Accra, July 25, GNA -- President John Agyekum Kufuor has directed that the late Justice Daniel Francis Annan should be given a state burial.

This, he said, was in recognition of his distinguished and exemplary service to the nation.

President Kufuor was speaking when a delegation of the bereaved family called at the Castle, Osu, on Tuesday to officially inform him of his death. The date for his funeral is yet to be fixed. The late Justice Annan devoted nearly 50 years of his entire life to the country, serving in various capacities.

President Kufuor said he was 'truly the voice of moderation. He was by nature an impressive man'.

He recalled that as a practising young lawyer, his first meeting with the late Justice Annan was in the 1960s in Kumasi where he was a Circuit Court Judge and that the impression 'some of us had about him was that he was a man who cared about his fellow men'.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD, in a tribute on behalf of the Government said 'Ghana has lost a respected and an eminent statesman and the nation is poorer for this'.

He was deeply committed to parliamentary democracy, he said. Mr Amarkai Amartefio, a former Minister of Sports, who acted as spokesperson of the bereaved family, said the late Justice Annan, 14 years ago, was given only 18 months to live and that all that he did for the country was done with 'borrowed time'.

The late Justice Annan was the Speaker of Parliament from 1992-2000. He also served as Chairman of the National Commission for Democracy (NCD), the body, which undertook a nationwide exercise to collate public views that led to the restoration of constitutional democracy to the country in 1992.

He died on July 16 at the age of 77.

Another delegation led by the Central Regional Minister, Nana Ato Arthur, had earlier called on President Kufuor to inform him of the death and funeral of the late Omanhene of Breman Essiam, Nana Atta Amanafo Poku II.

The Chief, who died on December 24, 2003, reigned for 31 years and at different times served as President of the Central Regional House of Chiefs and a Member of the Research Committee of the National House of Chiefs.

President Kufuor said chieftaincy was not only a unifying force but an embodiment of the country's culture.

He said it was on the basis of this that the Government had appointed a Minister to be responsible for it.

The idea, he said was not to meddle in the affairs of the institution but to ensure that it functioned well to keep the people united.

He noted that the late chief served his people and country well and that it was appropriate that the Government should be informed of his death.

The four days funeral of the late Nana Poku would commence on August 23 and would be climaxed on August 26 2006. Nana Kwamina Ansah IV, President of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, was on the delegation.