Former Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama
Former Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama has passed away, aged 66.
Alhaji Mahama died yesterday at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) where he had been on admission for some time after suffering from a heart-related condition.
He breathed his last at about 9:45am, having been on life support since his condition worsened.
Alhaji Mahama was Vice-President of Ghana from January 7, 2001 to January 7, 2009 following the assumption of power by the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He had been active in the NPP campaign, giving support to the party’s running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Confusion Over His Burial Place
As at press time yesterday, there was confusion over the final resting place for the former Vice President, the first Muslim to hold that position.
A section of the family had agreed that his remains would be interred at the Asomdwe Park in Accra, where nine drugs have been dug, on Sunday, while others held the opinion that he should be buried in his home town of Yendi in the Northern Region.
Chief of Staff Henry Newman had earlier indicated he would be buried in the Military Cemetery at Osu.
His 95-year-old mother, Hajia Mariama Mahama, is said to be wailing and calling for her son’s body to be brought to Yendi.
As at press time, the family was insisting on having the remains in Yendi for burial and not at Asomdwe Park where former President John Evans Atta Mills was interred in August.
False announcements about his death were earlier made by some news channels in Accra, stories which were later rebutted by the Chief Executive Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Prof Nii Otu Nartey, on Wednesday, November 14, 2012.
Admission
When DAILY GUIDE visited the Cardiothoracic Centre at KBTH where Alhaji Mahama had been on admission for over a week until his death, scores of family members and members of the public had converged on every available space, a situation which stretched the hospital’s security detail and the police officers deployed to the location.
Some were seen wailing as family members moved from one location to the other before finally resorting to a meeting to decide what to do next.
The late former Vice President had been rushed to Korle Bu from the Trust Hospital, Osu, where he had been taken to when his health condition relapsed.
State Intervention
Speaking to the media at the hospital yesterday, Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Communications, said President John Dramani Mahama had declared a national state of mourning in honour of the late former Vice President, with flags flying at half mast.
“The state will subsequently take full responsibility of his burial procedures in accordance with Muslim religious norms,” he said.
The Minister emphasised that a date would later be determined for the final funeral rites.
Mr Iddrisu said the body of the late Vice President would be conveyed to the State House but he would not be laid in state, adding that there would be no filing past. The National Chief Imam will lead the prayers at 1:30pm at the forecourt of the State House before the burial.
Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, National Chairman of the NPP, in an interview with DAILY GUIDE, said the death of the former Vice President had really affected the party.
“His death will definitely affect the campaign of the party as Nana Akufo-Addo, the flagbearer of NPP, has called off his campaign. But this would inspire the party to dedicate ourselves to the upcoming victory in his memory.”
The late Vice President’s residence off the Switchback Road at Cantonments in Accra was filled to capacity with mourners and sympathizers, with extra policemen deployed to direct traffic as a result of the increased vehicular and pedestrian movement in the vicinity of the house.
President Mahama and other presidential candidates suspended their campaigns to mourn with the family.
His remains are meanwhile being kept at the 37 Military Hospital’s morgue until his burial tomorrow.
Profile
The late Aliu Mahama, a civil engineer, was born at Yendi in March 1946. After elementary education at Yendi, he enrolled at the Government Secondary School, now Tamale Secondary School.
He then entered the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and graduated after four years with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He secured employment with the State Construction Corporation (SCC) as a civil engineer and worked at various stations including Koforidua, Bolgatanga and Accra, finally returning to Tamale as the regional head.
Alhaji Aliu resigned from the Corporation in 1992 to form the Lidra Construction Company Limited based in Tamale and had since been a key figure in the construction industry.
He became the Chairman of the Northern Regional Contractors Association in 1996 until the December 2000 elections.
Alhaji Aliu Mahama is also an alumnus of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
He was the Chairman of the Economic Development Committee of the Tamale-Louisville Sister State Committee.
He had been a board member of several schools in the Northern Region including the Tamale Polytechnic. In his leisure time, he loved reading, football and badminton.
He is a founding member of the Real Tamale United Football Club.
He is a founding member of the Real Tamale United Football Club.
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