Oti regional minister orders removal of trees planted by NDC members
Despite the push for more trees to be planted, the Oti Regional Minister, Joshua Makubu, has ordered the removal of all trees planted by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) during the June 4 anniversary celebrations.
According to him, if the trees planted are left to grow, they will be a representation of June 4 and all the pain it reminds people of.
“For us to sit down as a country, as a municipality, as a region or a school and allow trees to be planted on a compound to signify this day where people lost their lives, we are indirectly saying that, if your grandfather was General FK Abu, Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, and General Afrifa, then it means that you shouldn’t come to Nkwanta Community Senior High School because if you come there, you will see the trees there and you will remember June 4, and you will remember the death of your father and other loved ones who lost their lives,” the minister said.
As part of the 43rd celebration of the June 4 uprising and an attempt to complement the government’s Green Ghana Agenda, the leadership of the NDC in the Oti region organized some members to plant trees at the Nkwanta Community Day SHS.
However, the minister said using school premises for the tree planting exercise was inappropriate.
“June 4 was a day people’s parents and loved ones were killed, and many have lost their livelihood. People are still crying over it. For this reason, it is not an occasion to plant trees that will keep hurting such families as the NDC did,” he insisted while addressing volunteers during the Green Ghana day at the Kpasa Senior High Technical School last Friday.
According to him, the NDC must look for a neutral ground to organize party activities.
“If you want to plant your party trees, get a land, invite us and we’ll come but not to a school belonging to the country. I’m a member of the New Patriotic Party as a regional minister, and I will never under any circumstances allow the New Patriotic Party to get into any senior high school campus to plant trees to commemorate a party event and I cannot allow such from any other party to put tears on the faces of my people,” Mr Makubu added.
He, therefore, directed the Nkwanta South MCE, Bright Lenwah, to make sure that the trees were removed.
He said school authorities should further take initiatives to plant their own trees as part of the Green Ghana initiative.
June 4 uprising
The June 4 uprising occurred in 1979 due to a combination of corruption, bad governance, frustration among the general public, and misunderstandings within the Ghanaian army.
It was sparked when the then military government of the Supreme Military Council (SMC II) of Lieutenant General Fred Akuffo put then flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings on public trial for attempting to overthrow the government on May 15 1979. This happened because Rawlings was a junior soldier in the Ghanaian Army who with other soldiers were refused to be given their salaries.
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. He was incarcerated for sentencing. His diatribe resonated with the entire nation as there was massive suffering.
In the night of June 3 1979, junior military officers, including Major Boakye Djan, broke into the jail where Rawlings was being held and freed him, and ostensibly marched him to the national radio station to make an announcement.
The first time the public heard from Rawlings was a now legendary statement that he had been released by the junior officers and that he was under their command. He requested all soldiers to meet with them at the Nicholson Stadium in Burma Camp in Accra.
The entire nation went up in uproar.
The soldiers rounded up senior military officers, including three former heads of state, General F. K Akuffo, General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong and Lieutenant General Akwasi Afrifa, for trial. They were subsequently executed by firing squad.