Vice President Mills commissions cenotaph

Koforidua, (Eastern Region) 1 March, '99

Vice President Professor John Atta Mills on yesterday commissioned a cenotaph at the Koforidua Justice park to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the Cross Road shooting incident in which three servicemen of the West Africa frontier Force were killed. Construction of the 20 million cedis cenotaph, which bears the statue of the unknown soldier was initiated by the Eastern regional branch of the Veterans Association of Ghana(VAG) and financed jointly by the Regional Co-ordinating Council, Antartic construction, a private company and Somuah Dapaah contractors Ltd. Vice President Mills and four others laid wreaths on behalf of the government and the people at the foot of the cenotaph in remembrance of the fallen heroes. He commended the initiative for putting up a befitting monument to recognise those who sacrificed themselves for the nation's independence and urged the people to use the occasion to resolve to emulate such sacrifices and work harder for peace and prosperity. "We should be prepared to make sacrifices for the nation's development, otherwise those who have laid down their lives for our advancement would have sacrificed in vain". He urged for the recognition of the positive contribution of the military to national development, saying that even before independence the military had stated their claim as nationalists who were prepared to sacrifice to secure freedom for us. A parade was formed by eight contingents of security personnel made up of seven officers and 266 men drawn from the Police, Army, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service and the Fire Service