The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Michael Ocquaye, has accepted an invitation from the Ghana @ 60 Planning Committee to deliver a lecture at the Ghana @ 60 Independence Anniversary Lectures billed for 4th August, 2017.
Chairman of the anniversary Planning Committee, Mr. Ken Amankwah, on July 17, 2017 led a delegation to officially invite the Speaker for the lecture which is on the theme: “4th August, Ghana’s Day of Destiny.”
The lecture, according to the organisers, is expected to highlight the chronological events and struggles that led to Ghana attaining independence in 1957 and the situations beyond it.
A deputy Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, Mr. Samuel Abu Jinapor, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Committee, said the date (4th August) was very momentous in Ghana’s political history.
Explaining, he said, it was the time the Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS), led by John Mensah Sarbah, was formed as a conglomerate of different groups of intellectuals in Cape Coast and southern Ghana to protect the traditional land tenure practices of the indigenous Gold Coast people from being grabbed by the colonial government of Britain.
Mr. Jinapor pointed out that Mr. Mensah Sarbah, a key member of the Gold Coast ARPS and a lawyer, helped to advocate against the introduction of the Lands Bill of 1897 by arguing that it was no different from a previous unsuccessful bill in 1894.
He said the committee settled on Rt. Hon. Speaker Mike Ocquaye to lecture them on the topic because of his vast experience and knowledge in Ghana’s history.
“The choice of Prof. Ocquaye is based on his statesmanship role he has played over the years, taking into consideration his background as a religious leader, a lecturer, a lawyer, a politician and a diplomat,” he said.
The speaker in his acceptance remarks applauded the audacity of the nation’s ancestors for resisting attempts by the British to appropriate Ghana’s lands.
He used the meeting to remind chiefs and elders who are engaged in this enterprise of land business to desist from it.
“We are just custodians of these lands. The lands are for the dead, and generations yet unborn,” he stated.
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