Since June 4 1979 when Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings led junior officers in the Ghana Armed Forces to stage a bloody coup the month of June has left an indelible mark in the minds of Ghanaians. It was in the same month that year that eight senior officers of the Ghana Armed Forces were tied to the stakes and shot in cold blood by the coup makers

They were General Kutu Acheampong, General Fred Akuffo, General Robert Kotei, General Utuka,General Akwasi Afrifa, Air Vice Marshall Yaw Boakye, Rear Admiral Joy Amedume and Col Roger Felli..

Incidentally three years later in 1982 to be precise it was also in the month of June 30 when three High Court Judges and a retired Army officer were abducted in the night by another of coup makers led once again by Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings during curfew hours, killed and their bodies set ablaze. They were Mrs Justice Koranteng Addow, Justice Agyei Agyepong, Justice Sarkodee and Major(Rtd)Acquah.

Since this incident the Ghana Bar Association has declared June 30th Marty’s Day and a solemn memorial service is held every June 30th by the Association in memory of the slain judges.

And so when the families of the slain top military officers are mourning their departed family members in June the lawyers would be mourning their murdered colleagues.

It will be no exaggeration to describe June as the unofficial month of national mourning in Ghana Perhaps the year 2008 is destined to change the solemn mood for once that is why the senior national football team have been tasked to play four World Cup qualifying matches this month to cheer up the sporting spirits.

Starting from June 1st to June 22nd the Black Stars will keep football fans on their toes. Indeed they showed their determination to make the nation happy with a classic 3-0 win over Libya in their first outing of the month at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.

If the first goal by Prince Tagoe in the first half was great the second by Junior Agogo in the 56th minute was greater. The superb header was right from the text book, but the greatest of them all was the 76th third goal by Laryea Kingston. Full back Harrison Afful gave a beautiful cross along the packed Libyan goalmouth and Kingston’s knee high non drop connection zoomed powerfully into the net.

The Libyans made splendid recovery and twice Black Stars goalie had to pull out some some brave saves.

With three goals up the Black Stars needed fresh legs to maintain the momentum. And it does no credit to coach Sellas Mensah that it was only ten minutes to time that he summoned enough courage to make three changes bringing in Eric Bekoe, Hamanu Dramani and Francis Dikko to replace a tiring Sulley Muntari, Junior Agogo and limping skipper John Mensah.

The second assignment will be against Lesotho in Bloemfontein South Africa on June 8th and with this comfortable start the coach should have enough confidence to make appropriate changes at the right time.

The next stop is Libreville on June 15th where the Black Stars will face Gabon the 4th match is a return against Gabon at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra on June 22.