The Vice President, Professor Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, has recounted cherished moments from the time she worked with some of the victims of the horrific helicopter crash that occurred on August 6, 2025.

Delivering her tribute at the interdenominational state funeral held for the eight (8) fallen heroes on Friday, August 15, 2025, she shared memories from her engagements with them.

Sharing what a remarkable experience she had working with some of the deceased including Minister for Defence, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, and Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, she stressed their input in Ghana’s resetting agenda.

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She emphasised their selflessness, sacrifice, commitment to duty and their abiding belief in the ability of the country to be better for all Ghanaians.

“You are always with us, my colleagues in the business of resetting our country and guiding our steps through the legacies of humanness, loyalty, justice, dedication, determination, trust, and sheer hard work - I wish you peaceful rest, my colleagues,” she said.

Vice President Opoku Agyemang revealed that in her brief interaction with these state officials, they demonstrated determination to succeed, an unwavering focus and resolve to achieve the highest standards in their duties.

“Speaking with you, however briefly, revealed your firm decision to use your opportunities for their intended purpose; serving our country,” she stressed.

Eight persons on the Ghana Air Force Z-9 helicopter lost their lives when it crashed on August 6, 2025, at Adansi Akrofuom in the Ashanti Region.

They were enroute to Obuasi to attend the launch of the Responsible Community and Cooperative Mining Programme.

The individuals who died in the accident were Dr Edward Omane Boamah, Minister of Defence; Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed; former parliamentary candidate, Samuel Aboagye; National Democratic Congress (NDC) Vice Chairman, Samuel Sarpong; and Alhaji Limuna Muniru Mohammed, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator.

The other crew members who died in the accident were; Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manin Twum-Ampadu and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.



Read full tribute below

TRIBUTE BY H.E. NAANA JANE OPOKU-AGYEMANG, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA

My Friends,

I am aware that what we should be doing now is not listening to my tribute. We should all be at our usual activities and throwing up ideas we know may not be accepted by all, but which we bandy about anyway, in the interest of contributing to the national agenda.

We are more or less coming to the realization that such will be the outcomes of meetings where we plan, schedule, execute, evaluate, and ascribe responsibilities whether by volunteering or being volunteered.

Your determination to succeed was high; your focus unwavering; your resolve unambiguous. Speaking with you, however briefly, revealed your firm decision to use your opportunities for their intended purpose: serving our country.

I should be making those unexpected calls to some of you, as I do to others, to find out how things are going and getting the usual responses:

We are trying Our implementation plan is on course We are making progress Our strategies need amendment Not easy ooh We are doing our best.

And Omane, you know that we have an outstanding meeting of the GAF Council. In your capacity as sector Minister, you met with me soon after the council was sworn in, and we pledged to each other to take the assignment very seriously.

We agreed to avoid a tall and cluttered agenda by clearing items expeditiously and following up on the assignments given to members of council or to management. You had a positive reaction to the prospect of working with me; I was even more excited by the prospect of learning from you.

The dead are not beneath the ground, they are in the rustling tree, In the murmuring wood, In the flowing water,
In the still water, In the lonely Yes, one more time to remind ourselves that man place, in the crowd: proposes, God disposes.

I wish you peaceful rest, my colleagues. I thank each of you for your examples of selflessness. sacrifice, commitment to duty and your abiding belief in the ability of our country to be better for all of us.

I pray that we will all be able to gather the strength to say and believe with the hymnist: Through the love of God our Saviour. All is well.

I want to share some lines from one of my favourite poets, the Ivorian Bernard Dadić: Listen more often to things rather than beings. Hear the fire’s voice,
Hear the voice of water. In the wind hear the sobbing of the trees, it is our forefathers breathing.

The dead are not gone forever. They are in the paling shadows, And in the darkening shadows.
The dead are not dead.

The dead are not beneath the earth, they are in the flickering fire,
In the weeping plant, the groaning rock, The wooded place, the home. The dead are not dead.

Listen more often to things rather than beings. Hear the fire’s voice, Hear the voice of water.

In the wind hear the sobbing of the trees. It is the breathing of our forefathers.

You are always with us, my colleagues in the business of resetting our country and of guiding our steps though the legacies of humanness, loyalty, justice, dedication, determination, trust, and sheer hard work.

Thanks for leaving these gifts, and more, with us. Rest in Peace.

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MRA/VPO

Speaker Bagbin's remarks on behalf of Parliament at state funeral for departed heroes