“Rawlings is still in the morgue”

Mr Rolex Honesty Agbey Miheso, Anlo Constituency Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, has indicated that to the Party, its founder, the late Mr Jerry John Rawlings, “is still in the morgue.

He said similarly, the chiefs and people of Anlo and the Volta Region shared the same view that the former President and chief in Anlo, though buried by the state, was yet to be sent to his ancestors according to Anlo customs.

Mr Miheso who was speaking during a commemoration vigil in honour of the passing of Mr Rawlings at a location being designated as JJ Rawlings Park at Keta on Thursday, indicated that per their customs, Rawlings would be reburied.

“Whether buried or not, what we know is that he is yet to be buried. Mr Rawlings installed Togbi Nutifafafiaga I in Anlo which means we must follow Anlo customs by burying his body in his ancestral home. To us, the people in Anlo and the region, Mr Rawlings’s body is still in the morgue to be collected for burial.

What we’re doing here this evening is not wake keeping, because the body is still in the morgue. We’re remembering the passing of a man who did a lot for us. Because of him, our people have access to good drinking water, electricity, and good roads.

Even the sea defence project which has currently stalled, the late Mr Rawlings started the processes.”

There had been some controversies surrounding the burial of the first President of the fourth Republic who passed on around 1000 hours on Thursday, November 12, 2020 at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in the Greater Accra Region, following a short illness.

They included issues about the burial date and place of the indigene with the Anlo Traditional Council receiving petitions from citizens of the area for the body to be brought home for burial.

The Agbotui, Tamakloe and Allied families (families of Mr Rawlings) also came in and called on the Presidency to make changes to the initial burial date and place of their kinsman to become January 29 and 30 and in Anloland respectively.

That was not granted because the longest-serving President was buried at the Military Cemetery in Accra on January 27.