President Akufo-Addo (middle), with Vice President Dr. Bawumia and family members in a photograph at the Jubilee House
The family of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has expressed heartfelt gratitude to the government and people of Ghana and President Akufo-Addo in particular, for the love shown them during the burial and funeral of the late Hajia Mariama Bawumia.
This was when the overlord of Mamprugu who doubles as President of the North East Regional House of Chiefs, Nayiri Naa Bohagu Mahami Sheriga, and the family of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia called on the President to express appreciation for his support during the performance of the final funeral rites of the late mother of the Vice President.
In his speech, senior elder of the overlord of Mamprugu traditional area, Mba Tarana John Gumah who led the delegation including the Vice President told President Akufo-Addo that the overlord of Mamprugu and the family of the Vice President were eternally grateful for the honour done them during their time of grief.
President Akufo-Addo equally expressed appreciation for the kind gesture of the overlord of Mamprugu in sending a delegation to him to say thank you as custom demands.
“I am honoured by this visit. I express my appreciation to the Nayiri for taking the trouble to send you to deliver this message to me. I am very grateful. The message is appropriate. My presence at the funeral for me was a duty. The lady was a mother to all of us. She treated me impeccably the few times I got to know her in the later stage of her life,” President Akufo-Addo said.
“Her treatment of me, I can have no complaint at all, so it was important for me to express my appreciation for the way she was to me and to her son with whom I have been working in close quarters in these last five years in Ghana,” the President added.
Hajia Mariama Bawumia (alias Maame) passed away on September 13, after a brief illness in Accra.
A native of Kpasenkpe in the West Mamprusi District, now in the North East Region, Hajia Mariama was one of the first Northern female students to gain admission to the prestigious Wesley Girls’ School in Cape Coast in the Central Region.
On the occasion of her 80th birthday in 2019, Dr. Bawumia described her in a Facebook post as “the pillar of my life.”
“I always thank the Almighty God for giving me such a caring and supportive mother. She has always been there for us. The pillar,” he said in that post.
She was buried the next day after her passing, September 14, 2021, in line with Islamic custom.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu