Victor Owusu eulogised in Parliament

Mr. Joseph Henry Mensah, Majority Leader, on Wednesday soberly eulogised Mr Victor Owusu, a presidential candidate in the third republic, in Parliament saying he was "a leader, a nationalist and my mentor". The Leader of Government Business, who had attended a state burial service held for the renowned politician at the forecourt of the state house, told fellow legislators that "he was five years my senior in school and very well my mentor in Kumasi; he and a few others were models for us as youngsters".

In a statement christened "birth and death", he said the late Mr. Owusu could have stuck to his legal profession and made a fortune but rather chose to defend the freedoms and dignity of the ordinary Ghanaian.

"Victor Owusu was the most brilliant advocate of the legal profession in his time and he combined that with nationalism.

"He believed in the philosophy that we too must be free. He fought a great battle; he fought to the end.

"Death has been programmed into the human gene and at the appropriate time, the human machine is programmed to shut down. Yesterday, we celebrated the birth of our nation; today, we commemorate the death of Victor Owusu."

Mr. Kofi Attor, NDC-Ho Central, called Mr. Owusu "a brilliant lawyer who put himself at the disposal of his people".

"I went to the funeral, yes! I like attending the funerals of nationalists and what I learnt was what the preacher said 'death is not for those who have died but for the living'."

Nana Akufo-Addo, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, said the state burial given to Mr. Owusu was a "fitting honour to one of the outstanding patriarchs of Ghana".

He said he used charisma and his unshakeable commitment to the values of liberal democracy to defend the weak.

"He was a victim of the Preventive Detention Act and other detentions.. but he braved them to defend liberty. It weakened him and made him physically a pale shadow of himself in his last days."

Nana Addo said Mr Owusu "sacrificed and we must all sacrifice for the nation; this has been the life of one of those who were pioneers of the journey that has brought us this far".

Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Deputy Majority Leader, advised that "as we pay tribute to the one being described by all as a nationalist, we should remember to emphasis on ideas and deeds that bind us a people that those that divide us".

"When we are in disagreement with even our leaders, we should in justice to our conscience make that known and stand by it."

Mr Owusu's political life spans the entire political history of Ghana. He was a Foreign Minister and later Attorney General in Dr. Busia's second republic. In 1979, he led the defunct Popular Front Party (PFP) to the polls which was won by the late Dr Hilla Limann. Mr Owusu was 77