General News of Friday, 9 June 2017

Source: GNA

Former Presidents mourn Major Mahama

Former President John Mahama  pays his last respect to Major Mahama Former President John Mahama pays his last respect to Major Mahama

Former Presidents John Dramani Mahama and John Agyekum Kufuor, were among the great number of Ghanaians who participated in the State Memorial Service to pay their last respects to Major Maxwell Adam Mahama.

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, Archbishop Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Accra Diocese of the Catholic Church, Professor Mike Oquaye, Speaker of Parliament, Ministers of State and Parliamentarians, were among the high-profile personalities, who turned up at the State House, in Accra.

Clad in the traditional mourning colours of Black, Brown and Red, the mood and the disposition of mourners demonstrated a nation united in grief.

Thousands of tributes from all parts of the nation and beyond have poured in since Major Mahama’s murder to hail him as a "Fallen Hero”; “The Stephen of Our Times”; “The Sacrificial Lamb to awaken the nation’s conscience to end mob justice”; “A True Gentleman and Selfless Leader"; “A beautiful soul”; and many more.

Major Maxwell Adam Mahama was born on 1st November, 1985.
He was commissioned into the Ghana Armed Forces, Infantry Corps as a Second Lieutenant on 7th September 2007.

The deceased was posted to the Fifth Infantry Battalion as a Platoon Commander on first commission.

He hailed from Tumu, in the Upper West Region.

He was the first child of the three children of his parents.

He was a Captain before his death; but was promoted posthumously by the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo with effect from Monday, 29 May, 2017.



The late Major Maxwell Adam Mahama was lynched by a mob at Denkyira-Obuasi, in the Upper Denkyira in the Central Region, on May 29, when he was allegedly mistaken for an armed robber, while jogging.

Before then, he was at post at the Military Detachment Base at Diaso, as the Commander, on relieving duties for an officer, who was due for writing his promotional examination.

The incident stunned the nation, provoking some calls for vengeance in instant justice against his killers; but many have asserted that his killing must end the impunity of lynching as instant justice, to serve as a memorial to him.

So far 34 persons have been arrested, from various parts of the country, to face prosecution.