By Frank Amponsah
President Nana Akufo-Addo has announced that Wa Polytechnic would be renamed Dr. Hilla Liman Polytechnic inhonour of the late President Dr. Hilla Liman whom the President describes as a “decent, honest, patriotic man, who did his best.”
The Governing Council of the institution in the Upper West Region, the President disclosed, will be meeting soon to officially make a proposal to the Minister for Education over the possible rename of the institute.
According to the President, “The minister of education approached me on this and I have indicated my happy agreement to this proposal. Once parliamentary processes are completed, the Wa Polytechnic will hence forth be called Dr. Hilla Liman Polytechnic.”
He, also, assured the family and wife of the late President Liman of government continued support stressing that “the former first lady will continue to benefit from the care and attention from the government.”
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo further lauded the achievements of former President Dr Hilla Liman and said his short-lived presidency which spanned a period of two years and seven months, had a herculean task of restoring order and stability to the nation after the turbulence and tumult of the June 4th era.
The President said Dr Liman’s best efforts at the time mitigated what appeared to be a mission impossible until the 31st December revolution which led to the overthrow of the third republic.
President Akufo-Addo was speaking at a ceremony to mark 20th Anniversary Remembrance of Dr. Liman who was the third President of the Republic of Ghana.
According to the President, Dr. Liman continued to stay in the country even after the June 4th coup and when the political space opened up and the country returned to constitutional rule, he reappeared and contested the presidency again, but placing third in the race.
Taking a cursory glance at the life of Dr. Liman, President Akufo-Addo averred that Dr. Liman had strived for excellence no matter the odds in building the broken fibre of the nation and described him as a wonderful, decent, honest and patriotic statesman who did his best to overcome considerable odds.
“Ill-fated as his presidency was, he died with the reputation and memory of a decent, honest, patriotic man, who did his best,” he said.
The President also expressed great enthusiasm when he indicated that the party Dr. Hilla Liman formed, the PNC was still an active participant in Ghana’s political discourse, reason for which he appointed the leader of the PNC in the 2016 elections an Ambassador at large top work to the betterment of the people of Ghana.
Dr. Hilla Liman was elected leader of Peoples National Party (PNP), winning 62 percent of the vote after a run off and became the third president of the country.
His leadership was however overthrown during the June 4th coup when he was two years seven months into his administration.
