As part of activities to mark the year long celebration of Ghana 60 years on, the Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye, has been penciled down to deliver a lecture on the political history of Ghana.
The lecture would be delivered on Friday, 4th August 2017, on the theme, “Ghana’s day of destiny.”
The lecture among other things would examine the historical perspectives of Independence struggle from August 4th 1897 to Independence day 6th March, 1957.
The Speaker was officially invited to deliver the lecture by a delegation from the Ghana; Sixty years on Planning Committee, who paid a courtesy call on him in Parliament.
The team included Chairman of the Committee, Ken Amankwaa, and Vice Chair of the Committee and Deputy Chief of Staff, Samuel Abu Jinapor.
In extending the invitation to the Speaker, Samuel Abu Jinapor explained the significance of the all important lecture.
“We settled on 4th August Mr. Speaker, as you know better than I do, because you are a professor of History and Politics and Political Science, that on 4th August, 1897, a group of Ghanaians under the leadership of John Mensah Sarbah, formed the Aborigines Right Protection Society, which was a Nationalist Patriotic Organisation, which was formed to fight against the acquisition of indigenous lands by imperialists and colonialists. Mr. Speaker, the positive consequence of that has resulted in our country having a relatively sane and orderly land tenure system in Africa. Examples of Zimbabwe and South Africa are there for all of us to appreciate’,’ he said.
He further indicated why 4th August is a significant date in the country’s political history.
“We think that the date 4th August, is a significant date. Fifty years thereafter, Mr. Speaker will recall that the first mass political organization in the History of our country, being the United Gold Coast Convention, was established on 4th August 1947. Mr. Speaker as a result of these nationalistic and patriotic interventions by various Ghanaians and among many others, Ghana attained Independence on the 6th of March, 1957. We, therefore, think that it will be extraordinarily significant to hold our 60th Independence anniversary lecture on the said date. The choice of the topic I believe, speaks for itself,’’ he added.
The Speaker accepted the invitation to deliver the lecture which would come off at the Accra International Conference Centre, indicating that it was an honour for him and the entire house of parliament.
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By: Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana