Akufo-Addo Must Honour Amissah-Arthur – MP

Member of Parliament (MP) for Adaklu, Kwame Agbodza, has expressed his concern for what he believes as the President’s refusal to honour the memory of the late Vice-President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur by not declaring a state of national mourning and ordering flags to fly at half-mast, several days after his death.

Speaking in an interview on Class 91.3FM, he said, “The President’s unprecedented decision not to declare a state of mourning for the demise of our Vice-President is quite curious. He was in a rush to publish on his Facebook [wall] his condolences, so, I’m wondering what prevented him from doing the honourable thing by declaring a state of mourning?”

The MP believes the President’s image will be dented due to his failure to abide by the customs of the Ghanaian politics.

For him, a state of national mourning has nothing to do with a holiday and such a period can be used to reflect on ways to improve Ghana’s health delivery system, since the former Vice-President was failed by Ghana’s health system.

“People have had heart attacks and other things and they have survived simply because the support system is there… Even if he was put in a limousine, it is of no use because an ambulance has got some first aid and paramedics who can administer a certain level of resuscitation before you get to the health facility. The system failed him and if it failed him, it can fail you and me and a vast majority of other people,” he stressed.

Mr Agbodza entreated officialdom to prioritise health delivery and ensure that the country is able to deliver the best services to avoid preventable deaths.

Mr Amissah-Arthur collapsed at the Airforce Gym during a morning workout session and was rushed to the 37 Military Hospital where he was pronounced dead on Friday, 29 June 2018.