General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has said that President Nana Akufo-Addo has no good intention in advocating that the University for Development Studies (UDS) be named after the late former President Jerry John Rawlings.
According to him, President Rawlings, when he was alive, did not take pleasure in monuments being named after him.
“In fact, there were several occasions where he resisted the attempt to name monuments after him,” he recalled.
He said: “His life also shows that he abhors ostentatious living and ostentatious funerals and ceremonies…He kept reminding us that the best tribute we can keep in his memory is to hold dearly, the principles of June 4 based upon which the NDC was established.”
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A day before the NDC’s vigil, President Akufo-Addo said though former President Rawlings declined an offer in 2017 to have UDS named after him, he believes it must happen in honour of the late leader, who used a $50,000 cash prize he received, as seed money for the university while he was president.
At a graduation ceremony at the UDS campus in Tamale on Saturday, November 14, 2020, President Akufo-Addo said Mr Rawlings deserved the honour.
But the chief scribe on Adom FMs morning show Dwaso Nsem indicated that the only way to keep the memory of the late President alive is to continue practising his cherished principles.
Listen to audio below: