President thrills crowds at "Poku Transport" funeral

..he donates 5mil cedis...

PRESIDENT JOHN Agyekum Kufuor last Saturday thrilled thousands of mourners who gathered at the Kumasi Sports Stadium to perform the final funeral rites for the late Francis Kojo Poku, popularly known as Poku Transport, a renowned businessman and transport operator.

Immediately after his arrival at the funeral grounds, which could be best described as a durbar, President Kufuor went round each of the canopies mounted to greet almost every individual as custom demanded.

As he went round to greet, he made a stop-over at each of the ten traditional music stands (Ndwon Kro) mounted by various groups from most of the suburbs of Kumasi and did a cultural dance, ?Kete? to the admiration of all.

When news got to town that President Kufuor was dancing ?Kete?, many people trooped to the stadium to catch a glimpse of his majestic steps.

The security team had a hectic time in controlling the crowd, who also gyrated their bodies to the beat to show solidarity to the President of the Republic of Ghana.

It was a spectacular scene which one needed to see for themselves. Typical of Ashanti, the funeral of Kojo Poku was celebrated instead of the usual mourning. The atmosphere at the stadium grounds was charged with red and black-coloured wax prints, about 90 per cent of which are manufactured by local textile companies.

President Kufuor was accompanied by a high-profiled delegation of almost all Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs). They included Nana Akuffo-Addo, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman and Major (rtd.) Courage Quashigah.

Others were Mr. Edward Osei-Kwaku, Ms. Elizabeth Ohene and Hon. S.K. Boafo.

President Kufuor made a personal donation of ?5 million and assorted drinks to the children, widow and family of the late Kojo Poku.

The late Kojo Poku was 83, and he hailed from Heman in the Kwabre district of Ashanti and he was a transport owner and furniture manufacturer. He also traded in petroleum products and exported manufactured goods from his sawmill factory.