Accra, May 16, GNA - A Foundation to celebrate the life of the late Mr Ferdinand Ofori Ayim, Special Assistant to the Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, was launched in Accra on Tuesday to support the widow and his children.

Friends and relatives of the late Special Assistant set up the Ferdinand Ofori Ayim Memorial Foundation, incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and authorized to operate by the Registrar General.

Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, said at a news conference that an account has been opened at the High Street Branch of Ghana Commercial Bank with account number 1011130030910 and urged well wishers and public-spirited Ghanaians to donate generously to the foundation.

"Freddie was a very loyal, dedicated and hardworking husband, brother, colleague and trusted friend; very vibrant, visionary, patriotic and selfless," Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey said. "We lost him in a tragic manner when he was serving the nation. Even though he is gone, his memory lives on. He did so much in his short eventful life," he added.

The Foundation, which would also institute award schemes in accredited schools of journalism in his memory, has Mrs Augustina Ayim, widow, Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah, Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sport, Mr Edward Boateng, Chief Executive Officer of Global Media Alliance and Mr Charles Nimako, Managing Director of Beverage Investments Ghana Limited as members of the Board of Directors.

Other members of the board are: Mr Asare Otchere-Darko, Editor-in-Chief of the Statesman and cousin of Mr Ayim (Secretary to the Foundation), Mr Kwesi Ankamah, a relation of Mr Ayim who is at the Office of the President and Mr Eric Addo-Mensah, brother in law of Mr Ayim.

Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey said the Foundation would publish the writings and works of the late Mr Ayim and pursue other activities related to the objectives of the Foundation.

He said the Board of Directors would keep proper records of the account. "An income and expenditure account and balance sheet would be prepared and audited and circulated in accordance with the Companies Code."

Mr Peter Mac Manu, Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, said the death of Mr Ayim was a great loss to the party.

Mr Otchere-Darko, who was in tears, thanked the friends who instituted the foundation in Mr Ayim's memory.

Mr Ayim, 46, died on April 06 in a motor accident on his way to Atibie to help prepare the site for the second Paragliding Festival. Mr Ayim would be buried on May 20 at Kyebi. He left behind a wife and four children.