The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has expressed his views on leaders erecting effigies in their honor.
Addressing a Ghanaian community in Côte d’Ivoire on January 21, 2025, the legislator suggested that effigies might be more appropriately erected by individuals or society who admire the achievements of such leaders and wish to celebrate their impact, rather than by the leaders themselves.
According to him, doing so may not be advisable, particularly when the leader is still alive.
“Don’t sow evil, if you sow evil, you will go and reap it. In any case, when you are alive, it is not advisable to build a statue for yourself. When you are no more, the people who will admire what you have done will build a statue for you,” he said.
Although Bagbin did not explicitly name individuals in his statements, it is believed that his comments were made in light of the controversial destruction of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s statue by unknown persons in the Western Region.
The statue erected in honor of Akufo-Addo at the roundabout near the entrance of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Referral Hospital in Sekondi was completely destroyed by unknown individuals.
The statue was toppled and damaged, with the head and knee area shattered. The incident reportedly took place around 1:30 am on Monday, January 13, 2025, under the cover of darkness.
Unveiled on November 6, 2024, the statue was meant to honor the former president for what the sponsors described as the unprecedented development of the Western Region during the tenure of the New Patriotic party government