Speaker of Parliament calls for cataloguing of activities

Accra, June 28, GNA - Speaker of Parliament, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, on Monday called on senior citizens in the country to catalogue their public service memoirs to preserve the values and rich cultural ancestry of the country for posterity. "It is our duty to pass on to the younger generation, in readable forms, our contributions. to corporate Ghana. These pieces of information are great asserts to the country," she said. Mrs Justice Bamford-Addo was speaking at the launch of a book published to recognise contributions of the Late Justice Daniel Francis Annan, Former Speaker of Parliament.

The 176-page book, co-authored by Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Local Government and Rural Development, and Nana Ato Dadzie, Former Chief of Staff, is entitled "Justice Daniel Francis Annan: In the Service of Democracy." The book, the first public service memoir to be published under the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG)'s Nation Building and Democracy Programme, was published by Sub-Saharan Publishers. Mrs Justice Bamford-Addo said the advent of technology and multiplicity of publishing houses were the excuses for not writing their memoirs pale into insignificance, stressing that the writing and reading culture needed to be strengthened. She paid glowing tribute to the Late Justice Annan and lauded his contributions towards nurturing and deepening the democratic dispensation in the country adding his legacy still lived even in Parliament. Mrs Justice Bamford-Addo said two admirable qualities of Late Justice Annan that stood out from reading the book were his unassuming and selfless nature and stressed that there was the need for Ghanaians to emulate him. Ms Anna Bossman, Deputy Commissioner, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, lauded authors of the book and underscored the importance of developing a healthy and sustained reading and writing culture in the country.

Professor Kwame Ninsin, Fellow of IDEG, said the Institute had established a Fellowship under which senior citizens, with exemplary public service record, would be assisted to write their public service memoirs. He called on the public to join the fellowship and asked for more support and funding.

Prof. Dominic K. Agyemang of Department of Sociology, University of Cape Coast, reviewing the book, described it as an insider's account of the achievements and challenges of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) political regime.

He said that it also dispelled rumours being peddled by a section of the public to discredit activities of the PNDC era. Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi, currently a Senior Lecturer at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, read excerpts from the book. The book revealed why the Chronicle Newspaper, a private newspaper, was established, on the advice of Late Justice Annan, to serve as 'check' and a critique to 'tame' the unbridled zeal and leadership style of Former President Jerry John Rawlings in preparation for the democratic dispensation the country was about to experience under his leadership. Mr Ahwoi revealed the reason why Justice Annan gave the advice that he, Ahwoi, should be made to double as a Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Local Government and Rural Development. Nana Ato Dadzie, Former Chief of Staff who served in governance between 1993 and 2001, expressed worry that some politicians committed the same mistakes their predecessors made and blamed lack of historical catalogue of memoirs of such politicians from which the younger generations could learn from as a factor.