In spite of a Supreme Court ruling at the end of 1993 banning the public commemoration of the 31st December 1981 Revolution with state funds, President John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, in a rare show of defiance on Friday, January 7th, endorsed the celebrations of the revolution by former President Rawlings and the NDC party as a whole, albeit impliedly.
The President, categorically stated that, the observation of the day, is as much a part of the NDC’s founding day, and sees nothing wrong with its celebration. According to him, he will encourage every Tom, Dick and Harry in the party, especially in his administration, to be involved in commemorating the occasion.
“Let nobody forget that NDC has December 31st as one of its founding days. I cannot change it…Other political parties may have founders day that they are not even disclosing and they may be associated with something else. But what i’m saying is that, i belong to NDC; this is the party’s Founding Day and if people decide to celebrate it, I will encourage them to do so. Pure and Simple!,” he said.
President Mills made this shocking open admission in answer to a question posed by Kwami Sefa Kayi, host of Peace FM’s flagship Programme, “Kokrokoo”, during his interaction with Media Owners, News Editors, Morning Show Hosts, News Anchors and Journalists in the country and those from the international community at the Editors Forum held at the Castle – Osu.
Outlawed by the Supreme Court of Ghana as an unlawful event, the celebration of the event last year (2010) was attended by leading NDC functionaries and government officials at the Flagstaff compound, the seat of government with perhaps the tacit consent of President Mills.
In response to why in just two years, four people have served as Ministers of Youth and Sports, President Mills explained that each minister who headed that particular Ministry had a specific agenda to execute, after which he/she was shown the exit.
“…the reason is that every minister is sent there to execute a particular programme. When the person finishes, I know who to send there for that particular programme,” he added.