Editorial News of Wednesday, 20 August 1997

Source: --

THE STATESMAN

"Controversial UGCC Lectures" - Obetsebi-Lamptey's sad end, PCP prepares to do battle, is the banner headline on the front page of the Statesman. The story says a four-day series of lectures to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), took an emotional turn when Prof. F.T. Sai, a renowned physician, narrated the chilling circumstances which led to the disappearance of Mr Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey in the 1960's. Obetsebi-Lamptey was one of the founding fathers of Ghana's independence and was imprisoned by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first President, under the Preventive Detention Act. The Statesman said Prof. Sai who was the chairman of the lecture under the theme: The UGCC and the struggle for independence in Ghana", described his contact with the late Obetsebi-Lamptey as "very grim". According to the paper Prof. Sai said as a physician specialist, he once got a message that someone in the Nsawam Prison needed immediate attention. " I went and saw a gentleman who later became both a patient and a friend, drenched in sweat and emaciated beyond recognition . "After my return I could not sleep I told my wife that I had to do something and I just did not know what was still keeping the man alive," Dr Sai was reported to have said. Meanwhile, the paper says, the People's Convention Party (PCP) has described the celebration of the UGCC as an attack on the integrity of Dr Nkrumah. GRI