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Regional News of Friday, 10 August 2012

Source: GNA

Ghanaians bid farewell to the late President Mills

Hundreds of Ghanaians on Friday lined up along selected principal streets of Accra to bid farewell to the late President John Evans Atta Mills as the cortege moved along to the Geese Park for interment.

The mourners who were clad in red and black cloth waved Ghanaian flags and white handkerchiefs as the cortege moved along.

There was much wailing amidst shouts of praises and appellations from the grieving crowd who defied the heat of the scorching sun to catch a final glimpse of the casket draped in the national colours of red, gold and green with a black star in the middle which contained the mortal remains of the late President Mills.

The casket on a gun carriage and escorted by pall bearers and personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces drove from the Independence Square, through the old Parliament House, Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, National Theatre through the African Liberation Circle, State House to the Geese Park.

The crowd followed patiently as history was being written in the annals of the nation that this is the first time a sitting President has died while still serving his term in office.

At the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra, thousands of mourners clad in the red and blacks walked briskly behind the casket with some running after it.

There were security officers lined up along the principal streets saluting the mortal remains of the late President as it passed by with “Okada drivers” displaying some driving skills as they followed it.

People who had lined up along the streets to watch the late President’s last journey back home waved him good bye as the mortal remains passed by with some also busily recording the event onto their phones.**