Ghana hasn’t learnt any lesson from June 4 uprising – Spio-Garbrah

A former Minister of Trade & Industry, Ekow Spio-Garbrah, says he finds it worrying to note that 38 years down the line, Ghana has not learnt any lesson from the things that sparked the June 4 uprising.

“It is sad to note that thirty-eight years on, the vices of corruption, nepotism, cronyism, etc., which led to the eruption of June 4th in 1979 have slowly crept back into our everyday life and arguably surpassed the obnoxious period preceding the June 4 event. Our nation is once again grappling with the canker of widespread, extreme corruption that has permeated the whole of our society including officialdom.”

He added “So, as a nation, we seem not to have learnt the lessons June 4 sought to teach us. Government after government, since we adopted multi-party democracy in 1992, has been accused of corruption by succeeding ones. Now it is common to find governments using the, so called, Corruption Perception Index to compare their own levels of corruption with others, thus implicitly, admitting that they are corrupt but, perhaps, doing better than others. But no matter the depth or level of perception, corruption is a canker in our society which if not nipped in the bud, would eat away the very fabric of society, resulting in enrichment of a few in positions of trust and abjectly impoverishing the masses of our people.” To revert this, Mr. Spio-Garbrah said it is imperative for the Ghanaian people to revisit the lessons of probity and accountability which June 4 sought to teach them.

The former Trade & Industry Minister made this observation, Sunday, in a statement he signed and released in Accra in commemoration of the 38th Anniversary of June 4 uprising.

This year’s celebration which is ongoing at Wa in the Upper West Region is on the theme ‘Restoring the values of Probity, Accountability, and Truth in Governance.’

Below is the full statement

STATEMENT BY DR. EKWOW SPIO-GARBRAH ON THE 38TH ANNIVERSARY OF JUNE 4TH UPRISlNG

As we commemorate 38 years of the June 4th uprising, may we as a nation, solemnly reflect and remind ourselves of the social and economic conditions that prevailed in our country during that era and which culminated in the June 4 incidence, that sparked a popular revolt against all manner of injustices in our Ghanaian society, including high levels of corruption, thievery, general indiscipline and impunity.

It is sad to note that thirty-eight years on, the vices of corruption, nepotism, cronyism, etc., which led to the eruption of June 4th in 1979 have slowly crept back into our everyday life and arguably surpassed the obnoxious period preceding the June 4 event. Our nation is once again grappling with the canker of widespread, extreme corruption that has permeated the whole of our society including officialdom.

So as a nation, we seem not to have learnt the lessons June 4 sought to teach us. Government after government, since we adopted multi-party democracy in 1992, has been accused of corruption by succeeding ones. Now it is common to find governments using the, so called, Corruption Perception Index to compare their own levels of corruption with others, thus implicitly, admitting that they are corrupt but, perhaps, doing better than others. But no matter the depth or level of perception, corruption is a canker in our society which if not nipped in the bud, would eat away the very fabric of society, resulting in enrichment of a few in positions of trust and abjectly impoverishing the masses of our people. To revert this, it is imperative for us, as a nation, to revisit the lessons of probity and accountability which June 4 sought to teach us.

This is why I find the theme of this 38th-anniversary celebration of the June 4th Uprising: Restoring the values of Probity, Accountability, and Truth in Governance, to be so appropriate.

I wish to appeal particularly to the leadership, members, supporters, sympathisers and grassroots activists of our beloved party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which was founded by Flt-Lt. Jerry John Rawlings on the ideals of probity and accountability to do more in making these ideals a reality. This will ensure that we reconstruct our party on these noble ideals which in the past have propelled us from victory to victory in competing with our opponents of the Property Owning class.

I further call on the NDC Council of Elders and NDC party leadership to prioritise the establishment and operationalisation of a training school and programme for elected party officers at all levels, to ensure that the next generation of party executives and leaders are people of integrity and are able and willing to defend these ideals of Social Democracy, so as to make the NDC more competitive in future elections.

We are a grassroots political party of the Social Democratic ideology. We owe it as a duty, to cater for the needs of the common man and woman on the streets, on farms, fisherfolk, market women, teachers, nurses, other workers, as well as countless millions of our unemployed young men and women.

This 38th anniversary of June 4th should rekindle the spirit of patriotism, probity, accountability and the courage to eschew the vice of corruption in our national lives.

God bless us all!!

Long Live Ghana!!!