality of the celebration of the December 31 Revolution, PNP v. AG.
The Supreme Court in its verdict agreed with the PNP that the planned celebration of December 31 would glorify the coup and could undermine the determination of the people to resist the coup; its celebration was unconstitutional and contrary to the spirit of the 1992 Constitution.
Mr. Rawlings, who was the First President of the Fourth Republic, passed away Thursday morning at Korle Bu University Hospital in Accra.
Jerry John Rawlings was born on June 22, 1947 and was a former Ghanaian military leader and later politician who ruled the country from 1981 to 2001 and also for a brief period in 1979.
He led a military junta until 1992, then served two terms as the democratically elected president of Ghana.
Rawlings initially came to power in Ghana as a flight lieutenant in the Ghana Air Force following a coup in 1979. Before that, he led a failed coup attempt against the ruling military government on May 15, 1979, just five weeks. ahead of schedule. Democratic elections were planned.
After initially handing over power to a civilian government, he regained control of the country on December 31, 1981 as president of the Provisional Council for National Defense (PNDC).
In 1992, Rawlings resigned from the military, founded the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and became the first president of the Fourth Republic. He was reelected in 1996 for four more years.
After two terms, the limit under Ghana’s Constitution, Rawlings endorsed his Vice President John Atta Mills as a presidential candidate in 2000.
Until his death he served as an African Union envoy to Somalia.
— Kasapafm
