Remembering Our Martyrs

Another year has passed since we last remembered the murder of the three high court judges and a retired Army Major in the name of a so-called revolution.

It is a date on our national calendar some would rather is obliterated because it reminds them about the wicked deed which led to the murder of these citizens of our country.

For the relatives of the martyrs, it is a sad day on which they remember the love of the departed ones. Just why human beings would order the elimination of those they hate is something difficult to comprehend.

Nineteen eighty two, the year in which hell broke loose in a country not known for such reckless bloodletting, should remain as a reminder that security should never be taken for granted.

It is regrettable that the then officialdom ignored all the signals about an impending mutiny by a group of disgruntled military officers and their civilian accomplices.

The effect of the acts of indiscipline meted out by junior ranks in the military under the direction of a few commissioned officers was enough to bring a country to its knees, which was exactly what happened to our dear country.

They were hailed as 'Junior Jesuses' and they relished the moment as though it would never end. Today, age has caught up with them; the ghosts of those slain remaining in their subconscious segments until they bid farewell to this ephemeral world.

We refuse to consider the nonsense which led to the murder of hundreds of Ghanaians – some of them missing – their whereabouts to date not known, as a revolution.

That tag was assigned by the coup makers to give the unruliness a semblance of decency as it were. It is instructive that many of those used to perpetrate the violence and even murders, who are still alive, have regretted their roles.

Those who orchestrated the devious plot which snuffed life out of the departed illustrious citizens of this country, if they are still alive, will know no peace. It is a fact of life that whoever takes away the life of another, especially, under the circumstances of the year under review, will suffer for their wicked deeds.

It was a shameful blight on our history whose future recurrence we should join hands to obviate by all means; after all, the constitution bestows that power on us.

We have come a long way since then and are therefore in a better position to analyse what happened then so we would never be swayed by the lies of one person who claims to know it all and should therefore be followed in his pursuit of adventure.

For an individual's frustration to develop into a tribal hatred of some persons and their eventual elimination by reckless abduction and murder must be condemned by all who cherish freedom and respect for dignity of the human being.

Ghana, by that unwise action, witnessed retrogression – the effects of which are still with us today.

Unfortunately, the architects of that act and who attempted to destroy telltale evidences pointing at their perpetration of the abductions and murder, seek to justify some of the crazy actions of that year.

The evil which those wicked men committed will surely live after them. Today, they have lost the respect of the people who ignorantly adored them in those days. May the souls of the departed persons rest in peace.