Mills Funeral Planning C'ttee Pays Last Respect

Members of the funeral planning committee surrounds the tomb of the late president

Members of the funeral planning committee of the late president, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, yesterday paid their last respect at the Asomdwee Park in Accra.

The committee, led by Kofi Totobi Quakyi, laid a wreath at the late president's tomb.

Some of the committee members who made it to the Asomdwee Park included Deputy Minister of Communication Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, and Presidential Aide Nii Lantey Vanderpuye.

Others were Ras Mubarak, NDC presidential candidate for Ablekuma North, Nana Ato Dadzie, a former Chief of Staff under the Rawlings administration, Yaw Boateng Gyan, national organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ato Ahwoi, chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and Alex Segbefia, a deputy chief of staff.

Briefing the press after laying the wreath, Mr. Totobi Quakyi said, 'We thought it wise to pay our last respect to late Prof. Mills, having come to the end of such a historic preparation'.

'I hope that the Asomdwee Park will continue to offer the nation the peace that the late Professor Atta Mills stood for,' he added.

Totobi Quakyi stated that the committee had decided to temporarily close the Asomdwee Park on Tuesday, August 21, 2012, instead of Sunday, August 19, 2012.

According to him, the committee took that decision because Monday, August 20, 2012 was a holiday.

This, he said, would afford those who had not had time to pay their last respect to the president at the Asomdwee Park, due to their busy schedules, to do so on Monday.

Mr. Totobi Quakyi said the Asomdwee Park was being closed to the general public to enable works to continue, adding, 'We hope that work at the site would be completed in time so that it can be opened to the public again'.

He also indicated that the committee would address the press sometime next week to render full stewardship on matters relating to the successful organization of the late president's funeral.

By Cephas Larbi