A section of former Army Generals at the service
Family members of Generals and a Colonel who were executed during the 1979 coup yesterday held a memorial and thanksgiving mass for their departed fathers at the St Catherine Catholic church at Burma camp, Accra.
The service, themed, “40th years on… Never Again” was attended by high profile personalities, including the Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Sophia Akuffo, the Chief of Staff, Madam Akosua Frema Opare, and the Chief of The Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Obed Boamah Akwa.
The military officers were never tried but executed upon the orders of the junta.
Concelebrating with The Very Rev. Fr. Anthony Narh Asare, Parish Priest of St Joseph the Worker Catholic Church and Rev Friar Lieutenant Colonel ACK Kemetse, Deputy Director of Religious Affairs said in his homily that “Jesus’ ultimate destiny was to return to the Father, so this constitutes Jesus’ promise that his servants – disciple will join him in that glorious setting.”
He prayed that the good Lord which we all serve will continue to strengthen the children and the families of the late Generals and also give them forgiving hearts to forgive their oppressors.
Adding His Voice, the Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante, the chairperson of the National Peace Council said years have passed since they departed; we still have fresh memories of their lives.
He said ‘the memorial service in memory of our departed families , was not to recall the painful past with the view of inciting us to seek vengeance, which is of the lord, but with the view to facilitating an encounter between the painful past and the present of forgiveness , in furtherance of restitution.
In 1979, General I.K. Acheampong, Major General E.K. Utuka, Rear Admiral Joy K. Amedume, Major General Kotei, General F.W.K. Akuffo. Air Vice Marshal George Yaw Boakye. Lt. Gen. Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa and Col. Roger J. Felli, were summarily executed by firing squad at the Teshie Shooting Range in Accra amidst chants of ‘Let the blood flow’ by some disgruntled Ghanaians.
The execution was carried out by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), led by Flt. Lt. Jerry Rawlings.
(lindatenyah@gmail.com)
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey& Nii Adjei Mensahfio