We�re All In Pain At BBC

Everybody at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), has been �torn apart� by the sudden death of ace broadcaster Komla Dumor, his close associate, Akwasi Sarpong ,has told Joy News, two days after his demise. Distraught as he was, just as his other colleagues, eloquent Akwasi Sarpong, a presenter on BBC�s Focus on Africa, went through pain to string his sentences together His pain was expected, having worked closely with Komla Dumor at Joy FM, Multimedia Group Limited, and subsequently followed him up to the BBC. The BBC TV presenter Komla Dumor died suddenly at his London home on Saturday at the age of 41. It is believed he suffered a heart attack. Many including Ghana�s President, John Mahama and former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan have paid tributes to a man described by Nelson Mandela's daughter, Makaziwe, as a "shining star of Africa". The BBC was expected to hold a memorial service for the former Ghana Journalist of the Year, Monday afternoon in a church near the BBC office. Akwasi Sarpong noted that the memorial service would afford Komla�s former colleagues and love ones to remember him, pay tribute to him and hold prayers for him to �encourage each other ...We are all in pain�. Sobbing, he said he last met Komla on Thursday, just two days before his unexpected death. �We are distraught, we are torn apart by this. Through the weekend I have been in a state of denial as many of my colleagues have been. We are in a state of total disbelieve, Akwasi Sarpong intimated .� He recalled how he chatted daily with him on an SMS platform, "Whatsapp", about their work, country and African in general. Komla was also excited for being nominated as the face of BBC for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he said. After presenting what was to be his last show on BBC - Focus on Africa � Friday on TV, Akwasi Sarpong recounted Komla�s last word to Vera Kwakofi, head of Focus on Africa, after a short party on that Friday. He said a �boisterous and playful� Komla Dumor had promised to meet Vera on a project they are working on over the weekend, but he never lived up to that promise � death laid its icy hand on him. �The least and last we expected; he was in great health... we are just trying to reconcile what we saw last of him and how incredible it is now (choked with tears). He isn�t with us,� he lamented.