General News of Monday, 4 June 2007

Source: GNA

Boakye-Djan recommends monument in honour of Former Heads of State

Tema, June 4 GNA - A Former Member of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Osahene (Major) Boakye-Djan on Monday announced that some Members of the Council have decided to form an Exploratory Committee to advise on the erection of a monument in honour of the Heads of the First, Second and Third Republics of Ghana.

He said Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah; Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia and Dr Hilla Limann, whose governments were toppled by through coup d'etat in 1966; 1972 and 1981, in that order, deserved to be honoured.

The release said the Majority Platform of Former Members of the AFRC would advise on how to go about building a national monument at a "Constitution Square" to honour victims of coups.

It said when the Platform made recommendation to the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) in 2003 it accepted it in principle. It said however, that the NRC restricted the list of categories of the victims to be on the monument.

The release indicated that the committee was tasked among other things to study and advise on the best way to mobilize support and funding for the monument project and also liaise and negotiate with the Government for assistance in implementing the project. The committee, it said has three months to report to the Platform.