Sunyani mourns late President Mills

From Michael Boateng

People from all walks of life within the Sunyani Municipality defied the cold weather to keep vigil and pay their last respects to the late President Mills, from Thursday night till Friday dawn at the Jubilee Park.
The mourners were kept awake by live band music provided by the 3-Garrison Military band in Sunyani, as well as a cultural troupe from the Sunyani Centre for National Culture (CNC).
Though the attendance on Friday, the day of the final funeral rites, was not as massive as the one-week celebration of the death of Prof. Mills, hundreds of residents across the length and breadth of the Brong Ahafo Region converged at the Jubilee Park to witness and take part in a wreath laying ceremony and a burial service in memory of the late President, H.E. Prof John Evans Atta Mills.
The wreath laying ceremony and burial service in the region was preceded by a procession from the Post Office Square, through some principal streets in Sunyani, amidst brass band music provided by the Ghana National Fire Service, which brought activities in the municipality to a temporary halt.
Mr. Lord Oppong Stephen, Municipal Chief Executive for Berekum, stood in for the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, Kwadwo Nyamekye Marfo, during the regional mourning ceremony in Sunyani.
Mr. Oppong Stephen appealed to Ghanaians to emulate the sense of humility and peace the late President exhibited in his governance before his unexpected demise, for peace to prevail in the country.
He continued that President Mills was a man of peace, humble, dedicated and hardworking, so during his burial, all sorts of acrimony and politics of insults should be buried alongside him for Ghana to remain in peace.
According to him, the sense of unity and nationalism that engulfed the nation upon the death of the late president should be upheld forever in memory of Professor Mills.
Although the body of the late President was not in the region, people demonstrated their sorrow, grief and pain with tears and gestures, amidst dirges played by the cultural troupe from the Centre for National Cultural, while others danced to traditional music provided by the Fanti and Ewe cultural troupes respectively.
Reverend Kwadwo Owusu Sarpong, Chairman of the Brong Ahafo Presbytery and member of the Regional Chapter of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), in a brief exhortation, also urged Ghanaians to sustain the peace and unity the demise of President Mills had brought, and also show respect and love to one another. He also prayed for peace for the country, and for the soul of the late President.

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