I am sure Busumuru Kofi Annan smiled all the way to his final resting place.
Three days — three working days, mind — during which life came to a standstill as speaker after speaker after speaker extolled one’s virtues over the airwaves; during which the chiefs’ drums, horns and colour-saturated umbrellas reminded everyone that you had been created a Warrior fit to brandish an ancient, potent, Sword of Asante. Praise-singers uttering words meant for ears that could hear – to Busumuru!
Add to that the now-rusty voices of your MOBA schoolmates, as they mingled with the angelic voices of the best choristers of the land. What more could one yearn for, Kofi?
Certainly, other great souls have passed through Ghana. What you had which none of the others could match was this, Kofi: you were uniquely lovable!
You provided an ear for many of the United Nations personnel scattered around the globe, serving the United Nations, often away from their families. Some were placed in personal danger as they followed directions given by you and your staff in far-away New York. But they did not flinch from their duty, because they knew that you had been in their place before.
Anyone who follows world affairs closely, would have been astounded by the scene, televised round the world, in the environs of the UN headquarters in New York, as staff poured out of their offices in their thousands, to welcome you back from your ‘Mission Impossible’ in Baghdad.
How could a Secretary-General of the United Nations, an official who was supposed to follow the orders of delegation heads, receive such a “pop-star” type of welcome?
Addressing them, you used the term “We The People” to explain in short-hand, the inexhaustible yearning for peace – shared by all the peoples of the world — that had made you go the extra mile to get Saddam Hussein to appreciate the risk of unleashing aerial bombardment of the worst possible type on his people – unless he negotiated. For you foresaw the ruthless laying-to-waste of the ancient civilization of Iraq. Humane man – you did your best.
But those who thought you were “soft” had a lesson to learn. For instance, a correspondent of the London newspaper, The Times, saw the other side of you when he tried officiously to find you guilty by association, because your son had been involved with a company that had won a UN contract that had been carried out in a controversial manner.
You told the correspondent to his face that he had been carrying on at the UN “like an overgrown schoolboy”, bullying your staff. You set up an enquiry into the so-called “oil-for-food” contract, and came out squeaky clean from its findings – as you knew you would.
The Nobel Prize Committee, in awarding you and the UN, the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2001, had this to say:
QUOTE: Kofi Annan has devoted almost his entire working life to the U.N. As Secretary-General, he has been pre-eminent in bringing new life to the organization. While clearly underlining the U.N.’s traditional responsibility for peace and security, he has also emphasized its obligations with regard to human rights.
“He has risen to such new challenges as HIV/AIDS and international terrorism, and brought about more efficient utilization of the U.N.’s modest resources. In an organization that can hardly become more than its members permit, he has made clear that sovereignty cannot be a shield behind which member states conceal their violations.
The U.N. has in its history achieved many successes, and suffered many setbacks. Through this first Peace Prize to the U.N. as such, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes …. to proclaim that the only negotiable route to global peace and cooperation goes by way of the United Nations. UNQUOTE
How often can one individual personify any organization, let alone a unique organization that represents nearly 200 sovereign nations, each with its own agenda?
Busumuru did it! And Ghana had a government in place when he was gathered unto his fathers which had the imagination and the generosity of spirit to give him a send-off that the world could only watch and marvel at.
It had been widely rumoured that he would buried privately in Switzerland and a petulant administration in Ghana could have taken that as an affront and allowed things to go their own way.
But not the Akufo-Addo government. It recognised Kofi Annan’s true stature and set up a very high-powered funeral committee, which co-ordinated the efforts of all the groups that wanted to demonstrate their love for Kofi Annan. Hence the enormous celebration that took over our capital, as well as our print and electronic media, over the past week.
Well done, everybody involved in organizing the funeral. Ghana has stood tall for Kofi Annan, and by so doing, has sent a message to all its citizens to render of their best if they get an opportunity to serve not only the world community, but their country as well — wherever, whenever.
If you do good work, Ghana will never forget your name. So be like Kofi Annan – in your own small way!
Ghana did not forget Busumuru’s name, when it made Chancellor of the University of Ghana in his life-time.
Ghana also sought to enshrine Busumuru’s name for ever, when it lent its full co-operation to the establishment of the Kofi Annan Centre Project.
It is left to the rest of us to accomplish the tasks allotted to us so well – as Busumuru did – so that when we, too, are no more, members of our family and members of our society can palpably feel the loss of our presence in their midst.
BUSUMURU, DA YIE!
You’ve earned your rest, oh yes, Kofi Our Sage.
cameronduodu.com
BY CAMERON DUODU