June 4th is about values and principles!
It is a reminder that principles must be the core platform on which we build a Great and Strong nation- the cause of right- the cause of justice, the cause of fairness and the cause of brotherhood. The whip in the temple was about sacred values.
The house of my father not a den of thieves but a sanctuary of Sacred and Holy Communion with God. Similarly, the seat of governmental power is not a place for thieves, liars, greedy and selfish people but a place where honesty, simplicity, nobility, sacrifice, truth and justice must be enthroned and glorified.
June 4th is about Sensitivity to the needs of the common man- Genuine sensitivity and not cosmetic and hypocritical concerns- not the throwing of pittances to the poor and disadvantaged but the genuine realization that the thrust of leadership is the deployment of every ounce of energy to ensure that the needs of the masses are truly satisfied.
June 4th is about the power of the ordinary people- the knowledge that they are not stupid- that leaders underrate the ordinary people at their own peril. This means that leaders must not live in their own self created “We are moving forward paradise” and claim that all is well when the ordinary folks are facing a whole different reality.
June 4th proves that when ordinary people find a leadership that is sensitive, honest and genuinely determined to accomplish, they naturally rally round and mobilize all their resources to make the dream a reality. June 4th shows that this kind of leadership evokes the needed patience, sympathy and understanding- which are pivotal to our quest to chart a course of progress up the tough road ahead of us through the making of the difficult choices we need to make if we are to bring about our dream of a truly great and strong nation under God.
June 4th teaches us that it is not enough to lament about our problems. It is not enough to wait forever for some providential intervention. June 4th proves that we need to move beyond lamentations and “action-less prayer” to a point where we activate the energy, the passion and the courage- the kinetic fuel that enables us to arise and seek answers and solutions to our problems.
June 4th is a testament to what we can achieve as a collective when we are properly inspired. June 4th is about what a determined people can accomplish and the huge process of change that can be set in motion when we arise with a determination to confront our woes as a people.
June 4th is about Consistency- we must not hail it 1979 and proclaim it as inevitable- (NPP’s Historian and first presidential candidate Prof Albert Adu Boahen)- and later pretend you were never for it. The people who applauded the blazing flame should not become hypocrites years later and pretend they were against it from the word go. Those who were punished by the purifying fire June 4th do not suddenly become saints simply because some of us have become opponents of the human instruments used to punish the leaders who betrayed the trust of the people.
June 4th shows that what was wrong in 1979 remains wrong under President Kufuor and remains wrong under President Mills.
June 4th reveals what a life of sacrifice and selflessness can do in terms of unleashing the courage and the will to accomplish of the masses. That selflessness and sacrifice which was brought to the fore when Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings was arrested on May 15th could be summed in the following words- “I would rather die trying to bring about a positive transformation to my people than adopt the "if you cannot beat them, join them approach"
June 4th therefore is a shining testament of the capacity to remain consistent to our ideals regardless of how high or how powerful we become- a young flight lieutenant in 1979, imbued by that noble spirit, inspired a nation to rise and put down a marker that is to remain the standard of leadership in our country- a benchmark of accountability and integrity. Many other leaders started down the same path and within a few months totally lost their way and became more corrupt and wayward than those they sought to correct. But in the case of our flight lieutenant, nearly two decades in power, did not dim his passion for truth, justice and integrity- his genuine devotion to the cause of the ordinary people. If the current NDC leadership needs an inspiration to enable it walk that narrow road, we need not look too far. The life and example of that young man who named his first child Ezanetor- let the darkness end- and for 28 years and more continued unerringly on that mission of banishing the socio economic darkness- must be our constant inspiration. On behalf of all our people, we can only salute that example.
June 4th epitomizes the spirit of positive defiance- the spirit that believes that no matter how gross the darkness, no matter how desperate the situation, there is a seed buried deep within us that if nurtured and encouraged, can, like the prodigal son, arise out of the hopelessness and say, “Enough Is Enough- I cannot take this situation anymore- I have the capacity to do something to halt the decay and set into motion a process, gradual at first but irreversible and unstoppable- a force that will ultimately bring about the total transformation. The “Yes We Can Spirit”.
One of the most enduring lessons of June 4th therefore is the fact that all great things are birthed out of an intense passion- a blazing, fiery determination to bring about a positive transformation. In our quest to transform our individual and national situation, June 4th shows that we will not succeed until that desire builds up into an irresistible, magnetic and unstoppable force that will bring about the crystallization of our dream.
June 4th was not against the wealthy or the privileged. There were many wealthy and privileged people who were not touched by the fury of June 4th.
June 4th was not a mission of blind vengeance against people who did personal wrong things against the state. Those who took advantage of the explosion and settled personal scores clearly fall short of its ideals and did not understand what the spirit of June was really about.
June 4th has never been about making all poor to become rich and every one equal. June 4 has never proclaimed as its goal the banishment of poverty from the land. What June 4 has done is to underscore the need for fairness, equity and the creation of opportunities such that all who truly aspire and apply themselves diligently and make a genuine endeavor can rise progressively out of the doldrums and show that individual and societal progress can be achieved by all classes of people regardless of birth, creed, ethnicity, social status or so called "privileged education"
June 4th was not an event to banish and bring an end to corruption- not even Jesus the master, or Mohammed the prophet has accomplished that feat.
June 4th was not about them versus- or NDC versus NPP or even poor versus rich- there are some rich people who abhor greed, dishonesty and there are some poor who are more dishonest and greedy than many rich
June 4th is not about speaking out against wrong things done by opponents and be quiet when same wrong things have been done by our friends. Wrong is wrong regardless of who commits it.
June 4th was not a coup to punish people for making coups as has been proclaimed by Capt Boakye Gyan aka “The man who went hiding under the bed of his wife” June 4th was a cleansing process not unlike the cleansing of the temple of Jerusalem over two thousand years ago when Jesus cracked the whip, overthrew tables of greedy and dishonest merchants who had turned the house of God into a den of thieves.
It is not enough to commemorate June 4th once in a year. It is important to internalize its values so that every single day we are guided by its undying values and lessons.
Let us keep that pure flame burning ever so brightly. Let us continue to salute the sacrifices of all those who made June 4 the positive epoch making event that it was and let us never forget that to build a nation that is great and strong, we cannot but cherish fearless honesty. The kind of intense fearless honesty that empowers us to resist the rule of the internal and external oppressor with all our will and all our might.
The words “Leave my men alone- I alone am responsible” were immortals words that will continue to be the standard of true leadership in our country. Those words remind us of the master’s teaching that “to save one’s life we must be prepared to lose it”.
Those words embody Courage. They symbolize Honesty. They indicate Readiness to put one’s life down for the purpose of accomplishing a great dream- a dream that will elevate and transform the lives of many. May that spirit of courage, that sense of nobility, that unparalleled commitment to truth and justice continue to blaze in our hearts like a sun, until we bring about a truly great and strong nation anchored on accountability, integrity and true social justice. Long live the spirit of June 4th
Long live the social democratic revolution it unleashed
Long live our homeland Ghana.
Emmanuel Dela Coffie emmanuelcoffie488/www.delacoffie.wordpress.com