Nana Yaw Osei-Darkwa, national co-coordinator of the Ghana Peace Campaign in a warm handshake with the President, John Dramani Mahama
Given his widely acclaimed accolade as a good-natured personality, a peace garden is set to be designed and dedicated to the memory of the late President John Evans Atta Mills.
A civil society group, the Ghana Peace Campaign 2012, disclosed that the specially designed peace garden which would be dedicated to the memory of the late president would be opened in three different regions in the country.
The proposed peace garden would sit on a three-acre land. It would have a library containing books and other publications written by the late president. The garden would also come with a mini museum where items used by the late president including pictures of memorable events of him would be kept.
A towering bronze statue of the late president would be mounted in the middle of the garden.
This is the first time such a garden would be dedicated to the memory of dead president in Ghana. Other countries are replete with similar models of the garden.
According to the national coordinator of the Ghana Peace Campaign 2012, Nana Yaw Osei-Dankwa, the garden concept was inspired by the recent call by President Mahama for the name of ex-President Mills to be immortalized.
According to Mr Osei-Dankwa, the special peace garden project was part of the organization’s efforts to promote peace ahead of the December 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.
“We are more than convinced that dedicating the peace garden to the memory of our great late president would be one of the finest legacies we could leave for generations unborn to learn about H.E. Prof J.E.A Mills.
We all referred to the late president as a man of peace which no one doubts and so I am convinced beyond doubt that institutionalizing his memory through a peace garden would be a great idea as a way of immortalizing our great departed president,” Osei-Dankwa said.
The initial cost of the project is estimated by project consultants at about GH¢5million. It is expected that the proposed garden will become a tourist site.
Since the untimely death of President Mills on Tuesday, July 24, 2012, several proposals have popped up aimed at immortalizing his legacies.
Top on the bill are proposals to centre on his calm demeanour, which has earned him the unofficial title of ‘Prince of Peace’.
By Raphael Adeniran
