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| (L) Lt. Owusu Gyimah (M) Bernice Duku (R) Kwame Wiafe |
Scores
of Ghanaians from all walks of life have paid glowing tributes to three heroes
for their exceptional contributions towards the development of the broad
progressive movement in Ghana.
They
are Comrade Kwame Wiafe, a founding member of the Popular Party for Democracy
and Development (PPDD) and the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Comrade Kofi
Duku, Secretary to Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Lt. Owusu Gyimah (rtd),
National Vice Chairman of the Kwame Revolutionary Guards (KNRG) and a founding
member of the Movement for Freedom and Justice.
The
three distinguished personalities are the first recipients of the Black Star
Excellence Award instituted by the Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG).
Mr
Kwesi Pratt Jnr of the Socialist Forum described Kwame Wiafe as an old student
of the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute and as one of the people who were
being prepared to assist in the transformation of the Convention Peoples Party
as a nationalist party into a socialist party.
Mr
Pratt revealed that Mr Kofi Duku was a young gentleman who worked in the ranks
of the Convention Peoples Party and played very active roles in mobilizing the
people for independence and eventually became the personal secretary of
Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
Mr
Kofi Duku was also involved in the formation of the Peoples National Party which
won general elections in 1979 and was closely associated with the Kwame Nkrumah
Revolutionary Guards.
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| Comrade Kwesi Pratt Jnr |
Mr
Pratt said Lt Owusu Gyimah along with Professor Adu Boahen, Dan Lartey, Kwame
Wiafe, Akoto Ampaw, John Ndebugre and others founded the broad coalition of
democratic forces which became the umbrella organization leading the campaign
for the restoration of the constitutional order, the Movement for Freedom and
Justice (MFJ).
A
citation read by Mr John Yaw Opoku and presented by Ambassador Ibrahim Omar,
former Palestinian Ambassador to Ghana, acknowledged Comrade Kwame Wiafe as an exceptional
student of the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute who supported the decolonization
process throughout Africa and organized protests against the apartheid regime
in South Africa.
It
also said that Comrade Kwame Wiafe has over many years “exhibited exceptional
courage and participated in efforts of the people of Ghana to break free from
the shackles of poverty, ignorance, disease and all manifestations of under
development.”
According
to Mr Opoku, Comrade Wiafe has given hope to the masses by pointing to the
possibility of building a new world in which oppression and exploitation would
be banished for good under the banner of Socialism.
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| Kwame Wiafe |
The
citation also recognized Comrade Wiafe as a loyal member of the Convention
Peoples Party (CPP) who continued to hold aloft the banner of Nkrumaism even
after the CIA sponsored coup of February 24, 1966 in the German Democratic Republic,
the United Kingdom and Ghana.
In
a brief remark, 82 year old Kwame Wiafe recounted that Ghana would have been a
better place if one of the numerous political organizations he and others
founded had succeeded.
“In
our old age and in our dying days, we look at the past with a great deal of
dissatisfaction because we could have done much better. We may have
underestimated the power of the imperialist forces and that is one of the
factors which have led us to our present situation.
“
I look back and feel very dissatisfied that today’s Ghana is not exactly what
was intended. There is so much failure. What was meant to be a strong nation
has today degenerated into factions and ethnic cabals full of vociferous
tendencies. But all is not lost if comrades and friends I have worked with
believe that in spite of all these failures we have achieved something, then I
think we have and I like to thank them all for even conceiving the idea of
honouring us for what we regard as a failure of our lives” he said.
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| Sgt. Alolga Akatapore |
The
citation read by Ex. Sergeant Alolga Akatapore and conferred on Lt Owusu Gyimah
on the behalf of the Socialist Forum of Ghana expressed full appreciation for
his courageous and dedicated service for the development of the broad
progressive movement in Ghana.
