Archbishop Palmer-Buckle condemns extravagant funerals

Accra, May 3, GNA - Archbishop Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle, Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, on Thursday expressed concern about the development of extravagant and expensive funerals. He said: "Funerals have become extremely extravagant and many have decried the development. It is insensitive to the plight of the bereaved families."

Archbishop Palmer-Buckle was officiating at the funeral service of Madam Rebecca Hawa Yakubu, First Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, who died in London, UK, in March after a terminal illness. The funeral held at the forecourt of the State House brought together over hundreds of people from all walks of life including President John Agyekum Kufuor and the First Lady Theresa, Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama and his wife, Members of the Council of State and Ministers.

Also represented at the funeral were delegations from Liberia, representatives from Nigeria and a special representation from the Rivers State, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chamabas, Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States, a group from the United Kingdom led by Rev. Kwaku Frimpong Manso of the Reconciliation Church, Dr Edward Mahama of the People's National Convention, Mrs Fulera Limann, wife of the late former President Dr. Hilla Limann, friends and sympathizers.

Others included Dr Obed Asamoah, a leading member of the Democratic Freedom Party and Mr Freddy Blay, First Deputy Speaker. Archbishop Palmer-Buckle noted that people had to borrow money for the funerals of their beloved and thereafter spent years paying debts. "These are against traditional norms, religious norms and especially against Christian principles. The days when we visited the bereaved families with food and drinks to help serve guests are gone. These days people go to funerals to eat a lot and drink and get drunk."

He said Madam Yakubu, a Catholic by faith, was dedicated, especially to the cause of women and children. Her death did not mean an end to life but her life had only changed, he said. Two of the sympathizers painted their bodies, one in NPP colours of blue, white and red and the other with the name Hawa Yakubu written at his back.

Some people sold NPP paraphernalia and a man who wore a dress made in NPP colours held an NPP flag near the white casket until the funeral was over.

President Kufuor and Vice President Aliu Mahama accompanied by some Ministers filed past the body which was in the casket covered with a white garment and a Holy Bible and a crucifix bearing the symbol of Christ placed on it.

This, the priest explained, was a symbol of a Christian burial for Madam Rebecca Hawa Yakubu.

During the time of offering, a group of women danced toward the casket and started wailing and crying. It took the intervention of the officiating Ministers to calm them and persuade them to take their seats for the service to continue.

Archbishop Palmer-Buckle announced that the offering would be used as seed money to build a memorial in the memory of the late Hawa Yakubu. Madam Yakubu, a native of Pusiga in the Upper East Region, was born in Tarkwa in the Western Region on March 24, 1948 to Mr Yakubu Awinaba and Hajia Azore.

She attended the Zebilla Middle School, Navrongo Secondary School and Accra Polytechnic where she obtained a certificate in Institutional Management.

She recently obtained a Master's Degree in Leadership and Governance from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in Accra.

Madam Yakubu's political career started in 1979 when she was elected into the Local Council, which in turn elected her to the Constituent Assembly that wrote the 1979 Third Republic Constitution. Although her mother was an activist of the Convention People's Party (CPP), she joined the late William Ofori-Atta when he formed the United National Convention (UNC) for the 1979 election won by Dr Hilla Limann of the pro-Nkrumah People's National Party (PNP). She fled to London when the Provisional National Defence Council came to power on December 1981 and lived in the United Kingdom and Nigeria before returning home in 1991.

Madam Yakubu contested the 1992 parliamentary election as an independent candidate in Bawku Central, which she won. She lost the seat in controversial circumstances and after conceding defeat, left for Cotonou, Benin, where she worked as Executive Director of the GERDDES, an NGO that observes elections. She returned in 2000 to win back the seat but lost it again in 2004.

Madam Yakubu is survived by three children Derek, Amanda and Dieudonne.

The final funeral rites would be held on Friday May 4 at Pusiga. She would be buried on Saturday May 5.