‘Awoonor served country, mankind’
The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, has described the late Professor Kofi Nyidevu Awoonor as an internationalist and principled person who served his country and mankind.
Advertisement
He said Prof. Awoonor was a “great role model and distinguished politician who generations yet unborn would continue to eulogise”.
The Vice-President said this in a tribute when a high-powered delegation of the family of Prof. Awoonor and chiefs from the Anlo Traditional Area called on him at the Flagstaff House in Accra yesterday to officially announce Prof. Awoonor’s demise.
He said the late Prof. Awoonor, the immediate past Chairman of the Council of State, devoted himself to the nation’s development and made his rich wisdom available to improve the welfare of Ghanaians.
“Although his tenure as the Chairman of the Council of State expired, Prof. Awoonor was still relevant and was available to give his best for the development of the entirety of Ghanaians.
“For many of us the event seemed far away, but it has brought sadness to our homes. These events have a way of distracting our human lives,” he said.
The Vice-President said although it was sad and painful that “he left us in this dramatic way, we must have consolation in the fact that his rich values will continue to guide and guard us”.
“On behalf of President John Dramani Mahama and Ghanaians, I wish to express condolences to the larger family of Prof. Awoonor,” Mr Amissah-Arthur said.
Funeral arrangements
Professor Kofi Anyidoho, the spokesperson for the delegation, said the family, in planning the funeral of the statesman, was guided by the declaration he had made on what should not be done on his death.
According to Prof. Anyidoho, among the declarations by the late Agbonugla of Anlo were that his remains be transferred to a Funeral Home at Lashibi, adding that the late Awoonor also warned that the pre-burial ceremony for him should not last more than one hour.
Additionally the late Professor had also declared that there should not be any open wailing and crying at the ceremony and also indicated a particular spot at his hometown, Weta in the Volta Region, where he would have a “final and internal rest”.
Prof. Anyidoho said there would be a cremation ceremony as indicated by the late Prof on Thursday, October 3, 2013, saying that arrangement had already been discussed with his doctors.
He said the state would, however, not be left out in the funeral, adding that on October 11, a national ceremony would be held before the final rest on November 9, 2013.
By Timothy Gobah/Daily Graphic/Ghana