Fifteen Heads of State and Government have confirmed their participation in the funeral of President John Evans Atta Mills.

The US Secretary of State, Mrs Hillary Clinton and four Special envoys from the United Sates of America as well as the President of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma would also be attending.

The Leaders are President Thomas Yayi Boni of Benin and Chairman of AU; Alassane Outtara, Cote d’Ivoire and chairman of the ECOWAS; Theodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Equatorial Guinea; Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso.

Others are President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia; President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo; Jakaya kikwete of Tanzania; Ellen Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia; Dr Goodluck Johnathan of Nigeria; Mahamadou Issoufou of NIger.

The rest are Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa; Yahya J. Jameh of the Gambia and Macky Sall of Senegal.

The Chairman of the Funeral Committee, Mr Kofi Totobi Quakyi made this known in Accra Tuesday at a press briefing on the final funeral arrangements for President Mills.

He said heads of State and Governments as well as Vice Presidents would be met at the Kotoka International Airport, Jubilee Lounge when arriving by private aircraft.

Those arriving by commercial aircraft would be met at the VVIP Lounge and the various ministers of state would be assigned to welcome them.

There would be no official ceremony on arrival or departure of the dignitaries.

The body of the late President Prof John Evans Atta Mills would be laid in State for viewing at the State House from Wednesday August 8, 2012 to Friday August 12, 2012.

The President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, his Wife Lordina and the Vice President and His wife, the Second Lady would be the first to file past the body, thereafter the Chief Justice, Speaker of Parliament and the public.

Mr Totobi Quarkye said most of the foreign dignitaries are expected to arrive on Friday so they will be given the opportunity to file past the body in the morning of Friday August 10, 2010 before the burial service and subsequent burial.

He said the outpouring of grief by Ghanaians following the death of the former President shows that we are one people and expressed optimism that the funeral ceremony would be organised to reflect the collective sense of loss that this Nation feels.

The Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Patrick Timbilla said a very comprehensive security arrangement would be made to ensure a peaceful funeral.

He said the police will be assisted by the Military and other security agencies to provide security at all points during the movement of the body from the 37 military hospital till the burial.

DCOP Patrick Timbilla said in all other activities in connection with the funeral like the mounting of giant screens at vantage points, the security will be there to ensure sanity.

Source: Daily Graphic

Live Updates: Day 1 of Mills' last 3 days on earth; read, watch live video here

President Mills laid in state

1:38 Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom and his entourage just filed past the body.

Ward Brew: Friends for over 42 years
Hoping public will come to appreciate what he did
Hopes posterity will always remember that he stood for a cause and it was not an easy one

Mensah Otabil: he was very sincere about his desire to know god and to serve him.

He had a desire to see God work in his personal life
Death is a great leveler and when you encounter it
Unfortunately we often forget about what has happened
Hopes we resolve to be courteous to one another

Nii Afotey Agbo: We’ve learnt how to be calm; to be tolerant
Under President Mills we dealt with our political opponents as friends not as enemies
Grassroots are appreciating what we are doing.

Kofi Capito: Mills was friendly; he cracked jokes even in difficult times. I have mixed feelings about him; he was peaceful but some people close always want to show power; to show that they are in charge but Mills himself was not like that. He is crying.

Dr Sipa-Yankey: Mills was very punctual; he loved Ghana; unfortunately, we didn’t show him the needed love. Every president must be respected and loved. If we continue vilify politicians, good people will not get involved in politics and we will have only mediocre people in politics.

Hassan Ayariga: Mills taught us how to be tolerant; he served Ghana with all his life; if he was alive to see what is happening today, he would be happy. Even before Mills died, he always preached politics of peace and politics of law and order so his death must remind all of us that we must make peace our watchword.

12:53 MP for Tafo Pankrono, Dr Osei Akoto: Mills was a good person; he respected us a Members of Parliament and we respected him as President. I remember this joke he told, that he expected to be heckled but he didn't expect the heckling to be so gargantuan. We can sustain the unity in the country.

12:25 Taxi drivers in Sokode in the Volta Region are providing services to passengers free of charge.

Agbeko Ben Coffie reports the drivers as saying the gesture is just to pay their last respect to the late Ghanaian leader who they say has undertaken a lot of development project in the region.

