Ghana@60 Lecture To Commemorate Aborigines Rights Society To Be Held August 4


Ghana at 60 anniversary lecture to commemorate establishment of the Aborigines Rights Protection Society by John Mensah Sarbah and others and the formation of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) as well as a thanksgiving and memorial service will to be held on Friday, August 4, 2017.

The non-denominational service will be held at Saltpond where the first Nationalist Political Party, (UGCC) was formed while the anniversary lecture will take place at 6pm on the same day at the National Theatre.

Briefing the press at the presidency in Accra on Wednesday, a Deputy Chief of Staff, Samuel Abu Jinapor said the 60th Anniversary Planning Committee has been tasked by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to ensure that the anniversary was celebrated in an elegant but modest manner.

The significance of August 4

Mr. Jinapor said August 4 is a very momentous and significant day in the history of Ghana saying on that day in 1897, a patriot, John Mensah Sarbah and his colleagues, established the Aborigines Rights Protection Society to fight against the Crown Land Bill of 1897.

He said they did so successfully and ensured that a decision was made that in Ghana, unlike Zimbabwe and South Africa, that ensured that the lands of the indigenous people were preserved.

Mr. Jinapor said the views of many pundits and those in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was that it was the fight by John Mensah Sarbah and his colleagues that led to the stability of the country and the land tenure system the country had today.

Going on, he said exactly on August 4, 1947, Paa Grant and his colleagues, the likes of J.B. Danquah and many others converged, on Saltpond to establish the first nationalist political movement of the country, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).

“It was at this gathering that the ingredients of the Ghana of today, the democratic, free and prosperous country was conceived and out of that, Ghana attained independence,” he added.

Deliberate Choices

Mr. Jinapor said President Nana Akufo-Addo had accepted to be the guest of honour at Saltpond and that later on in the day at 6pm, at the National Theatre, there was going to be the 60th anniversary lecture.

“We have deliberated on it as a committee and decided that the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Ocquaye delivers the 60th anniversary lecture on the topic “August 4 - Ghana’s Day of Destiny”, Mr Jinapor said.

He explained that the choice of the topic is deliberate because the date is very significant in the history of the country both on the account of the struggle of John Mensah Sarbah and his colleagues in 1897 and the formation of the UGCC in 1947.

Mr. Jinapor said the committee is sure that such a move will generate a lot of discussions in Ghana’s political environment but it came to this conclusion upon very thorough and deliberate thought.

“We can have differences in opinion or different inferences from historical facts. But we must be unanimous on the historical underpinnings of our country,” he pointed out.

More so, he added that “it is our contention that the Ghana of today was conceived on that day and that is why we have place so much significance on the day and that is appropriate to honour that day and ensure that the importance of that day is told to the people.”


GBC