Who Speaks For The Neglected Surviving Cadres

Of The 31st December Revolution?

When Flt. J.J. Rawlings launched the Revolution of Social Conscience on june 4th 1979 and handed over power to the late Dr. Hilla Liman’s PNP government on 24th September, 1979, the Ghanaian intellect made a big mistake by trying daily through the media to demonise, underrate, and even destroy all known supporters of the June 4th uprising. They pretended to ignore the sweeping FORCE and dynamic energy of that God sent uprising. They left NO STONE unturned in their fruitless efforts to reverse the gains that were made by the AFRC within 3 months when TAX DODGERS rushed to pay ALL their taxes in full because they Flatly refused to pay their taxes to the state, during the Busia, Acheampong, Akuffo regimes so all those Ghanaians who hate June 4th are tax dodgers and Nation wreckers.

In fact, the enemies of the revolution were busy inventing lies seeking to discredit the revolution and slander its personalities to suit their own purposes. Rawlings handed over power to Dr. Limann in Sept. 1979 and on 12th March 1980, CLEMENT SANGAPAREE, the writer of this article was dismissed from the then Ashanti Goldfields Ltd along side 102 other miners who supported the June 4th uprising in 1979 and our dismissal letter was signed by Dr. Nabila, the then Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs. When we started attending June 4th meetings regularly after our dismissal for no offence committed, we learnt that similar dismissals took place in the Armed Forces, the Police, CEPS, the Civil service, prisons Fire Service and several private factories and government agencies nation wide. So, when I talk about neglected cadres, they include the above members of the security agencies including known members of the then Special Branch now BNI. I recall an information from a top cadre of the June 4th movement at one of our monthly meetings that when comrade General Arnold Quianoo went to the military Academy and Training School to get some few scripts typed for him while parking his car in the yard, the dreaded and blood thirsty members of the Military Intelligence MACHINE GUNNED his car, so if he were in the car, he would have been dead by now – God forbid. The Military Intelligence (MI) chaps were scattered all over Ghana with a bloody mission to ELIMINATE ALL JUNE 4TH supporters from 1980 to 30th December, 1981 when the 31st December revolution rescued us and we fought on. Immediately the 31st Dec. revolution was launched, the then AGC management quickly recalled ALL OF US, THE 103 workers including this writer and we started work as usual in the mines.

SEE THE COWARDS. We immediately joined the P.D.C’s in our various communities and WDC’s in our work places ENBLOC and fought on by telling the people that we had NO MONEY to give them but they MUST always insist on their rights. We were ALL living with DEATH for supporting that God sent uprising on June 4th 1979.

From here, I will NOT GO into further details anymore, so full stop; Now, the empty democracy that we are witnessing TODAY is an incongrous way of PRESERVING the EXPLOITER always in SUIT against the very ordinary people (VOP) who are the EXPLOITED including this writer of course. The military and other security agencies including we (the civilian supporters) of June 4th paid a heavy price in our bid to create awareness in the Ghanaian society through the June 4th message. We also suffered complete ISOLATION throughout the 21/2 years that Dr. Liman was in power little did we know that he was being REMOTE CONTROLLED by some Western intelligence agencies like the dreaded American C.I.A and the British M 16 – how sad. There is an empty Democracy in place and people over eat, over drink and ride in the most expensive 4x4 landcruisers, Lexus, Ford Rangers, Nissan Patrols, as well as building mansions here and there without ever thinking or even blinking an eye to remember where we are coming from. Some DCE’s, ministers of State and even parliamentarians would keep you waiting for several hours when you call to see them in their offices, at times you don’t even get the chance to see them. Use your mobile phone to call them, and their mobiles are either switched off or out of coverage area, but during elections, their doors are always opened, their mobiles are NEVER switched off or out of coverage area. When you are lucky to meet some of them too, the reception is NOT always warm as a series of questions about your mission to their office keep flying in your face as if you are a suspect being interrogated by a Detective inspector from the C.I.D. Headquarters in Accra – why is it so? Will somebody ever speak on behalf of the remaining surviving Cadres of the June 4th and 31st Dec. Revolutions or we should all die like PAUPERS once again for a privileged few to enjoy all the time? It is NOT respectful to always be in debt, but should cadres rot away and die? In fact were we FOOLS to have sacrificed all these years FOR NOTHING? Can we ever be remembered recognized and duely awarded by the state or the government of the day? Will it be out of place if 10% of government appointments are reserved solely for poor cadres whose extreme sacrifice brought about Ghana’s democracy? Is it really TRUE that NOBODY CARES ABOUT US in this country?

With the shabby treatments meted out to cadres will it really encourage Ghanaian youth to sacrifice for future governments whether civilian or military?

After 30 years of June 4th and 19 years of PNDC and NDC right into the second coming of the NDC in 2009 under President Mills and we (the surviving cadres) have NOTHING to show to either our children or our families, is Ghana worth dying for at all?

