The Osu Military Cemetery opposite the Accra Sports Stadium could become the final resting place for President John Atta Mills, whose remains are due for burial on August 10, 2012.
Fearing possible opposition outcry, the Committee planning the late President Mills� burial and funeral rites has effectively shifted its attention from the Flagstaff House, also known as the Jubilee House, to the Military Cemetery.
The late President Mills will thus become the very first democratically elected Ghanaian leader to have been buried at the Cemetery, which is believed to host the graves of the National Liberation Council (NLC) Chairman, Lt. Gen Ankrah, and General Emmanuel Kotoka, who overthrew Ghana�s Independence leader, Dr Kwame Nkrumah in 1966.
On Monday afternoon, a Citi News correspondent spotted a high-powered government delegation at the Osu Military Cemetery, an expansive piece of land reserved for the graves of very senior Military Chiefs of the land. The delegation was made of some members of the Committee planning the burial and final funeral rites of the late Ghanaian leader.
�From where I stood, I saw a young army officer taking members of the delegation, all of whom were clad in black attire, around the Osu Military Cemetery,� Citi News Parliamentary Correspondent, Richard Sky reported.
�A convoy of not less than seven Four-Wheel-Drive vehicles had earlier pulled up in front of the cemetery, which is adjacent, the State House in Accra.�
�As the late Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, we are looking at the possibility of burying him here with other Ghanaian heroes and heroines who died in uniform,� a senior member of the delegation told our correspondent, who run into the team on Monday afternoon.
The source was quick to add, �I must say however that a firm decision is yet to be made. We will announce our decision after through consultations with the family of our beloved former President.�
Over the weekend, Communication Minister, Hon Haruna Iddrisu dropped hints that the remains of the former President will be laid to rest at the Flaggstaff House
He subsequently retracted his comments, after news reports on his submission on Accra-based Joy FM went viral on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.The Osu Military Cemetery has a long history of hosting the remains of top state officials of blessed memory.
For instance, in December 2001, the remains of two of the eight senior Military Officers executed by firing squad during the regime of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council in 1979 were re-buried with military honours at the Cemetery.
The coffins of Major General Robert Ebenezer Abossey Kotei and Air-Vice Marshall George Yaw Boakye, draped in the national colours, arrived at the cemetery at about 1305 hours in a motorcade after a church service at the 37 Military Garrison Methodist/ Presbyterian Church, 11 kilometres away.
The cemetery also hosts among others, the graves of service men who served in the Gold Coast regiment and fought alongside the Allied Forces in the two world wars.
The Osu Cemetery is located where the Castle, Lokko and Angola roads converge in Osu. The cemetery is directly opposite the back of the Accra Sports Stadium.
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