August 4 is a special day in the history of our country. It is the date which shaped and determined the course of our collective history – setting the stage for an organised front for Ghana’s independence struggle.

On August 4, 1897, we witnessed the establishment in Cape Coast of the Aborigines Rights Protection Society by the great Ghanaian patriots, John Mensah Sarbah, Joseph Casely Hayford and others, which successfully fought the British colonial power to maintain indigenous control of our lands.

On the same day, 50 years later, at Saltpond, the great nationalists of the time, George Alfred “Paa” Grant, J B Danquah, Francis Awoonor-Williams, R S Blay, George More, R S Wood, J W de Graft Johnson, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, Ebenezer Ako Adjei, William Ofori-Atta, Edward Akufo-Addo, and Cobbina Kessie, together with paramount chiefs, clergymen, lawyers, entrepreneurs, teachers, traders and men and women from all walks of life in the Gold Coast gathered to inaugurate the United Gold Coast Convention, UGCC of blessed memory, the first political party of the Gold Coast, formed to spearhead the fight for national independence.

All the subsequent events which followed - the 1948 riots in Accra, the establishment of the Watson Commission, the formation of the Convention People's Party, the setting up of the Coussey Constitutional Committee and, ultimately, the attainment of independence on March 6, 1957 - flowed from the activities of that day.

We must continue to honour this day, and the men and women who participated in these historic events which led to our national independence.

......signed......

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo