[ 2012-07-27 ]

Nana Asante Bediatuo

Otuam residents demand Mills’ corpse
Elders and residents of Ekumfi Otuam in the
Central Region are demanding the mortal remains of
the late president John Mills.

They say the body has to be brought back to its
hometown for a befitting burial, his status as
president notwithstanding.

Speaking to Joy News Central Region correspondent
Richard Kojo Nyarko, some of the residents still
doubted the news of the president’s death and
needed the corpse, not only as evidence, but to
find out if he died a natural death or was
murdered.

They were emphatic all great men of Otuam were
buried at home and president Mills will be no
exception.

Already, President John Mahama has hinted the
state will be liaising with the family to provide
a befitting burial for the late president.

He was however silent on where the body will be
laid to rest.

But before that decision will be made, the former
first Deputy Speaker of Parliament and presently
the Board Chairman of the Ghana Refugee Board Ken
Dzirasah has some suggestions.

He told Joy News’ Dzifa Bampoh the Kwame Nkrumah
mausoleum must be expanded to bury the country’s
departed ex-presidents.

He said instead of throwing late presidents in
locations which give little honour to the country
and the position they occupied, a centralized
place such as the Nkrumah mausoleum must be
considered.

According to him, the memories of the late
Akufo-Addo, KA Busia, Hilla Limann have all too
soon transitioned into a state of oblivion because
they were buried in places less than dignified.

Ken Dzirasah said the country must develop
sustainable processes to follow in order that our
departed presidents are buried at a national
centralized location.

That he said will be a better way of recording
Ghana’s political history.


Custom and Tradition
But a Constitutional lawyer Nana Asante Bediatuo
disagreed with some of the sentiments by
Dzirasah.

He posited by the country’s law, custom and
tradition, the family is the bonafide owner of a
corpse irrespective of the social standing.

He said the state must engage the family to find
an acceptable place of burial for the late
President Mills but if the family insists on
owning its corpse the state must oblige.

He was also vehement in his disagreement with
Dzirasah on the Kwame Nkrumah mausoleum being
turned into a national place of burial for
ex-presidents.

He averred the mausoleum was built exclusively in
honour of Ghana’s first president and must be kept
as such.

He was of the opinion however that if a sitting
president dies, as happened to the late president
John Mills then he can be buried at the Military
Cemetry in Osu because that person until his death
was the Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed
Forces.

He has no difficulty if the corpses of
ex-presidents- who were not in office before their
death- are buried in places so selected by the
families.

Nana Asante Bediatuo said that could be a source
of tourism and a source of revenue for people in
the traditional areas as are the case in Guollu
where Dr Hilla was buried and where Dr Busia was
buried.

Source - Joy News

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