National leaders and political stalwarts attend Jake's funeral
By D.I. Laary, GNA
Accra, April 22, GNA - President John Dramani Mahama and former presidents - Jerry John Rawlings and Mr John Agyekum Kufuor were among the mourners at the funeral of Jacob Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey held at the forecourt of the State House on Friday.
Political party executives and top leaders including the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, also joined mourners to pay their last respect to the former National Chairman of the opposition Party.
The politician and entrepreneur died at age 70 last month in a London hospital where he went for treatment.
Hundreds of people from the clergy, Muslim community and traditional rulers clad in all-white journeyed from all parts of the country to attend the memorial and thanksgiving service and also pay tribute to the deceased popularly called Jake.
Ministers of state and members of parliament clad in white listened to the sermons accompanied with wreath laying to bid farewell to the deceased.
President Mahama in a tribute read on his behalf described Jake as a man who remained a brother and a friend in spite of the differences in political ideologies.
He said there was the need for the nation to come together as one people with a common destiny to drive the national course in the wake of political diversity, adding that 'let us not lose sight of our common destiny'.
He called for an open dialogue and unity among citizens even in times of disagreement for the sake of national peace and tranquility.
President Mahama remembered Jake's leadership role as the National Chairman that led to the NPP to a historic victory in the 2000 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections which he described as 'watershed elections'.
Jake's remains would be interred at a private ceremony after the state burial ceremony, according to family sources.
He was the Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital from 2002 to 2005 and also a Minister of Information.
Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey was born in 1946 and left behind a wife, eight children and grand children.
GNA