Kalonzo joins Ghanaians at late president’s funeral

By VPPS

Thousands of Ghanaians thronged the Independence Square in Accra to bid farewell to their fallen President John Atta Mills.

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka who represented President Kibaki joined other 18 Heads of State including Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), Goodluck Jonathan (Nigeria), Jacob Zuma (South Africa) and Ellen Sirleaf (Liberia) as well as the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the funeral.

Kalonzo said the continent had lost a focused leader who had started rekindling the push for Pan Africanism.

Kalonzo said Ghana’s founding President Kwame Nkrumah was the first proponent of Pan-Africanism. Others were the late Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Sekou Toure of Guinea among others.

The VP said the best way for African leaders to honour their departed colleagues was by providing a steadfast people-centred leadership focused on transforming the livelihood of the continent.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  Experts' report questions Ruto's bottom-up model amid hardships
• 
  Kalonzo has once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as Raila, Ruto disappoint
• 
  Azimio demands action on IEBC selection panel, accuses Speaker of delay
• 
  Family of murdered Wells Fargo HR manager demands justice

Development

Ghanaians displayed a variety of the traditional kente-cloth shirts and dresses with pictures of the late president emblazoned on them.

Waving miniature Ghanaian flags, the emotional crowd sang and danced to drills performed by the country’s armed forces.

The country was burying a sitting president for the first time since independence.

“Today is a sad day for Ghana. We are burying the father figure of our country, a man of peace and development. May his soul rest in eternal peace,” said Mensa Crentsil from the Central Region of Ghana, wiping tears from his eyes.

At exactly10.30am local time, the body of Prof Mills entered the square on a horse-drawn carriage, his casket draped in the Ghanaian national flag. The funeral service was conducted by the head of the Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian, Pentecostal and Methodist churches of Ghana.

Traditional chiefs from all over Ghana were also present.

The current President John Dramana Mahama hailed his predecessor as a man of God, father of the nation and a true son of Africa.

Trade minister Moses Wetangula, Foreign Affairs Assistant minister Richard Onyonka, and Imenti North MP Silas Muriuki were present.

Kalonzo praised Kenyans living in Ghana for sending remittances which he said boosted the economy and promised that a High Commission will be opened in Accra soon to take care of their interests.

The Kenyans in Ghana secretary general Frank Odhiambo sought an assurance from the VP that they would be allowed to vote in the coming General Election.