Former President Jerry John Rawlings and other leading members of the June 4 uprising will on Tuesday address a grand durbar of chiefs and people at the Nungua Traditional Authority Park, to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1979 uprising.
According to the anniversary planning committee the durbar, which commences at 8.30am will commence with a parade of young cadres, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony for the departed heroes after which solidarity messages will be delivered by a host of dignitaries including NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia and cadre, Eric Bortey.
This year’s celebrations have been under the theme, ‘Developing a national character for sustainable good governance”, and has already seen two commemorative events – a tree planting exercise on Saturday May 25 and an anniversary lecture delivered by Professor John Bright Aheto at the University of Ghana Business School on Wednesday May 29.
The June 4th Revolution or June 4th Uprising was an uprising in Ghana in 1979 that arose out of a combination of corruption, bad governance, frustration among the general public, and lack of discipline and frustrations within the Ghanaian army.
It was sparked when the then military government of the Supreme Military Council (SMC II) of General F K. Akuffo put then flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings on public trial for attempting to overthrow the government on May 15th 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 3rd 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 Rawlings 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 states, General F. K Akuffo, Ignatious Kutu Acheampong and Afrifa for trial. They were subsequently executed by firing squad.
The celebrations are also being observed across the country with lectures and durbars at various local venues.
