To my king: Barbara's tribute to the late Major Mahama

Mrs Barbara Mahama, the widow of Major Maxwell Mahama, in her tribute to her late husband, has said she will remember the young army officer who was lynched by residents of Denkyira-Obuasi as “full of life, energy and vigour” and not as “a piece of flesh circulating on social media.”

Read Barbara's full tribute below

Tribute by wife

To my king

Hebrews 13:14 New Living Translation (NLT)

For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.

“Yo, what was for breakfast” was the last message I sent you on Monday at 9:12 am after we spoke at 6am and you said you were going to have your bath. For the first time in my life, I experienced a ripping heart on Monday night, I woke up to throw up, I had tummy issues too, I just felt sick.

Maxwell, I am standing here amongst a crowd, but not to give communication tips, not to come out with a research finding, not to talk about Kindle Ghana Foundation but to read a letter to you because you chose to go to heaven and rest.

How you pushed me to be successful. You would say things like “B, do a research, don’t let your only research be your thesis, B, when are you writing a book, B, I am waiting for you to get a good job so that my pay can relax for one year”.

I don’t regret many things my love. You wanted us to enjoy life and be happy. We always joked about poverty being a disease since it restricts people. We had plans my king, many many plans!. But when I think about you, I only smile because you are more than a piece of flesh circulating on social media. You were full of life, energy and vigour so I choose to remember you in that sense.

You would shout my name from the room when you heard a noise in the kitchen, you would say “B, are you ok? Sometimes I ignored it because I felt you ask too many ‘are you Oks’. So now, who should I be making flavoured tea and lemons for? Your morning lemons were constant and although I sometimes felt it was a nuisance, I still did it without complaining.

You said thank you to me a million times, and when you finished eating, you would say you know why women live longer than men and that when a woman cooks a good meal, her husband blesses her.

You were spontaneous. We drove to Akosombo one evening just to have dinner by the river, and we did all sorts of things. Eheh, Maxwell, I won’t tell you I am in a scarf before you tell God to let you come down and remove this scarf off my head. I won’t even tell you I am in some black attire.

I love you and I always told you. I always reminded you of what you mean to me. You meant the world to me, my everything. But you were always too worried that you were not giving me the best of life. Seriously, I don’t regret wanting you all to myself and that is why I can look back and smile today.

I promise to take swimming and tennis serious because this was your wish that one day, when you are not around, your kids will swim and play tennis just like you. But the way you added golf to your sports, am I supposed to learn golf too? You were a great husband, a great father, a great friend, a great son to your parents.

I am beginning to believe my prayers hindered you from going earlier, but this time, you just had to go because the Thursday before that Monday, I had gone to pray some powerful prayers for you at “Answer Time”.

I am glad you saw me worthy to share your great but short life with you. I won’t forget to tell the kids how heroic and great you were and are. Your memory will never die! You are not dead, you are still alive, alive in our hearts. I remember you sacrificing so much for me to do my Masters, I told you I appreciated that move very much but you said it was because you want me to be in a good standing to cater for the kids when you are no more. I always asked you “where at all do you think you are going”.

I would jokingly say I will leave this earth before you then you would say that if that happens, it will cripple you and you would never get over it and care for the kids. You believed I am strong to handle the kids when you are no more and I will not disappoint you. You wanted me to do my PHD in some few years to come because you said it would be great for the kids to know that they have no excuse not to go to school.

I am glad I forced you to pray, I am glad I pushed you hard to go the extra mile for God but it was just too difficult sometimes. I wanted you to be a man after God’s own heart, I wanted you to love and serve God wholeheartedly because that’s what we are on earth for. It was as if I knew you would go soon because I always told you to read your bible, pray, have a clean heart and forgive. I always told you we have little time on earth and Junior Dufe can attest to this because I told him I felt you were not doing enough for God.

Dear Maxwell, you did your best. People were envious of you, you achieved a lot in your short time on earth. When everything settles, I will manage your Public Safety page on Facebook for you although I may make a mess out of it because I am not knowledgeable in security issues.

You said you believe your mission on earth is to take good care of me and Maxwell, even in your eternal sleep, you are doing just that. You are taking care of me, Jaden and Jerry. Your wish was to have a baby girl but I am sorry Jessica never happened. She would have had the best father on this earth.

My only regret is that we didn’t plan for Jessica, she would have been beautiful, successful, outspoken like you. Note that she would have taken my hair and my eyes and eyelashes, she would have been tall like you and she would have been adventurous and above all, she would have been a great woman of God.

The years ahead will be full of memories but I wanted more than just memories, it’s fine, I will manage. You wanted us to grow old together but God needs you where you are because there are too many obstacles and temptations here on earth. You are so safe I am glad.

I LOVE YOU is not a new word to you because I LOVE YOUs were always said in our house. This is a lesson to always love wholeheartedly while we have breath, choose love over strife, quarrels, jealousy, backbiting, etc. What at all do we want in this world that is not our home?

I will safely keep your tithe card and show to the children one day. I will take good care of them because this was your wish. I will try and let Jaden have your pistol because you always said that was your only proper property for Jaden.

My dear husband, gisting partner, advisor, teacher, mentor, Maxwell Adam Mahama, Rest in Perfect Peace.

I LOVE YOU!!!