12:20 From Cape Coast, 8 giant screens have been mounted and people are watching the filing procession. Richard Kojo Nyarko reports the entire capital is deserted. Vehicles have been parked and passengers who want to travel are stranded.

12:18 Mr and Mrs Rawlings filing past the body of Mills. Rawlings bows.

12:18 Alfred Woyome just file past the body.

12:14 There is tension as people are pushing to get their way into the Banquet Hall. They say they don’t understand why political party leaders who come after they have been there for hours are given the right to file past the body. Military officers have been called in to save the situation.
Former President Jerry Rawlings’ convoy is still parked and waiting for clearance.


12:11 Kufuor files past the body. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Kwadwo Mpiani, Osafo-Marfo and other former government officials also just file past the body.

12:09 Mr Kufuor greets family of the late president, but he did not get the chance to greet former first lady Naadu Mills because she has left the place.

12:08 NPP party officials, led by chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey are also entering the house

12:07 He just entered the house.

12:03 Former President JA Kufuor has just arrived at the State House. Mr Kufuor and his wife Mrs Theresa Kufuor has just arrived with his former vice Aliu Mahama.

11:25 Attorney-General Benjamin Kunbuor and members of the clergy filing past the body.

11:22 Kofi Awoonor, Chairman of the Council of State just took his turn. Followed by Ato Ahwoi, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, Arnold Quainoo.

11:21 Naadu Mills is sitting with the family and receiving greetings.

11:20 Mrs Mary-Grant, Chief Justice Wood, Sheikh IC Quaye have just filed past the body.

11:19 House Speaker Bamford-Addo and Deputy Speaker have just filed past the body.

11:17 President Mahama and his vice are leaving the grounds.

11:15 Vice President Amissah-arthur has just filed past the body. He is shaking hands with family members of the late president.

11:13 Naadu Mills is standing at the foot of the body of her late husband.

11:13 President Mahama has just finished filing past the body of his late boss. He is shaking hands with family members.

11:12 President filing past the body.

11:12 Former First Lady, Naadu Mills following the president.

11:11 President John Mahama preparing to start the filing past the body. He is making his way into the Banquet Hall.

Family relations have gone in to perform some rituals.

Rev. Fred Degbe: It really is a sad day. Condolences to all Ghanaians. When we look beyond politics, we see a man with great qualities. He left us unprepared. He didn't belong in politics but he showed us that we can be gentle even as politicians.

It has suddenly dawned on us that this is real. The man is gone. Ministers are crying; everybody is crying.

Rev Sam Korankye Ankrah: The clergy committed the body in the hands of God before the filing past.

9:52 Religious leaders praying with hands on the casket. Prayers over.
Security personnel placing the casket properly for filing past.

9:48 Sammy Darko reports there is weeping all over the State House. Ministers of state are shedding tears, to crown the sadness morning in the nation.

9:40 Door to Banquet Hall has been opened and the casket draped in a huge Ghana flag is being carried inside. Casket appears too heavy for military officers who struggled to carry it.

9:38 Casket has been removed from the hearse whilst traditional leaders perform rituals. Traditional leaders from his family leading the procession.

9:35 Hearse just arrived at the main door to the Banquet Hall at the State House. Security officers open door of the hearse to take out the body. Religious leaders ready to take possession of the body from security officers. Minister weeping as fontonfrom displays.

9:29 Communications Director at the Presidency, Koku Anyidoho, and other loyalists of the late president are walking by the hearse.

9:25 Cortege is moving slowly as crowd eagerly wait. Hearse pulling up in front of the State House.

9:24 Cortege has just arrived at the State House.

9:21 Police have stopped people from moving. A very old lady who fell to the ground in tears has been carried out of the venue.

9:19 Cortege arriving at the State House. Nobody will be allowed to touch the hearse as it arrives.

9:17 IGP just arrived as well as lots of other senior security chiefs.

Religious leaders will receive the cortege when it arrives at the State House. It will be sent to the main chamber for final traditional rites before it will be brought to the Banquet Hall for the dignitaries to file past it.

9:04 Hearse is leaving the Castle to the State House for the filing past to begin. Castle Security escort hearse to pay their last respects.

