Our president was him. However, we agreed to name the cemetery where he was buried "Asomdwee (Peace) Park" because we came to associate him with peace throughout his entire life.
Ten years later, his anniversary has developed into a graphic representation of the conflict in our body politics. Since his death, nothing has changed.
I am convinced that this nation missed the ideal opportunity to draft legislation on the burial grounds of our deceased vice presidents and heads of state that was supported by both parties.
Top-Rated: Asomdwe Park, a memorial park in Accra, Ghana Online Prior to the renovations, the Asomdwe Park's original design Credit: Graphic Online For a very long time, nothing had brought the country closer together than something. The Black Stars and Ghana@50 celebrations might have been the two things that brought us all together. However, the loss of President John Evans Atta Mills brought us all to our knees in sorrow. I recall President Akufo-Addo telling stories about his friendship with Mills and a teammate. Previous Senior Clergyman Yaw Osafo Marfo honored their days at Achimota. We were all united after the passing of a great person.
Even though we had the Military Cemetary in Osu, Ghana spent money and built an automated burial ground for Mills. For those who had not yet passed away, eight more graves (tombs) were dug. In 2012, it was made public that the location would be used as a burial ground for presidents and vice presidents.
President commissions redeveloped Asomdwe Park
The new look of the Asomdwe Park
Starting around 2012, no other head of state or VP has been covered there. President Jerry John Rawlings and VP Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur kicked the bucket.
At Burma Camp, a brand-new military cemetery has since been built. The one in Osu, according to us, is full. Ex-presidents, vice-presidents, and extremely significant national heroes are buried in special locations in these military cemeteries.
Since we had already prepared their burial locations at Asomdwee Park, many people assumed that Mr. Rawlings and Mr. Amissah-Arthur would be buried there. They weren't, though. We prepared a new location for the new military cemetery at the expense of taxpayers.
The Asomdwee park had "been there" all along. essentially forgotten and left to the whims of the weather until Mr. Koku Anyidoho told me about it four to three years ago while preparing for the late Mills' 10th anniversary. After the state spent money on it, it now looks beautiful.
It is true that only two presidents, William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy, are buried at Arlington National Cemetery in some nations, including the United States. As we probably are aware in the US, public graveyards are administered by regulation (Arlington Public Burial ground Entombment Qualification Act). The US code also has rules about how leaders should be buried.
However, the laws of the United States of America permit presidents to choose where they want to be buried with their families, and records indicate that the majority of them have chosen to be buried in their home states. This explains why there is no single location in the United States where former leaders can be buried.
New Military Cemetery Opened - Prime News Ghana Ghana Needs a Law on the Burial of Former Heads of State Back in Ghana, there are no such laws, but precedent and customary law state that the body belongs to the family of the deceased—see Neequaye & Another v. Okoe [1993-94] 1 GLR 538 and In Re Larbi (decd.); Larbi and a Different Person V. Larbi (1977)
Even our Anatomy Act, 965 (Act 280), prohibits dealing with the body unless authorized by the surviving spouse or, in the absence of a surviving spouse, any known relative of the deceased.
Segment 17 of the Military Guidelines, 1970 (CI 12) doesn't likewise systematize the internment place for late heads of state and VPs. Therefore, at a time when Ghanaians were united in their grief, we could have passed legislation if the goal was to establish a single burial ground for departing presidents and vice presidents. We could emphasize the significance of the leadership family's contribution in our legislation.
Who should be in charge of the cemetery and its renovation will also be determined by the law. Is it the Ministry of National Security, the National Museum of Ghana, the State Protocol Department, or an expansion of the President's Office with a secretariat to manage it?
Each of these could have been more fully developed. It would have been pointless to cause confusion, shouting, and fighting over the renovation of Asomdwee Park. Alternately, it wouldn't have hurt if the presidency had told Koku Anyidoho to work this out with the Mills family before the renovations started. After all, the family owns the body, and they will be concerned about the burial location.
We are back at zero in the absence of this, where the state is and has spent sacred resources on two cemeteries, Atta Mills at the Asomdwee park being the only one. It might be best for him to rest alone because he was peaceful, but peace should not be snatched away from conflict.