Committee On Kofi Annan’s Funeral Needless – Counsellor Fenyi

Maverick educationist and counsellor, Mr Daniel Fenyi, has asserted that the nine-member committee set up by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to organise the funeral rites of the late diplomat, Kofi Annan, is needless and culturally insulting.

President Akufo-Addo after declaring Thursday, September 13 as the date for the state burial of the former UN Secretary-General, went ahead to appoint a nine-member committee that will organise the funeral rite.

These 9 members chaired by Ambassador Annan A. Cato are:

Cecilia Abena Dapaah (Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources)

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah (MP and Minister-designate for Information) Ambassador Mercy Debrah Karikari (Secretary to the Cabinet) Ambassador Ahmed Hassan (Director of State Protocol)

Samuel Kumah (Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Brigadier General Charles Awity (Director General, Personnel Administration of the Ghana Armed Forces)

Ambassador Patrick Hayford ( Retired UN official)

Kojo Annan (Son of the late Mr Kofi Annan)

Nana Mensah (Director of Protocol at the Office of the Vice President)

However, speaking to the media over the weekend, the respected Counsellor recounted that funeral rite is the “preserve of the deceased family” and thus the family has every right to come out with their own burial date and other arrangements.

Mr Daniel Fenyi continued that even though the state has interest in the burial, “hers is to provide national platform for the lying-in-state of the body of the late Kofi Annan, provide a cemetery, and use the nation’s authority to invite and host high profile personalities that will represent different countries and other international civil societies.”

This, to Counselor Daniel, does not need the set up of any committee. He said everything should be put into the hands of Kofi Annan’s family.

According to him, this will be another avenue to spend the country’s resources unnecessarily.