Sogakofe township in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region, came to a standstill when mourners thronged the area to bid farewell to the murdered Assemblyman of the Sogakofe South Electoral Area, Marcus Mawutor Adzahli.
Toklokpo Basic School Park where the funeral was held was not enough to contain the huge mourners whom by their sheer numbers could not adhere to the social distancing protocol against the coronavirus pandemic.
Many others were seen without their nose masks with the excuse, they could not breath.
Nonetheless, the scene was very emotional with tears and screams flowing for Marcus who was brutally murdered in his home on March 1, 2020 by gunmen some of whom have been arrested and facing trial.
Seeing his widow and two young daughters left many wondering how they will cope without the breadwinner of the family gone forever.
Many of the mourners, majority of whom were the youth could be seen wailing uncontrollably as the remains of the 37-year entrepreneur was being conveyed to the cemetery for interment.
The burial also attracted some high profile personalities from the government, particularly the District Chief Executive of the area, Emmanuel Louis Agama and members of National Democratic Congress (NDC), of which the deceased was a staunch member.
Among them were the NDC National Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Volta Regional Chairman Henry Ametefee, and his Secretary, James Gunu, South Tongu MP, Wisdom Mensah Woyome among others.
Background
Marcus was killed on the dawn of Sunday March 1, 2020 by a group of assailants who broke into his home while his wife and a daughter sustained some injuries. They were subsequently admitted at the hospital for days.
The incident triggered three days of protests by residents who were unhappy with the Sogakope Police for not responding promptly to several distress calls.
According to them that was not the first time the Police had acted in bad faith to distress calls.
To this end they blocked the Accra-Aflao highway at the Lower Volta Bridge, burnt tires on the streets and attacked the Sogokefe Police station in one stance with stones and clubs, damaging some vehicle windscreens.
They were on several occasions demanded the immediate arrest of the killers while a total of over GHC70,000 bounty was placed on the killers by donations from former President Jerry John Rawlins, the Volta Regional Minister, DCE, the MP of the area among others.
Marcus Mawutor Adzahli was the proprietor of Mac Greenline Ventures, a key distributor of MTN and Vodafone merchandise. Marcus who employed a lot of young people in the area was in December 2019, adjudged the second best Vodafone Agent in Volta region.
He is also a philanthropic who makes regular donations to schools, health facilities and other institutions in the area.
He was elected the Assembly man for Sogakope South Electoral Area in December, 2019.
He was a staunch supporter and a financier of the NDC party in Sogakope.
From Fred Duodu, Ho (k.duodu@yahoo.com)