'If you want to plant your party trees, get a land' – Oti Regional Minister to NDC

The Oti Regional Minister, Joshua Makubu has criticized the National Democratic Congress for planting ‘June 4’ trees on school campuses to commemorate the 43rd anniversary of the uprising.

According to the minister, it was inappropriate to plant trees on school campuses because doing so only reminds people of their hurt hence his decision to oppose the NDC’s action.

The 4 June uprising was staged in 1979 to the release of the founder of the NDC, Jerry John Rawlings who later became a military ruler and a democratically elected president in Ghana.

As part of the celebrations, the leadership of the NDC planted trees at the Nkwanta Community Day SHS in the Oti Region.

But Mr. Makubu believes the party’s approach was not the best hence the action he took because schools must not be used as grounds to commemorate a day when people were killed.

Justifying his posture, the Minister said; “June 4th was a day people’s parents and lovely ones were killed and many have lost their livelihood. People are still crying over it.

"For this reason, it is not an occasion to plant trees that will keep hurting such families as the NDC did”

“We cannot sit down as a country, as a municipality, as a region or a school and allow trees to be planted on a compound to signify this day where people lost their lives,” he clarified.

According to him the gesture indirectly portrays that, once General FK Abu, Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, and General Afrifa, were people’s grandfathers then they cannot go to the Nkwanta Community Senior High School because once they do, they will be saddened by recalling memories.

He noted that under no circumstances would he even allow his New Patriotic Party to embark on the same initiative, quoting the adage ‘Right is Right, Wrong is Wrong.’

“We are still hurting and causing pain to this generation and for that matter, I disagree with the idea of planting trees on a school compound to commemorate 4th June”

“I’m a member of the New Patriotic Party, as a regional minister and I will never under any circumstances allow the New Patriotic Party to get into any senior high school campus to plant trees to commemorate a party event and I cannot allow such from any other party to put tears on the faces of my people.”

He, therefore, suggested to the NDC that “if you want to plant your party trees, get a land, invite us, and we’ll come but not in a school belonging to the country”

To that effect, he directed the Nkwanta South MCE, Bright Lenwah to make sure that the trees were removed.