President Jerry John Rawlings says that the explosive character of Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) era in 1979 did not always allow for balanced judgement.
“There were agonizing situations and experiences and it will be naive to expect that the scars will simply go away,” he said whilst addressing the security services and voluntary organizations at El Wak Stadium. This was after a route march through the principal streets of Accra.
Twenty years ago Flt-Lt Rawlings led junior officers and other ranks to oust the then Supreme Military Council (SMC). He instituted a four-month house-cleaning exercise during which eight senior military officers were executed.
President Rawlings recalled that a few years back he addressed a message to relations of innocent people as well as wrong doers who perished in the course of the uprising. “At that time we stretched a hand of reconciliation and sympathy to their mothers, wives, children and family. Today, as we commemorate the 20th anniversary of June 4, I want to re-echo that message.”
President Rawlings said if the nation really desires peace and reconciliation “we do not need to go back in time, searching out every injustice, every hurt, every error.” He said mistakes were made from as far back as the pre-independence days when some people were banished from their homes in some parts of the country for opposing the agitation for federalism.
“From that time through the period of the First Republic, the era of the NLC (National Liberation Council), the Second Republic, SMC 1, SMC 2, the AFRC, the Third Republic and the PNDC (Provisional Defense Council), there have been errors and injustices,” the President said.
However, there were also some positive developments during these periods , which certain people would try to ignore. “As a nation, I hope we have reached a stage in our political maturity where we can look ahead and work together in common endeavor.”
