[ 2013-12-30 ]

Otiko Djaba, her father's funeral was marred by confusion

Confusion mars funeral for Otiko's father
The funeral of the late Henry Kwadwo Djaba aka
‘I Shall Return’, father of National Women’s
Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Otiko
Djaba, was an arena of confusion.

Hundreds of mourners, who thronged the funeral
grounds at Somanya in the Eastern Region, were
left embarrassed as they could not have the
privilege of seeing their beloved lowered into the
ground for a solemn burial.

Not even former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s
intervention could calm the raging tempers as
confusion broke between his children over his
final resting place on December 15, 2013.

Whilst some insisted he should be laid to rest at
the public cemetery others contended that he
should be buried at his private residence in
Somanya, his hometown, since that was one of his
last wishes.

As a result, some of the mourners had to leave
without knowing for sure where the late Henry
Djaba was finally laid to rest.

The remains of the 80-year-old man had to be
transported back to Accra where it was kept in a
morgue until the next day, Sunday December 16,
2013.

Sources said the feuding children remained divided
on the matter and this drew a number of
high-ranking security officers to the grounds on
Sunday.

‘I Shall Return’, as he was affectionately
called by his peers, was finally laid to rest at
the forecourt of his three-storey building in
Somanya by the police as ordered by the Inspector
General of Police (IGP), Ahmed Alhassan Mohamed
against the wishes of some his children,
especially one of his sons who threatened to
exhume the body if it was buried in the house.

The 80-year-old Henry Kwadwo Djaba died in the
second week of October 2013.

He was a business tycoon and a politician.

He was once a member of Nkrumah’s Convention
People’s Party (CPP) and onetime chairman of the
defunct Abuakwa Susubribi Sporting Club of New
Tafo.

In 1962, he was accused of plotting a coup to
overthrow Nkrumah’s government.

Henry Djaba was subsequently arrested and
incarcerated. His assets were frozen while many of
his houses were confiscated to the state,
including the three-storey building where he was
buried in Somanya.

He was released after the overthrow of Nkrumah’s
government.

Later, he joined the Progress Party (PP) led by
Kofi Abrefa Busia where he championed his
political ideologies.

During the 1979 coup, he went into a self-imposed
exile in UK and returned into the country during
constitutional rule.

He left behind a number of children including
Otiko Afisa Djaba.

His burial ground at Somanya has become a security
concern since the police have to ensure that his
remains stay as they were buried and not exhumed
as threatened by one of his sons.

Source - Daily Guide

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