Former President of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings, has said he “feels hurt” by the death of PV Obeng, one of Ghana’s most decorated public servants.

The ex-chairman of the National Development Planning Commission died on May 17 this year after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was laid in state on Thursday at the State House in the nation’s capital, Accra.

Rawlings, who is the longest living past president of the young oil-producing country, worked closely with the ex-senior adviser to the late John Evans Atta Mills and continued in a similar role under current leader, John Mahama.

“It hurts me. I feel so bad about it. We have lost a gem,” Rawlings told state-owned Radio Ghana.

On his part, ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor of the opposition New Patriotic Party described Obeng as an industrialist and a “lovable person.”

He said: “I knew him from the late 70s… PV has been a great friend. He is intelligent and industrious. That’s how I believe he became a virtual prime minister. He was lovable. You can’t talk of the PNDC (Provisional National Defence Council) era without him and even into the NDC regime I believe he featured prominently. He served his country.”

A remembrance service was held in Obeng’s honour at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Tema – the Harbour City of Ghana - before being laid in state later in the day.

He was the chairman of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Council and the Chief Consultant and Chairman of OB Associates - a public and private sector consulting firm and also, the chairman of Ghana Agro and Food Company.