9:03 Son of president Mills just touched the casket, crying.

9:01 They are mounting the guard of honour.

9:00 They are singing a hymn (Till we meet again) amidst sobs.

8:59 Prayers over.

8:58 They recite the Lord's Prayer.

8:57 All are gathered around the Hearse. Chief of Staff praying.
Totobi Kwakye, Chairman of the funeral planning committee has also arrived. More people trooping in.

His son just arrived. The Chief of Staff and other dignitaries are there to see the body. Bebako Mensah, Secretary to the late president, crying.
“It’s a very sad moment here”. Castle staff are weeping uncontrollably.
His bodyguard is leading the ambulance carrying the body.

8:49 The body is entering the Castle. A lady is sobbing. Security officials have lowered their flags.

On the plate of the vehicle carrying the body of the late president is written, "His Excellency."

Seth Kwame Boateng reports there are signals the body is arriving at the Osu Castle.

Sammy Darko reports the procession is extremely beautiful.

Body just bypasses the State House and driving towards the Osu Castle.
Live Updates: Day 1 of Mills' last 3 days on earth; read, watch live video here

Acting Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Cephas Arthur told Joy FM’s Super Morning Show host Kojo Oppong Nkrumah that no permanent road blocks would be mounted today and Thursday. However, he said there would be elaborate roads blocks on Friday.

Joy FM’s Seth Kwame Boateng, who is at the Castle, reported the place is virtually empty and that everybody there is moving to the State House. He said though it is raining, those working on the late president’s grave are busy, trying to finish the work as scheduled.

The body is currently being moved to the Osu Castle.

He said no photographing of the body nor dramatic wailing near the body with the potential to delay the procession will be tolerated.

No speeches or tributes will be read today, the Deputy Minister added.

From 1pm, the general public will also file past the body and pay their last respects. The public does not need any invitation to file past the body, he said.

He said the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice, MPs, judges, local and international dignitaries are all expected to file past the body between 11am and 1pm.

Deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told Joy FM's Super Morning Show that President John Mahama will be the first person to file past the body of the late leader, to be followed by his vice, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur.

From there, the body is expected to be taken to the Banquet Hall at the State House for the filing past by dignitaries.

The family of the late president is expected to perform some customary rituals there after which the body will be conveyed to the Osu Castle.

The body of the late President Mills has been taken out of the 37 Military Hospital to his private residence at the Regimanuel Estates.

Source: Myjoyonline.com

Victor Smith apologises to President over Veep comments

The Eastern Regional Minister Victor Smith has rendered an unqualified apology to the President, John Dramani Mahama, for his comments following the nomination of Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur as the Vice President.

There were dissenting voices in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the choice of the former Governor of Bank of Ghana, triggered by fears that the nominee does not have what it takes to help the party win the December elections.

Meanwhile, Eastern Regional Minister, Victor Smith who was the first leading figure within the party to publicly question Amissah-Arthur’s electoral credentials, says his stance was misunderstood.

In a statement issued by Mr Smith on Friday, the Minister remarked: “I wish to render unqualified apology to the President, HE John Dramani Mahama, Vice-President Nominee Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur and all others who have been aggrieved by my comments.”

Earlier in his statement, Mr Smith noted: “On the issue of the Vice Presidential nominee; I granted a number of interviews intending to clarify that the president’s nominee was not necessarily his Running Mate for the 2012 election. The import of my comment has been misconstrued.“

The Vice President-designate, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has rebuffed the criticisms on his nomination, saying those who doubt his loyalty to the governing National Democratic Congress have not really known him.

Victor Smith concurred with him: “I don’t have any ill feeling against Mr Amissah-Arthur. He is a loyal member of the NDC and I have no question about his credentials to occupy the office for which the President has nominated him.”

Source: Myjoyonline.com

Chinese dig 9 graves at Flagstaff House

Construction of a number of graves has begun at the Flagstaff House, the presidential palace located along the Independence Avenue in Accra, for the burial of President John Evans Atta Mills who passed away a little over a week ago.

Wednesday, a number of Ghanaian workers and their Chinese supervisors were seen busily working on the graves at the forecourt of the facility, with a bulldozer excavator and a tipper truck on site.

