Nana’s Father’s Bust Defaced

International visitors arriving at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) especially second time visitors could not believe their eyes when they discovered the busts of the Big Six situated at the Airport Roundabout defaced.

Two of them, Edward Akufo-Addo, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, NPP flagbearer’s father, and Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, NPP National Chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey’s father, were covered with a red cloth and a garland of leaves in a move suspicious of ritualism.

When DAILY GUIDE photographer, Gifty Lawson visited the scene, the busts were still defaced. One lady who called our attention to the strange development but who pleaded anonymity wondered what image we were portraying to the international visitor given the historical importance of the Big Six.

While some think the development can be attributed to the schism on the political spectrum, especially coming a few weeks after controversial polls, others think there is something ritualistic about it.

The late Ebenezer Ako-Adjei, founding member of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), Edward Akufo-Addo , also a founding member of the UGCC and subsequently Chief Justice and President of Ghana, JB Danquah, founding member, Kwame Nkrumah, first prime minister and president, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, founding member and William Ofori-Atta formed the Big Six.

Their struggles led to the eventual independence of the then Gold Coast hence the end of colonial rule.

Nana Akufo Addo is the son of one of the Big Six as is Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey. They were incarcerated because of the leadership they offered the nationalist struggle, a tribulation which earned them the accolade “The Big Six.”

On 8 March 1948, some teachers and students demonstrated against the detention of the Big Six and they were dismissed by the colonial authorities.