In the Holy Catholic Church, every month is dedicated to a particular devotion within the faith. For instance, the month of January is the Month of the Holy Name of Jesus; March is the Month of St. Joseph; May is the Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary; June is the Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, October, the Month of the Holy Rosary and November is the Month of the Poor Souls in Purgatory.
In Ghana, we have months that are dedicated to important events that marked our history. March is the Month of our Independence and July, the Month we became a Republic. For our struggle for independence, January and February stand out as the Month of Positive Action when we demonstrated to the British Colonialists that we were not soft people who would submit to them forever.
This became possible when Nii Kwabena Bonne III effectively organised a complete boycott of foreign owned goods and services. In fact, February on its own, stands out as the Month of the Martyrs, when ex-servicemen, Adjetey, Attipoe and Odartey-Lamptey were shot dead when they embarked on a demonstration demanding fair treatment as soldiers who fought in the Second World War. August could rightly be said to the Month of the Fight for Independence when the UGCC was founded.
Lately, and actually between the late seventies and mid-eighties, June became the Bloodiest Month in Ghana.
June 4, 1979 came with a mutiny in the Ghana Armed Forces in which the ruling Supreme Military Council II, led by Gen F.W.K. Akuffo was overthrown. Blood letting crowned that day, with the killing of Maj. General Odartey Wellington and many others.
In the case of the general, he and his loyal soldiers were trapped in Nima police station, where he was shot. He then ordered his soldiers to surrender which they did. When the troops loyal to the mutineers came to them, instead of one Corporal Gatisko, allowing the general to be treated, he rather fired shots into his back that killed him.
Then came June 16 1979, and with it the killing of Gen Acheampong and Gen Utuka. On June 26, 1979, the blood letting continued with the killing of Gen. Afrifa, Gen. Akuffo, Gen Kotei, Air Vice Marshall Boakye, Rear Admiral Joy Amedume and Col. Felli. In the case of Gen. Afrifa, did not die at the first round of shots. This led the executioners to fire shots into him until he died. There were many other unaccounted-for killings to herald, in the bloodiest period in Ghana’s history.
Then on June 30, 1982 by what can be said to be institutionalized killing, with directives coming from the then, seat of government, three judges and a retired army officer were killed during the PNDC era. The lost souls were Justices (Mrs) Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, Poku Sarkodie and Kwadwo Adjei Agyepong. They, together with Maj. Acquah (Rtd) were abducted from their homes in the night of June 30,1982 and sent to a military facility and shot dead.
And it was proven that one top ranking member of government was the one who directed that operation. Unanswered questions seem to directly prove that the then head of state, Rawlings was aware of this from the planning stage to its execution. So was his military advisor, Capt. Kojo Tsikata, who in some publications, was named as the one who gave the order.
On June 19, 1983, in an attempt to curl an attempted coup, by Lance Corporal Halidu Giwa, some killings took place and more blood flowed.
So, in the whole of June, there are events to remember the unnecessary killings of innocent Ghanaians, all in the name of a revolution. A revolution which the revolutionary themselves discarded and engaged in open corruption, which continued to this day and age. An instance of a beneficiary of this thuggery, Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome, was allowed to steal over GH¢ 51 million from state coffers. He succeeded in depriving the poor, off water, electricity and health facilities.
The noted days of blood-letting in the month of June, were June 4, June 16, June 19, June 26 and June 30. June 4, the killing of Maj. Gen. Odartey-Wellington and others; June 16 the killing of Gen Acheampong and Gen Utuka; June 19, the needless killings of innocent Ghanaians in the curling of Giwa’s coup attempt; June 26, the killing of Gen Afrifa, Gen Akuffo, Gen. Kotei, Air-Vice Marshal Boakye, Rear Admiral Amedume and Col. Felli and June 30, was the killing of Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, who was a nursing mother at that time; Justice Poku Sarkodie, Justice Kwadwo Adjei Agyepong and Maj. Acquah.
Did the blood that was made to flow achieve anything good and productive in our country, Ghana? People were killed for their acts of bravery; others were executed for using their positions to acquire loans and for overthrowing constitutional regimes, and Rawlings came back to overthrow a constitutional government and acquired so much wealth than any head of state in this country; many more were killed because they got into the cross-fire of indiscriminate shootings by government forces who wanted to curl a coup; others were killed for administering justice and others were killed for applying the rules of the work place.
This is the legacy of the socialist agenda for Ghana. The only solution to our problems, according to the socialists, is to sacrifice innocent blood. The Blood of the Martyrs who were murdered in the month of June is crying out to the Lord for Justice and the earlier we as a nation put on sack cloths and fast and pray to the Lord God Almighty for forgiveness, we should expect the wrath of God to bring justice for those innocent ones who were killed, events which we celebrate.
Today, some infantile minded socialists are calling for more executions to right wrongs in this country. If, for forty-five years of our sixty-five years of independence, the socialists ruled this country, which included twenty-eight straight years, and Ghana has not got things right, then they know they are to be blamed.
The month of June in Ghana is the bloodiest month and as things stand, I will appeal to the Executive and Parliament to institute commission of enquiries into June 4. And I believe all those killed in the months of June, would be exonerated and given a fitting place in our country’s history with edifices to celebrate them. And yes, they were innocent of the charges levelled against them, for Rawlings, in what could be said to be his confession before he died, stated clearly to the hearing of all Ghanaians that those he murdered were innocent, but he had to what he did to save the lives of over eighty guilty ones who were most corrupt.
Could it be that his name was on that list? Because we heard he was sponsored by government to take a course in India and he made a “U-Turn” during the journey and squandered the money in the UK, chasing after his father and other matters.
Jerry John Rawlings succeeded in making June the Bloodiest Month in Ghana, you and I can sanctify that month, by bringing justice to those he murdered and putting them in high and respectable places in society.
Hon. Daniel Dugan