According
to the citation, as a young military officer, Lt Gyimah was closely associated
with organs of the Convention Peoples Party and keenly expressed solidarity
with the national liberation movements in Africa and fully dedicated himself to
the building of the newly independent state of Ghana under the broad banner of
socialism.
It
said that in 1967 Lt. Owusu Gyimah took it upon himself to reverse the February
24, 1966 reactionary coup sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of
the United States of America and as a consequence of this attempt he was
arrested, tried and sentenced to death and spent five long years in the
condemned cells of the Medium Security Prison at Nsawam.
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| Lt. Owusu Gyimah |
Lt
Owusu Gyimah also became the 3rd National Vice Chairman of the Kwame
Nkrumah Revolutionary Guards (KNRG) which focused its attention on the revival
of the Nkrumaist Movement in Ghana and worked vigorously for the alliance of
the KNRG with the African Youth command, the New Democratic Movement and the
United Revolutionary Front as a vehicle for the campaign for the restoration of
constitutional rule.
According
to the citation by 1992, the MFJ had become the pivot around which other
organizations such as the Ex.Servicemen’s Association, the Kwame Nkrumah
Welfare Society, the Asante Youth Association and others congregated into the
Co-ordinating Committee of Democratic Forces (CCDF).
Lt.
Owusu Gyimah was arrested and detained for participating in a poster campaign
calling for an end to what he saw as military rule. He has since been an active
member of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) a serving member of the National Council of
Elders and a close associate of the Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG).
Justice
Kofi Henaku, Secretary of the Socialist Forum of Ghana in a citation presented
to Madam Bernice Duku daughter of Comrade Kofi Duku, hailed him for his gallant
role in the formation of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) as a young activist
and participation in the struggles of the peoples of the then Gold Coast for
national independence under the leadership of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, a Pan
Africanist and one of the foremost inspirers of the national liberation
movement.
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| SFG Secretary Justice Kofi Henaku |
Mr
Henaku noted that, by dint of hard work, Kofi Duku rose to become the personal
secretary of Kwame Nkrumah and worked closely with him in the days of the
reconstruction of Ghana when the CPP was being transformed from a nationalist
movement into a socialist vanguard party.
According
to the citation, it was in this period that more than 400 factories were built
to produce to meet the needs of the Ghanaian people and enrolment in primary
schools increased from 102,138 to 1,137,495 by 1996.
Enrolment
in assisted secondary schools also increased from 2,776 to 267,434 by 1996. Medical
services were extended throughout the country with the building of regional
hospitals. The entire system of communication was improved through the
construction of telephone and telegraphic lines. A new port was built in Tema
and Tarkoradi harbor was extended.
Comrade
Kofi Duku and many others including Comrade Johny F.S Hansen, Dr Lutherodt and
Alhaji Imoro Aryana refused to give up after the coup of February 1966 and continued
to courageously work for the revival of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and
founded the Peoples National Party which won the 1979 elections.
Kofi Duku was also instrumental in the formation of the
Kwame Nkrumah Welfare Society (KNWS), the Kwame Nkrumah Foundation (KNF) and
became secretary to both organizations with the veteran Comrade Kojo Botsio as
chairperson.
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| Comrade Huudu Yahaya presents award to Bernice Duku |
The citation was presented by Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, a member
of the Socialist Forum of Ghana and received by Madam Bernice Duku, daughter of
Comrade Kofi Duku.
The
Black Star Excellence Awards was graced by the National Chairman of the
Convention Peoples Party, Professor Edmund Delle, President of the National
Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Paa Kwesi Adu and Madam Irene Tagoe,
daughter-in-law of Professor Albert Adu Boahen.
Others
were the acting Ambassador of Cuba, The Ambassador of the Saharawi Arab
Democratic Republic and the Ambassador of the State of Palestine and Acting
Algerian Ambassador.
Rocky Dawuni, a Ghanaian singer and songwriter
who performs in the reggae genre and lives in Los Angeles and former ambassador of
the state of Palestine, His Excellency Mr Ibrahim Omar were also present.
