Rawlings should ‘join’ Mills at Asomdwee Park – Effah-Dartey

Lawyer and former minister, captain retired Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey, has questioned why former president Jerry John Rawlings is to be buried at the Military Cemetery. He proposes that the former leader be interred instead at the Asomdwee Park.

In an opinion piece published in the Daily Guide newspaper, Effah-Dartey averred that the military cemetery was a burial grounds for soldiers who died in active service at the frontline, for which reason Rawlings did not qualify by virtue of being an ex officer.

He added that it was not right to “dump” the former president among the “war dead” at Burma Camp but that the ‘abandoned’ Asomdwee Park where former president John Evans Mills was buried should be refurbished in time to receive Rawlings’ remains.

“Why not use the death of President Rawlings as an opportunity to further develop ASOMDWEE PARK as the hallowed burial ground of presidents of Ghana? Why go to hide his dead body among dead corporals, WOs and Colonels in unmarked graves at Burma Camp?”

He chastised the John Mahama-led NDC government for abandoning the park located in Osu, Accra. Effah-Dartey further cited how burial grounds of Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta in Nairobi and Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah in Accra were specially designated grounds that attracted visitors.

The decision by the Air Force to also allow a vigil to be held at its base for the former president did not go down well with writer who held that a retired officer of over three decades did not deserve such a gesture.

Rawlings’ funeral, burial arrangements

On January 24, 2021, there will be a Catholic Requiem Mass at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra. Also, a vigil will be held at the Air Force Officers Mess to eulogise the former president.

Rawlings will then be laid in state on January 25 and 26 at the Accra International Conference Centre. This will be opened to all under the strict adherence of the COVID-19 safety protocols.

On Wednesday, January 27 the former statesman will get a full military burial service at the Black Star Square. His body will be interred at the Military Cemetery in Accra.

The late president died at the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital after battling a short illness on November 12, 2020.