Barbara mahama
It has now emerged that the wife of the late Major Maxwell Adam Mahama has begun working in a foreign mission.
Major Mahama was gruesomely murdered while on duty at then Denkyira Obuase (now known as New Obuase) in the Central Region in May this year.
His murder reignited calls for an end to mob justice which was becoming rampant across the country and led to the untimely death of a number of people.
Major Mahama was given a state burial and government resolved to cater for his wife and two children with the establishment of a Major Mahama Trust Fund, the bill to that effect of which is currently before parliament.
According to the government, the move to send the widow, Barbara Mahama, to work in one of the country’s missions abroad was to take her away from the pain she could be going through.
Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, revealed this last Friday at an all-ranks durbar organized by personnel of the 2 Garrison Unit in Takoradi, Western Region.
The minister was at the area for a two-day official visit during which he toured the facilities of the 2 Garrison – which comprises the Ghana Air Force in Takoradi, Second Battalion of Infantry (2BN) at Apremdo and the Western Naval Command in Sekondi.
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lt. General Obed Boama Akwa; the Chief of Army Staff, Major General William Ayamdo; Acting Chief of Air Staff, Air Commodore Augustine A. Appiah; the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Peter Kofi Faidoo and the Commander of the Two Garrison, Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Commodore Isaac Osei-Kufour, facilitated his duty tour.
The defence minister disclosed that Mrs Barbara Mahama had been working with the Foreign Affairs Ministry for the past one-and-a-half months.
“As part of government’s package, the widow was given a number of job options based on her communication background, to which she opted to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Mr Nitiwul revealed.
“The idea is to take her completely away from this country for some time so that she does not keep remembering those problems and ordeals the late husband went through,” he added.
He also pointed out that a fund set up to cater for the children and the wife had received Cabinet approval and would be moved in parliament soon.
Justifying the various interventions put in place for the welfare of the family of the late soldier, the defence minister stated, “At that time the incident happened that was the sensible thing to do.”
He explained that government did all those “because the anger in the people, the anger in the military, the anger in the civilian, the anger in the clergy and civil society was such that government needed to do this.”
MR Nitiwul told the soldiers that their short-term needs presented, including guns, weapons for training and airplanes, among others, had been approved by Cabinet and that money for their acquisition would appear in the next budget.
He praised the soldiers for exhibiting professionalism in the discharge of their duties – both at home and on missions abroad.
He also revealed that the government had released an amount of GH¢23 million to help complete the SSNIT housing project, which was started in 2007 but abandoned.
.From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi