Ghana will tomorrow mark the 63rd Independence Day anniversary in Kumasi, the capital city of the Ashanti Region. It will be the second time that the anniversary will be marked outside the capital city of Accra.
Significantly, the Independence Day is marked in commemoration of the declaration of independence from British rule by the late President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah on March 6, 1957.
The day also invokes in us the memory of the gallant men and women, both civilians and security men who laid down their lives, so that we can have our freedom.
In addition, the country has erected cenotaphs in some parts of the country in honour of these citizens both known and unknown. The importance of these monuments is that, it allows the people to remember the deceased or important public figures that they honour and show their respect by laying wreaths occasionally at the cenotaph.
This is not peculiar to Ghana. It is a worldwide practice for countries to erect memorials such as cenotaphs in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere.
Unfortunately, one such cenotaph constructed at the Old Durbar Ground in Ho, almost a quarter of a century ago in honour of fallen war heroes is now in a horrible state of squalor.
According to a report carried yesterday in the Ghanaian Times, the cenotaph is almost missing in weeds.
Worse still, some unpatriotic members of the public have turned the place into a place of convenience where they defecate and urinate, day and night.
The report further said that others dump their domestic wastes with impudence while rodents and reptiles are multiplying rapidly with the place only now serving as an insult and great dishonour to the war heroes.
Simply put, the monument that served fittingly as the venue for the celebration of Remembrance Day and other events of the security agencies is now in ruins and decaying.
It is a crying shame that the cenotaph has been left to rot, fade and fall into oblivion, contrary to the purpose for which it was erected.
For us, it is a dishonour to the memory of those in whose honour the monument was erected and unfortunate that the authorities have looked on for the cenotaph to fall into a state of disrepair.
It is our fervent hope that the agencies in charge of the monument would take immediate step to rehabilitate it and return it to its original use.
The cenotaph in every country is held in high esteem for what it means for the people and ours should not be an exception. Our forefathers in whose memories these monuments were built and posterity will not forgive us if we continue to allow such monuments to decay and fall into oblivion.