Our national legacy must be in everlasting text, not transient in the transient world.

That’s the admonition of Vice President Kwesi Amissah Arthur who is encouraging the culture of writing among Ghanaians.

Mr Amissah-Arthur says writing is the only way Ghanaians can keep the country’s legacies.

Giving his keynote address at a book launch in Accra, Mr. Amissah Arthur said Ghanaians are the best people to tell the nation’s story.

In chronicling history the oral tradition has not served us as well as the written tradition in other societies.

So the written word is timeless and that is why I am happy Col Kotia has decided to write and not to tell the story to his children.

The authentic telling of our story must be done by ourselves and not by outsiders.

The author of the book Col Emmanuel Kotia is a lecturer at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre.

Mr Kotia explained his book titled Ghana Armed Forces In Lebanon and Liberia Peace Operations, has great lessons for Ghana.

"The experiences that Ghana has had in the peace keeping operations is very fundamental and can assist in really understanding the reasons conflicts come about.

"The book comes out with studies, backgrounds and historical contexts of conflicts in various parts of the world especially in Liberia and Lebanon," he said.

Former Ghana ambassador to Liberia Major General F Adu-Amanfoh retired who was also at the launch said there is a need for holistic understanding of conflicts to help deal with them better.