NDC to hold June 4 Anniversary at Nkwanta South

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) will hold this year’s June 4 Anniversary at the Nkwanta South Municipality, which will also see the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the birth of the party in 1992.

A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) by Mr Mubarak Diplomatic, the Oti Regional Communication Officer of the NDC, on Wednesday said activities such as symposia, clean-up exercise and a Recognition Day – a day set aside to appreciate foundation members of the party – would herald the celebrations.

It recounted that the June 4 Revolution was a popular uprising in Ghana in 1979 due to a combination of corruption, bad governance, lack of discipline, and frustrations in the army and among the public.

The statement said it was sparked when the Supreme Military Council II (SMC II), led by General F.K. Akuffo, put the Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings on Public Trial for attempting to overthrow the then government on May 15, 1979.

It said a military trial was set up and the late Jerry John Rawlings turned the trial against the government by accusing it of massive corruption and requesting that his fellow accused be set free as he was solely responsible for the mutiny.

“Leave my men alone – l am responsible” were the immortal words of Rawlings that would continue to be the standard of true leadership in the country, the statement said.

“Those words reminded us of the master’s teaching that to save one’s life we must be prepared to lose, inspired by Rawlings for showing bravery even at the point of death, young officers and other officers forcibly released him and his men on the morning of June 4,1979”.

In the night of June 3, 1979, junior military officers broke into the jail, where Rawlings was being held, and freed him, and ostensibly matched him to the national radio station to make an announcement.

The statement said Ghana currently faced similar corruption, greed, nepotism, high taxes, hardship, bad governance, and lack of discipline as happened in 1979.

It said corruption, which had a repercussion of denying the ordinary Ghanaian employment, better education, good drinking water, good roads electricity and social justice were still rife.

The celebration of June 4 should be a time for sober reflection on the issues that brought about the revolution and the principle of accountability and probity in the public space, it added.