General News of Monday, 24 August 2009

Source: GNA

President Mills eulogies Dr Agama

Accra, Aug. 24, GNA- The late Dr Godfried Kportufe Agama, former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, who died on Wednesday, August 5, would be buried on September 4, at Asidowhi, Agave in the South Tong District of the Volta Region.

This would be preceded by the laying in state of the body at the Trinity College, at Legon in Accra.

Mr Francis Kwame Akoto, a family spokesman announced the funeral arrangement when he a family delegation called on President John Evans Atta Mills at the Osu Castle in Accra. President Mills expressed his condolences to the wife and children, as well as the bereaved family.

He described the death of Dr Agama as a dear loss to the nation, the family and the people of the Volta Region. The late Dr Agama died at the age of 74 at the 37 Military Hospital after a short illness.

Until his death, he was the Chairman of Intercontinental Bank. President Mills expressed shock at the death of the late banker and paid tribute to him as a patriot, giant intellectual and trail blazer. He described him as role model who lived his life to the full, did his work to the best of his ability and was ready to listen to people who came around him.

The death of Dr Agama, the President said, had created a vacuum and asked the good Lord to repose his soul.

Mr James Victor Gbeho, Presidential Advisor on Foreign Policy, reminisced the days of the late banker as a young lecturer at the University of Ghana and a fiery politician on the political stage. He said the late Dr Agama distinguished himself as governor, and as "a good human being, a cheerful person, who did not talk a lot but found enough words to express his commitment, loyalty and friendship. Mr Gbeho promised that Government would assist in the burial of the late governor.

Dr Agama was a Member of the Constituent Assembly of Ghana between 1968 and 1969 and became active in politics again on the ticket of the United National Convention between 1979 and 1981. He became Governor of the Bank of Ghana from 1987 to 1997, and until his death was also a member of the Board of the proposed Evangelical Presbyterian Church University.