Mills' Funeral Update: Day 2

Thousands of Ghanaians continue to converge at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Accra to view the body of the late President John Evans Atta Mills, on day two of the of a three-day State funeral.
    
The viewing has been orderly, as security operatives make mourners undergo checks, with meandering queues that stretch towards the military cemetery near the State House.
    
The State House was bedeck with activities on Wednesday night during the vigil for the first day of the funeral ceremony. Several groups of musical and cultural performances galvanised the teeming crowds with dirges, choral, poems and other performances in anticipation of the vigil that starts from 1900 hours.


There is still heavy security presence in the area that has become a sea of black and red colours in  symbolic mourning of the 68-year-old Ghanaian leader, who passed away three days after celebrating his 68th birthday on July 24, at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, while receiving medical treatment.
    
Several high profile Ghanaians including the successor of the late President Mills, President John Dramani Mahama, and his Vice Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, and immediate past First Lady Dr. Naadu Mills and son of the late President, Mr Kofi Sam Atta Mills paid their respect to the late president.

The leadership of the NDC, the NPP and the CPP, as well as former Presidents John Agyekum Kufour and Jerry John Rawlings and wife Nana Konadu, and the their flag-bearers paid their last respects.
   
Mr Ambrose Dery, Deputy Minority Leader, after viewing the body, reflected soberly on the death of the late President Mills and added that it was a reminder of how fleeting life man is.

The head of the Consumer Protection Agency, Kofi Kapito struggled to maintain his composure as he fought back tears after filing past the remains of the renowned professor of law.

Felix Ofosu Kwakye, a leading member of the NDC’s communication team told XYZ News that the death of President Mills will always stay with those who knew what a remarkable man he was.

Nana Ato Dadzie, spokesperson of the Funeral Planning Committee told XYZ News in an interview that despite all the hiccups at the beginning of the ceremony, everything panned out well and that the patience and tolerance that Ghanaians displayed on Wednesday depicts the true nature of the man whose life country celebrates.
 

Source: RadioXYZonline.com