Leading member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Lord Hamah has penned a heartfelt tribute to Dr Edward Omane Boamah and Dr Alhaji Murtala Mohammed following their demise in a tragic helicopter crash on Wednesday, August 6, 2025.

Tributes have poured in from far and near for Dr Omane Boamah, who served as Defence Minister, and Dr. Murtala Mohammed, who was the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, after they died alongside six others in last week’s helicopter crash.

Lord Hamah, who is the brother of former Deputy Communications Minister Victoria Hamah, described the two NDC stalwarts as statesmen who will forever be remembered.

'When comrades become statesmen' - Victoria Hamah’s pays emotional tribute to Omane Boamah, Murtala

Read Lord Hamah’s full tribute below:

Wednesday, the 6th of August, has registered itself in the archives of history as one of the most mournful days in the political annals of the Fourth Republic. Dr. Edward Omane Boamah and Dr. Alhaji Murtala Mohammed, together with six other persons, perished in a helicopter crash.

That day can only be rivalled by the untimely demise of President John Evans Atta Mills, who was seeking a second mandate to realise his Better Ghana vision, building upon the foundation blocks he had laid for the accelerated development and progress of the nation.

President John Mahama could not hold back his tears in public. Omane and Murtala, as they were affectionately called, were attending an occasion related to the struggle against the galamsey menace and its attendant destruction of the country’s ecology, an important component of the RESET Ghana Agenda. This initiative placed a herculean task on the Ministry of Environment and required a readjustment of the core aims of the Ghana Armed Forces to root out illegal mining, which poses an existential threat to the nation. The rest of the story is known to all.

These two men, who in the spring of their years had already attained the status of admirable statesmen, will forever be remembered as the leaders Ghana never had.

To the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Ghana, we have lost two standard-bearers of the principles of probity and accountability, social justice, and economic democracy.

Watch preparations in full swing for state funeral of helicopter crash victims

However, to me and my comrades in the progressive tradition of politics, we have lost revered companions, unifiers, and inspirers.

The duo collaborated with us in the student struggles of the first decade of this century. In 2003, Omane Boamah, who, on record, led several student demonstrations to hold the government accountable for diverting taxes meant for education to frivolous “elephant” projects, as he termed them, documented his activism in his published book: GETFUND: The Account of a NUGS President.

Dr Omane Boamah famously declared at a student rally that half of the arrears the government owed the GETFUND was enough to solve the residential accommodation crisis in all tertiary institutions in the country. His action had significant ramifications. It partly inspired the Friday, September 19 student uprising, which led to the alleged vandalisation of the Vice-Chancellor’s lodge, and the subsequent dismissal of D.M. Ofori-Atta, Godwin Akufo-Antwi, Christian Degbey, and myself.

The High Court sitting in Accra declared the dismissal null and void, and we were reinstated.

Before other literary works such as The Pentagon Robbery, which was co-authored by D.M. Ofori-Atta and me, against the privatisation and commercialisation of residential facilities, there was a growing resistance.

In 2006, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa was inspired by the spirit of that historic publication to write The State of Coma in 2016, a lamentation of the deplorable state of Ghana’s premier university and a critique of official high-handedness against student protest leaders. He particularly emphasised the dismissal of the four students and eulogised the 2004 unprecedented legal collapse of the Legon Ivory Tower.

This earned him his removal as a member of the Disciplinary Committee for Junior Members and his residency in Commonwealth Hall. In a twist of fate, in the same year, he was elected President of NUGS, with the endearing efforts and assistance of Omane Boamah and Murtala, whose contributions need no further mention.

I never imagined mourning my successor - Former Minister of Defence

In 2007, thousands of students staged a protest at the seat of government in Osu, along with other diverse and unorthodox acts of resistance, leading to the arrest and detention of several student leaders.

Comrade Murtala was an ardent Nkrumahist. He will be remembered for his fiery, invigorating speeches at the weekly Friday evening Vandal Forum, which hosted dozens of notable public personalities and attracted students from across the Legon campus and the then Institute of Professional Studies (IPS).

He succeeded in connecting the programme with Sammy Ablordepey and the management of Radio Gold. He unified almost all student leaders and centres of organisation, leading to a remarkable outcome in the fiercely contested 2008 electoral revolt that ousted the governing NPP. This was achieved together with John Jinapor, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, Omane Boamah, Victoria Hamah, Peter Boamah Otokunor, Felix Ofosu Kwakye, comrades from KNUST, and myself.

Murtala can also be remembered for his contribution to the Palestinian Solidarity Committee, which had President John Mahama, then Minority Spokesperson on Communications in Parliament, as a leading light.
Both Dr. Omane Boamah and Comrade

Murtala Mohammed, hailing from Legon Hall, were accorded the rare honour of being named Associate Vandals by the then Chief Vandal, Eric Oppong-Yeboah.

My experience with them during the embryonic stages of the Social Forum of Ghana (SFG) remains a great treasure.

Comrade Murtala and Comrade Omane Boamah will forever be remembered as patriots of the radical tradition of freedom.

We are consoled by the saying of the sages of India: “It is only in the darkest night that we see the shining of the stars.”

Wishing them glory and eternity.

Fare thee well, comrades!



GA

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