The graves are nine in number, raising questions about the other bodies to be interred in them apart from that of President Atta Mills.

The graves are about 50 metres away from the main gate of the presidential palace.

There was heavy police presence at the place, making it absolutely impossible for our roving reporters to have access to the place, considering the fact that it is already a high security zone.

But Daily Guide sources have hinted that as many as nine graves are being constructed at the Flagstaff House in defiance of suggestions by a number of Ghanaians including the Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Accra, Most Reverend Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle.

Others have also condemned the decision of virtually turning the presidential palace, which President Mills declined to use when alive, into a cemetery.

The family of the departed president stated that it wanted the former president to be buried in his hometown, Ekumfi Otuam.

However, a statement issued in Accra yesterday evening by the Funeral Planning Committee (FPC), chaired by Kofi Totobi Kwakye, a former National Security Minister, and signed by Deputy Information Minister James Agyenim-Boateng, spokesperson of the committee, said, “After a series of consultations, the proposed burial sites have been narrowed down to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park and a location within the old Flagstaff House.”

However, attempts to speak to Mr. Agyenim-Boateng to ascertain why a number of graves were being dug at the Flagstaff House, when the committee was yet to take a final decision on the burial place, proved unsuccessful since he did not answer several calls to his mobile phone.

What is also not clear is whether some other bodies would be buried alongside that of the late President Mills in view of the number of graves being dug.

Confusion
A member of the committee and former Chief of Staff under the Rawlings regime, Nana Ato Dadzie, who spoke on the issue earlier in the day, said the place was an ideal location for the burial of the late president.

That, he said, was because there was enough space at the presidential palace to serve as a burial ground for the late president, insisting that it would not affect the sensitivity of any president who intended to operate from the premises.

Nana Ato Dadzie, who spoke on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana, said, “A portion of that land has President Nkrumah’s residence, there is a portion which used to have a whole zoo and President [John] Kufuor rightly thought that we needed an edifice so he put up a house, popularly known as Jubilee House, and it’s only one facility on a portion of that land so there is a lot of space out there where it could be developed.”

The committee was reported to have visited and held discussions with the leadership of Parliament, the National Chief Imam, the Chief Justice and the Council of State as part of ongoing consultations to build a national consensus on the funeral and burial arrangements for the late president.

“The FPC briefed them on the proposed funeral arrangements and used the discussions to seek their opinions on an appropriate resting place for President Atta Mills,” the statement said.

But Most Rev. Charles Palmer-Buckle appealed to the Mills funeral committee to consider the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum for the burial of the late President John Mills.

That, according to him, was because the mausoleum held such an important historical significance that it could only be the best burial grounds for the late president.

“We were there and there is enough space and the place is historical for the dear country Ghana because that is where Kwame Nkrumah declared independence for the country and so if it becomes a place where all our future heads of state would be buried that would be great,” he told Joy FM yesterday.

He even suggested exhuming the bodies of all former heads of state to be buried there.

Former Chief of Staff under the erstwhile Kufuor administration that constructed the facility, Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani, has equally spoken against any attempt to convert the presidential palace into burial grounds for former heads of state.

He said the committee ought to build a consensus among Ghanaians before finally settling on the venue since another president could decide not to allow the place to be turned into a cemetery.

Source: Daily Guide

P-Sqaure spends N50m on mother’s burial

Sources close to Nigerian music duo, P-Square, has disclosed that their family have spent almost 50 million Naira (more than 600,000 Ghana cedis) on the burial rites for their late mother, Mrs Josephine Okoye.

It was also disclosed that the brothers have spent so much in giving their mother a well-befitting and world class burial whom they refer to as the only pillar of support behind the P-Square success.

The Okoye brothers, according to reports, have also contracted the services of M.I.C, a top class funeral house, for casket provision as well as interment celebrations.

It was also gathered that Peter and Paul have promised to spare no cost in ensuring that their late mother is well laid to rest.

They are reported to have spent a hefty amount on preparations and items including transporting her remains back to Nigeria from India, building a mausoleum, ordering for a very expensive casket; engaging the services of burial team and event managers as well as catering for invited guests and colleagues.

Source: NigeriaFilms

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