Government
was compelled by circumstance to pull out an obituary of the late
President Mills which omitted the names of some key and influential
persons of the land including former President Jerry John Rawlings.
The
initial funeral announcement (obituary) did not also include the names
of former President John Agyekum Kufuor and Kofi Annan, the former
United Nations Secretary General, who all are said to have been assigned
special roles.
The situation raised eyebrows as people asked
whether it was a deliberate attempt to sideline Mr. Rawlings, the man
who brought the late president from political obscurity and made him the
leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) but later became his
fiercest critic.
Interestingly, the names of Enoch Teye Mensah,
Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing and Member of Parliament
(MP) for Ningo-Prampram and that of the former Director at the Ghana
School of Law, Kweku Ansa Asare, made it to the list.
What is,
however, not clear is whether or not the previous obituary which was
released was not officially sanctioned. This is in view of the fact that
both the new obituary and the previous one had lots in common including
the embossment of the Coat of Arms and the same picture of the late
president.
The only difference therein is the inclusion of former
Presidents Rawlings and Kufuor, Kofi Annan and that of his alma mater,
Achimota Old Students Association (AKORA) and a few others as well as
the type face.
Key among other names that appeared on the list
were President John Dramani Mahama, who is the number one chief mourner,
Ebusuapanyin Kwamena Bandoh, otherwise known as Ato Brew, the head of
the late president’s family and several other family members.
The
latest decision to include the name of Mr. Rawlings, former President
Kufuor and Kofi Annan and others is considered a face-saving move to
shield the funeral committee from its hitherto sloppy job.
Members
of the planning committee, excluding the chairman, Kofi Totobi Quakyi,
called on Mr Rawlings on Monday to brief him on arrangements put in
place for the funeral.
Led by Nana Ato Dadzie, the delegation
presented the former president with a detailed programme of activities
for the three-day event.
Nana Ato Dadzie confirmed that the funeral
committee had, in conjunction with the family of the late president,
worked tirelessly to put together a schedule of events that would give a
befitting farewell to the late president.
President Rawlings
thanked the delegation for taking time to brief him on the details of
the funeral activities.Other members of the committee delegation were
Ambassador Kobina Wudu and Bo Amissah, who replaced the notorious Carl
Wilson as chairman of the Confiscated Vehicles Committee. |
| |
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment