Koforidua, Feb. 4, GNA- Ministers of State, District Chief Executives (DCE), and journalists were among the hundreds of mourners who thronged the Saint George's Catholic Cathedral at Koforidua on Saturday, united in grief at a burial and memorial service for the late Thomas Bennet Brentuo, 58, Eastern Regional Manager of the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

Until his shocking death on December 5, 2006, the late Brentuo was also a human rights activist and Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association. The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Yaw Barimah, led a delegation that comprised Miss Susana Mensah, Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Kwesi Adjei Boateng, the New Juaben Municipal Chief Executive and Mr Victor Asihene, DCE for East Akyem, to mourn the late Brentuo.

Nana Apau Duah, General Manager of the GNA led a delegation of the Agency, including Mr Felix Forson, the Administrative Manager, and staff members of the nation's wire service, to the funeral service. The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Ransford Tetteh, Secretary of the association, Mr Bright Blewu, Mr Amoadu Christian Ohene, Editor of the Heritage Newspaper, and other media practitioners also attended the funeral.

The Reverend Father Fauster Asiamah, in a sermon, said although the circumstances surrounding the death of the late Brentuo were hard to believe, God was gratified with the demise, since he had other duties for the departed beyond earth.

Tributes were read by the family, wife, children, National Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, the Nights of Saint John, GNA and the GJA. After the burial and memorial service, the mortal remains of Brentuo was conveyed be laid to rest at his hometown Abrewaanko, in the Nkwanta District of the Volta Region.