June 4 is hypocrisy - Malik

Interior Minister, Alhaji Malik Al-Hassan Yakubu MP, Yendi walked into Parliament, Friday, the first day of June, with one thing firmly imprinted on his mind: June 4 is nothing to write home about.

Moments after Parliament passed the Bill blocking the celebration of the day, the Minister told Network Herald, "the only unique thing about June 4 is hypocrisy."

"All military coups before June 4 came with the intention of investigating and eliminating corruption, abuses and ensuring accountability. They set up commissions of enquiry to deal with these matters. These principles are therefore not unique to June 4," Alhaji Yakubu said.

According to the Minister, although the architects of the coup set up fine goals in the name of house cleaning, they did not stand for them. "They opened bank accounts, account number 48 and others. Up to date, nobody has explained to the nation how those monies were used. Big sums of foreign exchange were seized and kept at Gonda Barracks and nobody knows what happened to them" Alhaji Yakubu said.

Philosophically, Minister Yakubu pointed out that when individuals put out ideals and subject people to keep those ideals by letting them pay high prices for them, while they refuse to keep to the very same high standards, they stand to face the wrath of the populace. To him, there was no accountability in the three months of June 4.

"Those ideals of June 4 must be lived in order to remain relevant." To him, the day stood awkward in relation to all other holidays approved under the Constitution.

The passing of the Bill generated a lot of debate between the Majority and Minority members of the House. The Minority criticised the Bill saying its introduction to the House was illegal, unconstitutional and procedurally wrong.

Hon. Yakubu, who is also MP for Yendi, told the Network Herald that in spite of the initial controversy between both sides of the House, his side (the Majority) has no hard feelings about their colleagues in the Minority.

He said, a lot of the NDC Members of Parliament supported the government's position on the matter. Although they could not do so on the floor of the House, the Minister said they spoke out in favour of the Bill at the Committee level. "One NDC member said Acheampong came with his 13th February thing, he is gone with it, Kotoka and others came with their 24 February thing, they are gone with it, Rawlings must also go with his June 4", the Minister said.

He conceded that the way the Minority members went about the debate forms part of the "intrigues of Parliament and we have no hard feelings against them" and described the passing of the Bill as a victory not for the NPP and the government but for democracy.

Alhaji Yakubu assured of government's preparedness to reconcile the nation saying the passing of the Bill and the blocking of the observation of June 4 as a statutory holiday is one of those reconciliatory steps.

The passage of the Bill notwithstanding, Minority Chief Whip, Doe Adjahoe MP Avenor and some other leading members of the NDC indicated that they would be celebrating the event as usual today.

A view that seem to be shared by the J. Asiedu Nketia, MP Wenchi West. He goes further to suggest that June 4th would be reinstated as a holiday anytime the NDC came to power. "It seems to me that this political game will never stop. I believe we will have the chance one day to call the shots", he said.

The Minority used all technical and tactical methods including withdrawing from the chamber to frustrate the process and delay the passage of the Bill as it was being taken through the various stages.

Majority Leader J.H. Mensah commended the Minority side for their insistence on the adherence to Parliamentary procedures, saying it was a healthy development, which augurs well for parliamentary democracy.

Deputy Minority Leader Isaac Adjei-Mensah remarked at the end of it all that "for now the Minority have conceded defeat but posterity would be the best judge".