Akuffo-Addo pays last respect to late Ivorian Prime Minister

President Nana Akuffo-Addo, on Wednesday, March 17, 2021, was at the Presidential Palace in Abidjan to pay tribute to the late Ivorian Prime Minister, Hamed Bakayoko, who died on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, in Freiburg, Germany, following a terminal liver cancer.

The ceremony was attended by several other African heads of state and government, including Burkinabe Roch K. Marc KABORE, Togolese Faure Gnassingbé and Equatorial Guinea's Vice President Teodorin Obiang.

The Head of State Nana Akuffo-Addo arrived at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny International Airport in Abidjan on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, and was welcomed off the plane by Ivorian Acting Prime Minister Patrick Achi who led him and his delegation to the VIP lounge.

On Wednesday, March 17, 2021, the Ghanaian delegation led by the first of the Ghanaians took part in the ceremony of homage of the Ivorian Nation to the illustrious departed on the esplanade of the Palace of the Ivorian Presidency in the business and administration commune par excellence of Abidjan, the Plateau, in the presence of a host of personalities.

The popular Ivorian Prime Minister, Hamed Bakayoko succumbed to terminal liver cancer on March 10 in Germany. Since the arrival of his body in Abidjan on Saturday, March 13, tributes from the various bodies of the country and the condolence ceremony have been held at his home in the upscale Cocody-Riviera.

An artistic vigil scheduled to start at 7pm local time and last all night will be held at the Ebimpé Olympic Stadium. Dozens of Ivorian and foreign artists will come to honour their godfather and Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko, recognized by all for his generosity towards artists from Côte d'Ivoire and elsewhere. Among them are expected Koffi Olomidé (DRC), Magic System (CI), Sidiki Diabaté (Mali), Alpha Blondy (CI), Maître Gims (Diaspora), Fally Ipupa (DRC) or Serge Beynaud (CI).

The country has lost two heads of government in eight months and has been in national mourning for eight days.