Kennedy Agyapong's account of how Kyeremanteng Agyarko died

Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Mr. Kennedy Agyapong has recounted his interactions with late Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko before he died a week ago.

The Assin Central lawmaker disclosed how unhappy he was when he saw the dead legislator resting in a couch when he visited him at home after he was discharged from the Ridge Hospital.

Kennedy Agyapong says he advised the late Kyeremanteng Agyarko to seek medical attention outside the country.

“I told him that master if it’s money, it’s not a problem. You’re not poor, you better take your health seriously. I gave him examples of my experience at Korle Bu and 37 and everything but, he has very good friends who are medical doctors here so he was sure, so we left it,” Mr. Agyapong said in an interview with Ghanaweb on the sidelines of the one week memorial service of the dead MP.

He further narrates how he together with some other colleagues were against the deceased’s initial decision to do his surgery here in Ghana.

“I heard he was going to do the surgery on Saturday but we said no, we will not agree. We thought Boakye was the problem so we were going to do aluta. He is our senior brother so whatever we say he brushes it off. He said he was leaving it to Kwabena because he is in the medical field but when he saw the last results, he convinced himself that he will go abroad. We thought this was something that he will go and come back so I was there in US monitoring the thing,” Mr. Agyapong recounts.

Ken Agyapong also recalled how he got the news of Kyeremateng Agyarko’s demise on Wednesday morning.

‘’I was on the high way somewhere when they called me around 4 O’clock and one of our boys was crying but I had cushioned myself because on Monday when Eva (Agyarko’s wife) left the place, I said look, you are hiding something from me. Why don’t you want to tell me what is going on? When she went back to Connecticut, she texted back and said Honorable, honestly I have to tell you the truth, every day is a miracle, then I panicked,” he narrated.

He said he panicked because he received a text message from the late MP earlier, requesting a favour from him adding that, “On the 13th of November he gave me directives to do something. He sent it on the 11th I didn’t see it so 13th I responded and till date he never responded.”

He expressed shock over how Ghanaians even got the news about the death of the late Kyeremanteng Agyarko earlier before he did.

“On Wednesday morning I got a call from Karbo. He in Ghana rather heard the news, so I didn’t believe it, because I had spoken to his wife on Tuesday too. He (Karbo) said OK, if you don’t believe me let me read the text message from the wife, so he read the message to me then I quickly texted the woman again and she said it’s true.



Hospitalization in the US

Boakye Agyarko disclosed that his late brother has been battling with the disease for the past three months and had to be flown outside the country due to his deteriorating health condition.

He recounted how medical officers at Yale University tried to treat his condition to no avail.

“On Sunday, he boarded a flight to the US. He began processes for admission at the Yale University Hospital, where our older sister works. One thing led to the other and quickly the situation began to unravel. Within a space of three months, a healthy body has been reduced to a cold body.

“The health personnel tried whatever they could. Ghanaian doctors who realized an MP from their country has been admitted owed it a responsibility to salvage the situation. At a point, there was no way his life would be sustained. Knowing how he loved and enjoyed life, we knew very well that it would not have been his wish to be on life support,” he noted.

A one-week memorial service held yesterday in honour of Kyeremateng Agyarko was attended by President Akufo-Addo, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, Mustapha Hamid, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Seth Terkper, Zanetor Agyemang-Rawlings, among other dignitaries.

The ceremony was solemn as most sympathisers seem to be in deep thought trying to fathom how a “cheerful” man like Agyarko could die.