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The Anlo Traditional Council has said it will hold a separate funeral rite for former President Jerry John Rawlings, even though the former statesman’s remains are not in their possession.
According to the secretary of the Council’s funeral planning committee, Agbotadua Kumasah, the absence of Mr Rawlings’ body will not prevent them from saying goodbye to his former leader.
It comes after the Council and the Agbotui and allied families insisted that the remains of former President Rawlings be buried in Anlo state, in stark contrast to the government’s announcement.
Instead, Mr. Rawlings received a state funeral at Black Star Square prior to his interment in the Military Cemetery.
“Until his burial today (Wednesday) we expected his body to be released to us, so now that they are going to bury him in Accra, we, Anlos, will organize our own traditional burial for him,” he said.
Although they find it scary to organize a funeral without the remains of their “beloved son”, Agbotadua Kumasah took comfort in the fact that Anlo State had performed the funeral rites of some of its leaders without their mortal remains.
“Some leaders were captured during the war. We have had leaders who drowned and the bodies were not found. We had leaders who were reduced to ashes and leaders who were lost that we didn’t know if they were alive or not.
“But there are procedures for burying these people, so with or without the body, we have our own way of arranging funerals for these people,” he said.
The Traditional Council of Anlo had so far resisted the role of the state in performing the funeral rites of the late former president (who also happened to be the leader of Anlo) since his death on Thursday, November 12, 2020.
The Council argued that the arrangements were inconsistent with the customs and traditions of the Anlo people.
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