Disaster hits Ala Adjetey's family

Immediately after the slaughter of five cows in the compound of the Nii Okantey Clan of the late Peter Ala Adjetey, his sister, Madam Ayorkor Adjetey Din, collapsed and died, reports Ghanaian Observer.

The incident, according to eyewitnesses, occurred late Wednesday afternoon at Apapa, near Labone, in the presence of family members, sympathisers and about a dozen fetish priestesses from the Clan.

The death comes in the wake of ongoing preparations to give the former Speaker a State burial on Friday

The paper reports that immediately after libation was poured for the slaughter of the five cows, the late Speaker's sister began twitching. Seconds later, she had collapsed.

She was quickly picked from the ground, and resuscitation efforts made on the part of elderly women and clan heads, but their efforts did not yield results.

She was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.

Her mysterious death sparked controversy, with the fetish priestesses working themselves into fits of religious frenzy, attempting an electronic diagnosis of the cause of her death.

By press time, however, the cause of her death had not been established by the teeming fetish priestesses. But suspicions by the more lettered elements at the funeral rites seemed to have established heart failure or shock as the cause of the death of the sister of the former Speaker.

The purification ceremony that was being held to accord Ala Adjetey the respect due a family head slowed down as neighbours poured in uncontrollably into the compound, weeping and wailing.

Deep into the night, the wailing continued as a stream of more mourners entered the neighbourhood from main town Labadi.

Madam Ayorkor Adjetey Din, popularly known as Maa Ten, who was 87, had worn a long face after the death of her brother, who she kept saying should have lived to bury her sisters before meeting his ancestors.

Today, all the people of La will in a separate funeral pay glowing tribute to one of the most illustrious sons of the Ga state.

Government has offered to give the Speaker a State burial as a former number three public servant.

In attendance will be an array of members of the Bench and Bar from every corner of Africa and the international community, as well as members of the diplomatic corps.

The former Speaker, who was a traditional ruler in one of the Akuapem communities, will also have a number of traditional rulers paying glowing tribute to his memory.

The funeral would also provide fertile grounds for politicians to sell their wares with exiting President John Agyekum Kufuor and evergreen Nana Akufo-Addo on the one hand; and the ubiquitous Jerry John Rawlings and Never Say Die Professor Evans Atta on the other - all toasting the crowd to some sly political antics.

Minority Leader Alban Bagbin's bunch of 'buccaneer,' hard-hitting MPs, as well as jaded Majority Leader's troupe of NPP praise singers, led by indomitable Government Wag, Sheikh I.C. Quaye and ferocious Amazonian, Theresa Amele Tagoe are also expected to be in attendance.