By
Dennis Peprah, GNA
Sunyani, (B/A), Sept 1, GNA – There were
sporadic firing of musketry in the Brong-Ahafo capital on the early hours of
Friday, as thousands of mourners trooped the city to pay their last respect to
the late Eric Osei Kwakye, 45, the eldest son of Nana Bosoma Asor Nkwariri II,
the Paramount Chief of Sunyani.
Traditional warriors flocked the city and
scared residents, as they fired musketeries in the early hours as a tradition
to signal the burial and final funeral rites of a prominent member of the
Sunyani Royal stool.
As at 0430 hours the mortal remains of Kwakye,
the Chief Executive Officer of ERICOSE Enterprise Limited, dealers in hardware
and building materials, had been prepared and laid in state at the Christ the
King Cathedral in Sunyani for public viewing.
The atmosphere at the Cathedral was sombre,
but characterised by sadness and wailing as the grief- stricken mourners-aged,
young men, women and children – could not control themselves.
Traditional authorities, government officials,
politicians, clergy, Imams, Muslims, Christians and business entrepreneurs
attended the burial service.
Describing the deceased as a philanthropist,
the mourners who had overflowed the Cathedral wept uncontrollably when the body
was finally placed in a casket for burial at the Sunyani Royal Cemetery.
The regional capital experienced an unusual
vehicular traffic, whilst economic activities came to standstill as virtually
business entrepreneurs closed their shops to pay their last respect to the
deceased.
The funeral ceremony however, created a field
day for beer bar operators in the Municipality as mourners crowded drinking
bars to refresh themselves with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages amidst
cloudy atmosphere.
“Indeed a great oak has fallen”, Ebenezer
Amponsah, one of the mourners told the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
Kwakye popularly known as ERICUS died on July
13, 2018, after a short illness.
GNA