Former Member of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Major Boakye-Djan (Rtd), has described the former President of the Republic of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings, as an “untried criminal” who has no legal authority to commemorate June 4.
Major Boakye-Djan (Rtd) was speaking in commemoration of the 41st anniversary of the June 4th Revolution as he was one of the main architects of the uprising.
The June 4th Revolution or June 4th Uprising was an uprising in Ghana in 1979 that arose out of a combination of corruption, bad governance, frustration among the general public, and lack of discipline and frustrations within the Ghanaian army.
It was sparked when the then military government of the Supreme Military Council (SMC II) of General F K. Akuffo put then flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings on public trial for attempting to overthrow the government on May 15th, 1979.
This happened because Rawlings was a junior soldier in the Ghanaian Army who with other soldiers were refused to be given their salaries.
According to him, the June 4th uprising is not an incident to commemorate even though it survived the current democracy the country is enjoying.
He argued that the 31st December is a crime against democracy and if the country could hold Brigadier Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa and other to crimes committed 10 years earlier, then Rawlings is a “walking criminal”.
In commemoration of the 41st June 4th Anniversary, Jerry John Rawlings held a virtual commemoration of the day.
“I am not joining him to do any virtual anniversary, he has no legal authority. He himself is a criminal, untried criminal and I have called him a walking criminal. He has a business or whatsoever and if I were him, I would keep of these things for good”, he said.
Asked the message he would have passed unto Ghanaians if he had the opportunity to address the general public, Major Boakye-Djan (Rtd) asked Ghanaians to use the 7th December elections as an exercise for a democratic audit to ensure Ghana’s democracy survives.
