Mahama Car Kills 3

Three persons have been confirmed dead in separate incidents following President John Dramani Mahama’s campaign tour of the Northern Region.

The President’s speeding convoy is said to have run over and killed a pregnant woman, while two motor riders also died while welcoming the President.

The disaster came on the heels of a similar one involving the convoy of Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur at Dunkwa-on-Offin in the Central Region a little over a week ago.

In the first instance, the vehicles in the convoy of the President, last Thursday, run over a woman who was five months pregnant at Bunkpurugu during his visit to the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo district.

The deceased, identified as Lariba Jerimiah, 27, a cleaner working with waste management giant Zoomlion Ghana Limited, was among sympathizers of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) who had converged on the town square to listen to President Mahama, who was on a campaign tour of the area.

It was while returning from the event that she was knocked down by the speeding convoy of the President and rushed to the Baptist Medical Centre (BMC) at Nalerigu in the East Mamprusi District for treatment.

Lariba, a mother of four, was however pronounced dead on arrival at the facility and her body was conveyed back to Bunkpurugu for burial.

As the custom and tradition of the people of the area demanded, the deceased, was expected to be surgically operated on to remove the unborn child before she could be buried; but NDC leadership in the constituency rejected proposals for the body to be taken back to BMC for the caesarean operation.

The objection, DAILY GUIDE gathered, was a deliberate attempt by NDC functionaries in the constituency to cover-up the death, as they feared that could open them up for wild criticism.

Constituency Chairman Yennukwa Campion instead allegedly invited his uncle, who is a herbalist, one Naabika, who opened up the deceased for a fee of GH¢400 before she was buried.

Sources revealed that the removed foetus, which turned out to be a female, was buried alongside the mother, sending family members wailing across the town.

The bereaved family members, who are yet to come to terms with their loss, are demanding justice in the matter, as it constitutes a great loss to them.

As the news of the death of the pregnant woman was being managed, two jubilant motorbike riders also ran into each other, suffering multiple injuries in the process while ushering the President into Buipe in the Yapei-Kusawgu constituency of the Central Gonja District last Saturday.

Abukari Mohammed, 29 and Mohammed Sumaila, 21, after the unfortunate incident, were rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital, but they were pronounced dead on arrival.

Their bodies were deposited at the morgue and released for burial only on Sunday morning after autopsy was conducted on them to determine the actual cause of death.

Police in the region have confirmed both deaths but declined to further comment except to disclose that further investigations will be conducted into the matter.

NDC Party executives are however disagreeing with the circumstances leading to the deaths stating it was a mere coincidence.

According to a Northern Regional Executive who pleaded anonymity, he sympathized with the bereaved families but cautioned them against giving the death of their relations a political twist.

These avoidable deaths, however, come in less than two weeks after the convoy of the Vice President, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, knocked down and killed a 65-year-old woman at Dunkwa-on-Offin.

The body of the woman was deposited at the Dunkwa-on-Offin Government Hospital morgue.

According to eyewitnesses, the incident happened when Mr. Amissah-Arthur was on a campaign tour of the area.

The Vice President and his entourage were from Kumasi to Dunkwa, and on reaching B.O.C stores in the area, the deceased, who was by the roadside, tried to cross to the other side, and one of the cars knocked her down.

It took the intervention of some good Samaritans to rush her to the Dunkwa-on-Offin Government Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.

Government, it is being claimed, has promised to foot all the bills related to the funeral.