A potential clash is brewing over the final resting place of late ex-President Jerry Rawlings, as his family from the Volta Region wants him to be buried in Keta, his hometown.
The Akufo Addo administration in a statement last week claimed it will work with the family and other interest groups for a befitting burial for the iconic Rawlings, but an important consideration that may prove turbulent to navigate would be the location of the former president’s grave.
Around 2012, the then governing National Democratic Congress demarcated the “Asomdwe Park” close to the Christianburg Castle in Osu-Accra as the cemetery for deceased Ghanaians heads of state. Late President Evans Atta Mills was the first to be buried there and it is expected that Rawlings may take a rest beside his former Vice President.
However, the extended family of former President Jerry John Rawlings wants him in Keta as his traditional resting place.
Speaking to the media in Keta shortly after his death was announced last week, Spokesperson for the Agbotui, Nyaho, Husunu and allied families, Mr. Paul Badu said burying Mr. Rawlings on the soil of Keta would be appropriate and resonate with their wishes.
Already, the time President Rawlings died (few days to the December 7, general elections) has sparked a bitter turf war between the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), as both parties relish the prospect of potential sympathy votes from public solidarity for the extremely charismatic Rawlings.
The NPP has always been at daggers-drawn with late Rawlings when he was alive, following his uncompromising stance that the NPP is corrupt.
Although he is the founder of the NDC, his relationship with his own party hit turbulence, particularly from 2008 to sometime in 2012 when Rawlings decided the Atta Mills administration then was spineless and reluctant to prosecute the “corrupt NPP”.
Several salvos from Rawlings and the NDC were fired during this period, culminating in Rawlings’ famous description of some of the NDC attack dogs as “Babies with sharp teeth”.
Since 2012, and after John Dramani Mahama took over the reins of the NDC, the two have gradually mended the acrimonious fences and were enjoying relative peace before Rawlings’ sudden death last week.