Nathan Quao's life epitomises the Civil Service

Accra, April 8, GNA - A state funeral service attended by Vice President Aliu Mahama and a host of dignitaries was held for Mr Nathan Anang Quao, a former distinguished civil servant and presidential adviser, who served several administrations in different roles as a civil servant, at the forecourt of the State House on Friday.

The dignitaries included Members of the Council of State, Ministers of State and representatives of the National Democratic Congress, including former First lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings. The Government, in its tribute read by Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and the Modernisation of the Capital City, said Mr Quao's career "epitomized the character of a distinguished civil servant, who served several political parties".

"He was a towering figure among the alas diminishing survivors of an era, which many consider to have been high-noon of quality and dedication in the Civil Service.

"The true mark of a civil servant under such conditions of constitutional instability is that while loyally serving the government of the day, he will not sell his conscience and independence; that he will look for facts in the face on the basis of good professional research; and that he will render advice without fear, seeking not to please personal caprice or to serve his own career, but always to enhance the welfare of the nation."

"It is such a man that President Kufuor and his Government seek to honour here today. Through him, we salute and honour the public services of Ghana of which the late Mr Nathan Quao was a shining example and leader."

Other tributes read by representatives of the Civil Service, children, family and friends, invariably described Mr Quao as a humble, meticulous, hardworking and upright man of great integrity.

With Ga parentage, Mr Nathan Quao, born on 21 November 1915 at Adawso, in the Eastern Region, started his working life as a teacher at his Alma Mater, Accra Academy. Having served in various educational institutions in different capacities for 23 years, he joined the Civil Service in 1959.

From the rank of a Foreign Service Officer, which took him to Ghana's Missions in Belgrade, Ottawa, Paris and the United Nations in New York, he rose to become the head of the institution and retired in 1973.

Mr Quao was Deputy Secretary to the Government of the National Liberation Council, Secretary to the Presidential Commission, which acted as a collective Presidency before the election of the President of the Second Republic and Secretary to the Council of State during the Second Republic. He was also Secretary to the National Redemption Council.

Mr Quao who served as Secretary at the Office of the PNDC and became a Presidential Adviser in the National Democratic Congress Administration, retired in 2000.

For his meritorious service to the nation, he received the State's highest awards, Order of the Volta (Civil Division) and the Order of the Star of Ghana.

He died on February 15 at the age of 89. Two children survived him. In a sermon, the General-Secretary of the Christian Council, the Reverend Dr Fred Deegbe, said by all accounts Mr Quao led a full and fruitful life worthy of emulation.

He urged Ghanaians to constantly take an inventory of their lives and make the necessary amendments before they were called to meet their Maker.

Wreaths were laid in Mr Quao's honour with Vice President Mahama laying one on behalf of the State.