Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is attending the funeral of Lepowura Alhaji MND Jawula with some 32 Members of Parliament and the General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Justin Kodua.
The Vice President and his entourage rode in a bus to attend the solemn ceremony.
The MPs were led by the Majority Leader and MP for Suame, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Majority Chief Whip and MP for Nsawam/Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, Kennedy Osei-Nyarko – MP, Akim Swedru, Alex Tetteh – MP, Sefwi Akontombra, Sheila Bartels – MP, Ablekuma North, Farouk Aliu Mahama – MP, Yendi, Habib Iddrisu – MP, Tolon, Hassan Tampuli – MP, Gushegu, Iddi Abdullah – MP, Salaga North and Alex Agyare – MP, Kade.
The others are; Amidu Chinia – MP, Sissala East, Abanga Abdulai – MP, Binduri, Tahidu Abdul Razak – MP, Cheriponi, Dr. Prince Armah – MP, Kwesimintim, Steven Jalulah – MP, Pru West, Oscar – MP, Yunyoo, Hardi Tuferu – MP, Nanton, John Bennam Jabaah – MP Zabzugu, Joseph Cudjoe – MP, Effia, Collins Ntim – MP, Offinso North, Okyere-Agyekum – MP, Fanteakwa South, and Dr. Amin Anta – MP, Karaga.
The rest are; Mustapha Ussif – MP, Yagaba Kubori, Kofi Marfo – MP, Achiase, Akwasi Konadu – MP, Manhyia North, Naana Eyiah – MP, Gomoa Central, Freda Prempeh – MP, Tano North, Elvis Morris Donkor – MP, Abura/Asebu/Kwamankesse, Philip Basoa – MP, Kumawu, Tina Mensah – MP, Weija Gbawe, Paul Twum-Barimah – MP, Dormaa East, Dominic Nitiwul, MP, Bimbilla and Mohammed Asei Seini – MP, Daboya among other top big guys of the party.
The 74-year-old former football administrator LepowÂura Alhaji Nuru-Deen Jawula died in Nashville, United States of America – after a bout of illness – and was laid to rest the next day in line with Islamic traditions.
Burial prayers were said in his memory in the family house at Accra Newtown, simultaneÂously with the committal ceremony in Nashville.
The Ghana Football AssociÂation (GFA), Ministry of Youth and Sports, National Sports AuÂthority (NSA), and many football associations across the continent, expressed their pain at the loss, lauding the Lepowura for his unalloyed service to football.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in his condolence message described the deceased as a good and kind man who devoted much of his life to sports development and public service.
The charismatic Lepowura Jawula is regarded as one of the finest football administrators, having chaired the Black Starlets team that won gold at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Ecuador ‘95.
His reign as GFA boss saw the rise of cadet football in GhaÂna – leading to the Starlets also finishing second and third at the Egypt ‘97 and New Zealand ‘99 World Cup tournaments respectively.
It was during his leadership, too, that Ghana’s Under-20 side (Black Satellites), placed second at the FIFA Under-20 World Youth tournament – a trophy
Ghana would win eight years later to become the first and only AfriÂcan country to do so.
He has held numerous high-proÂfile positions in the corridors of football.
However, until his untimely demise, Lepowura Jawula was the chairman of the Ghana Premier League (GPL) Organising Committee, a member of the CAF Inter-Club Committee, and a board member of the RTU – a club whose return to elite football in 2021 he spearheaded – after eight years in the doldrums.
Alhaji Jawula, who was a former Chief Director of the MinisÂtry of Finance, Ministry of Railways, Ports, and Harbours as well as the Ministry of Health, was the present Lepowura of the Kujolobito Gate of Lepo-Kpembe in the Kpembi TradiÂtional Area in Gonjaland, Northern Region.
He also served as the Vice ChairÂman of the Ghana 2008 Nations Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC).
Born in 1949 by Kpembiwura Jawula Ababio, a former CPP party chairman and the only child of his mother, Lepowura Jawula attended the University of Cape Coast where he read English and Economics for his first degree before graduating with a Master’s degree from the UniÂversity of Ghana, Legon, in African Literature and Social Policy.
-BY Daniel Bampoe