Ghana@66: Let’s rather use money to provide infrastructural facilities – Sophia Akuffo

Former Chief Justice, Sophia A.B. Akuffo, has suggested that it will be better for Ghana to use the money earmarked for the celebration of the Independence Day parades to provide infrastructural facilities for the less developed communities.

For her, just observing the day with parades in the various districts and regions will not serve the interest of the citizenry than building memorial facilities that can serve the present and future generations.

The legal juggernaut said it will be appropriate to instead of rotating the celebration of the day in the region, rather rotate independence day projects in the regions and districts.

Ms Akuffo was speaking to Accra-based radio station Citi FM on the sidelines of a public lecture organised by the University of Ghana on Ghana’s 66th Independence.

“If they had selected, let’s say, a deprived district to build a new school there, selected a ramshackle hospital or health centre and upgraded it, and naming it Independence school or hospital, it will be good,” she explained.

In addition, she suggested, “Then every year, we pick a region; we pick a project and do it—I think it will be money better spent if it is to be spent at all. This will inure to the benefit of the people directly and it will also last.”

The Volta Regional capital, Ho, is hosting this year’s national Independence Day parade.

The event will be held at the Ho Youth Resource Centre.

The initial 5,000-capacity resource centre is being expanded to seat 10,000 people.

Background

Independence Day is an official state holiday observed in Ghana and the Ghanaian Diaspora on March 6.

Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country to attain independence from British colonial rule.

Independence Day serves as a time to reaffirm national unity, as well as national sovereignty.