In fact, all MEN are created EQUAL and so this ANIMAL FARM type of direct and open NEGLECT by the past and present NDC governments and its parliamentarians, ministers of state and some DCE’s must cease and a second look taken on the fate of cadres ONCE and for ALL, because we are getting restless and if nothing happens, then Rawlings should give us tractors on hire purchase to go into farming in Ghana.

WE SERVE THE PARTY AND NOT SOME INDIVIDUALS INTEREST

The cadres have no regrets about the use or mis-use of ourselves and so if other people could not do the worst for fear of pain and death or the tarnishing of their reputations, the cadres had come to terms with ourselves for the cause of Ghana since we were prepared to sacrifice our very lives and our every thing but our only problem was that we were asked to TAKE THE REVOLUTION WHILE THEY (SENIOR CADRES) took the money and we obliged and our families described us as BIG FOOLS. When I passed my senior Staff Examination in 1996 at the Ashanti Gold fields Company, an order was given to my sector Manager the late Mr. Timbila NEVER TO COMFIRM me, because the African Chief Executive Officer of the AGC at that time in the person of Mr. Sam Jonah had a grudge with former President Rawlings and so all June 4th and C.D.R cadres were made to pay the bitter price for that through DEMOTIONS and outright dismissals meaning that we HAD nothing from our workplaces, and also had nothing for supporting June 4th , 31st Dec. revolutions up to NDC in 2008 and this writer is being EJECTED from one Room to another since leaving the AGC in 2004. Will some body have mercy on the cadres – if NOT, I say once again that Rawlings should find some tractors with their accessories for interested cadres including me to go and farm at the Rural Areas and produce more food on the farm period. As far as the cadres are concerned, we serve the party’s interest and NOT the interests of certain opportunists in the party. On this note, I am WARNING some of those greedy constituency executives throughout the country that they MUST NOT FORCE themselves on the people through deception or intimidation but they must conduct free, fair and transparent elections to avoid tension in their constituencies to ensure victory in 2012 – I hope it is clear.

As former cadres, our own investigations reveals that some power brokers in the NDC government are bent on sidelining committed cadres by working seriously from the National structure through all the Regional and constituency structures of the NDC, to finally remove all known cadres from the party structures in order to satisfy their own greedy and selfish political interests.

To them, these cadres are only USEFUL during the general elections, but when the party comes to power, all cadres must stay behind. Let me tell them in the FACE that they are RATHER UNNDERMINING President Mills to become a one term President and not, repeat NOT the cadres because 98% of Ghanaians voted for NDC since 1992, 1996 and 2008 because of Jerry John Rawlings and what he stood and still stands for – therefore you sideline Rawlings and his neglected surviving cadres and see what will happen in 2012 general elections. E.g. As the municipal organizer of the cadre corps in Obuasi, I was a government appointee to the municipal Assembly representing the cadres corps in 1998 because it was the CDR’s who worked tirelessly to bring the District Assembly concept in Ghana. However, after the NDC won the elections in 2008 , and the party was to select government appointees to the Assembly, my constituency chairman called Francis Coffie secretly selected his fovourites to the Assembly as appointees including a former cadre who joined the then CDR’s in 1991 but abandoned the NDC for 8 good years when we were in opposition only to be selected as an appointee instead of me just imagine this. When I protested, it fell on death ears, now was it a crime for the cadres to fight injustice and corruption, or was it a crime to educate Ghanaians to insist on their rights? We live to see.

If cadres are always treated this way, then we would be compelled to tell those power brokers in the NDC point blank without mincing words that Gone Are the Days when Monkeys Work For Baboons To Chop forever. We are restless, we are tired, we have acquired enough permanent enemies in this country and so why should we sit down for our own party leaders to maltreat and cheat us whenever the NDC is in power?

We must speak out, we have to protest and tell those power brokers that a cheated and hungry man is an angry man, so do not ignore the cadres by provoking them because we are BIGGER ASSETS and NOT LIABILITIES in the NDC, ALL TH E MEMBERS OF THE NDC MUST RATHER FEAR THE ENEMIES WITHIN INSTEAD OF THE NPP – You either take it or leave it, but I sincerely believe it is the STUBBORN TRUTH.

Let’s all help our YIDAANDAU MILLS to deliver the goods for a BETTER GHANA. The above title “yi daandau” literally meaning Leader was conferred on President Evans Atta Mills by the chiefs and people of Upper West Region at a durbar of chiefs and people of Wa on Saturday May 30th 2009.

May God bless every cadre most abundantly – Enough must be Enough by now. I am done.

DISTRIBUTION! ALL MEDIA HOUSES - GHANA ALUTA CONTINUA!

……………………………………….. CLEMENT SANGAPAREE P. O. BOX 32 OBUASI