The grave of one of the icons of Ghana’s independence struggle, the late Sergeant C.F. Adjetey, which can easily be a tourist attraction, is buried under filth in an abandoned cemetery which schoolchildren have turned into a football field. The grave of the veteran of the First and Second World wars is located on the compound of a cluster of schools at La, an Accra suburb, while the state has, over the past 64 years, been celebrating his sacrifice in the Christianborg Crossroads Shooting incident on February 28, 1948. The Daily Graphic visited the grave yesterday after a concerned citizen, Mr Peter Akyea, had written a letter about what he had seen when he visited the graveyard in November 2011. During the visit, the Daily Graphic found out that the grave had been white-washed and covered with a Ghana flag, while three wreaths from the family, the La Traditional Council and the Member of Parliament for Dade Kotopon had been laid to mark the 64th anniversary of his death. Mr Akyea’s letter had stated, “To me, this annual celebration is good, but I wish to draw the attention of the general public, especially the authorities in the tourism sector, to something we are rather overlooking in this regard. “Sometime last November 2011, I went on an official assignment to a school in the La area. During the visit, my attention was drawn to something which makes me sad whenever I remember it. It is about a cemetery which is over 50 years old, with its walls broken down and now serves as a refuse dump. “It was at that point that the school’s circuit supervisor told me about the grave of Sergeant Adjetey of the Osu Christianborg Castle shooting incident fame. To satisfy my curiosity, I went closer to see things for myself and, to my surprise, there was the tomb of the ex-sergeant partly broken and left to deteriorate. “As pertains in some countries, why can’t we construct a roof above this tomb and put it to proper use as a tourist attraction? “In fact, I see this as a major tourist site in the country which must be developed and I humbly appeal to the Ministry of Tourism, the Ghana Tourist Authority and the La Traditional Council to quickly go to the rescue of the grave of such a great man of Ghana. “Otherwise, is it possible for any interested person to take it up and develop it for the purpose? Let’s remember our great men and accord them dignified places of rest.” When the Daily Graphic spoke with Mr Akyea Wednesday, he said when he visited the grave some three months ago it was an eyesore, as the place had once been used as a refuse dump and was about 50 metres from another refuse dump. The cemetery, he said, was old, dilapidated and looked deserted. When the Daily Graphic visited the site, about 70 old and broken graves could be counted. Among them was that of the once gallant soldier, which had the inscription: “The late hero ex-Sgt C. F. Adjetey. Born 2nd February, 1894. He was shot at the Christianborg Rd. He served in the 1914-1939 World wars. Aged 54.” The grave had been white-washed as the country celebrated the 64th anniversary of the 28th February Crossroad shooting incident. At the symbolic ceremony, wreaths were laid and flags rose to commemorate the anniversary of the shooting to death of three ex-servicemen, namely, Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey-Lamptey, all members of the Gold Coast Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF).