The Vice-President, Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, has presented GH¢5,000 to the Veteran contingents of the 28th February Christiansborg Crossroads shooting incident.
The presentation was in fulfilment of his promise to motivate the contingents during the 68th anniversary commemoration of the incident in Accra.
The Veterans Board Chairman, Commodore Steve Obimpeh (Retd), who presented the cash to the Veterans Association of Ghana (VAG), lauded Vice-President Amissah-Arthur for the gesture.
Veep lauded
The money was distributed to 32 ex-servicemen by the Executive Director of the VAG, Col. Chris Nutakor (Retd) yesterday, with each person receiving GH¢150.
The money was received by the contingent commander, Ex-WO1 Emmanuel Kumah.
On behalf of the VAG, Col. Nutakor expressed their profound gratitude to Vice-President Amissah-Arthur and pleaded for more of such packages from him and other bodies.
He said the association had undertaken some projects such as the development of their clinic at Amasaman in the Ga West Municipality into a polyclinic, and which, he said, would not serve only the veterans but the civilian population as well.
History
Defenceless ex-servicemen were killed by the colonial police in 1947 while they were marching peacefully to the Osu Castle to present a petition to the then Governor.
During the Second World War, soldiers of the Gold Coast Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Forces fought alongside the allied forces.
The war veterans, who had fought so gallantly and had received high commendation, were demobilised at the end of the war and paid a pittance by way of gratuity of about one shilling a day.
The veterans thought the British Government, which ruled the Gold Coast, now Ghana, would, in appreciation of the sacrifices they made, pay them the right amount of gratuity. Several appeals made by the soldiers to the authorities fell on deaf ears.
After a period of waiting for reasonable war benefits to be paid, which were not forthcoming, the ex-servicemen decided a direct approach should be made to the British Governor and Commander-In-Chief of the Gold Coast Regiment, Sir Gerald Creasy.
Appeal
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Sgt Clement Adranu and Private Yaw Asare, both of them World War II veterans, lauded the Vice-President for the gesture.
According to them, the move was the first of its kind. They, therefore, urged other stakeholders to come to their aid, since some of them were homeless.
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