Barely twenty-four hours after our back-page story titled ‘Remove this statue from Koforidua’ hit the newstands, the 21-year old cast image of Jerry John Rawlings in the Eastern regional capital was found sprawling on the ground – with one arm broken.
Unlike suicide bombs and other attacks akin to the Far and Middle East, no one has claimed ‘credit’ for the felling of the former head of state’s figure.
However, some observers suspect that sympathisers of the aggrieved persons may have pushed the already-tilted figure down, while others think the collapse of Mr. Rawlings’ statue was natural but just coincided with our story.
On Thursday March 20, Chronicle reported a call by victims of the AFRC and PNDC brutalities on the Eastern regional minister, Dr. Osafo-Mensah, to remove the statue of the former president which was situated right in front of the old clubhouse near the main regional coordinating council office entrance at Koforidua.
According to them, the statue sends them on a memory lane of the inhuman treatment they suffered at the hands of the AFRC and PNDC soldiers.
“Anytime we set eyes on it, nothing but sorrow and grief fill our hearts, so we believe if it is removed, it will assuage our pains,” they held.
A few days after the publication, it was discovered that the statue was down.
According to a source, a day after the story was published, the statue was found on the ground with one of its arms broken.
Source: GhanaWeb
