Vice President Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang honored the memory of the eight victims of the helicopter crash that occurred on August 6, 2025. She praised their selflessness and dedication to national service during the burial ceremony held on August 15. Speaking about the deceased, she remarked on their “examples of selflessness, sacrifice, commitment to duty, and abiding belief in the potential for our country to improve for all of us.” “I thank each of you for your examples of selflessness and sacrifice, as well as your steadfast commitment to duty and faith in the improvement of our nation. I pray that we can all find the strength to embrace and believe in the words of the hymnist: ‘Through the love of God our Saviour, all is well.’” The Vice President expressed her hope that Ghanaians would gather the strength to cope with this tragedy while quoting a hymn.
“Through the love of God our Saviour, all is well.”
Two of the victims — Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, and Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Limuna Muniru Mohammed — were buried on August 10. The remaining six, laid to rest on August 15, were: Defence Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, Samuel Aboagye, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Vice Chairman Dr. Samuel Sarpong, Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manin Twum-Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.
Read below the tribute read by Vice President Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang
My Friends,
I am aware that what we should be doing now is not listening to my tribute. We should all be at our usual activities and throwing up ideas we know may not be accepted by all, but which we bandy about anyway, in the interest of contributing to the national agenda. We are more or less coming to the realisation that such will be the outcomes of meetings where we plan, schedule, execute, evaluate, and ascribe responsibilities, whether by volunteering or being volunteered.
Your determination to succeed was high; your focus unwavering; your resolve unambiguous.
Speaking with you, however briefly, revealed your firm decision to use your opportunities for their intended purpose: serving our country.
I should be making those unexpected calls to some of you, as I do to others, to find out how things are going and getting the usual responses:
We are trying Our implementation plan is on course
We are making progress Our strategies need amendment
Not easy ooh
We are doing our best
And Omane, you know that we have an outstanding meeting of the GAF Council. In your capacity as sector Minister, you met with me soon after the council was sworn in, and we pledged to each other to take the assignment very seriously.
We agreed to avoid a tall and cluttered agenda by clearing items expeditiously and following up on 98 | Honouring Our Fallen Heroes the assignments given to members of council or to management. You had a positive reaction to the prospect of working with me; I was even more excited by the prospect of learning from you.
Yes, one more time to remind ourselves that man proposes, God disposes.
I wish you peaceful rest, my colleagues. I thank each of you for your examples of selflessness, sacrifice, commitment to duty and your abiding belief in the ability of our country to be better for all of us. I pray that we will all be able to gather the strength to say and believe with the hymnist: Through the
love of God our Saviour, All is well.
I want to share some lines from one of my favourite poets, the Ivorian Bernard Dadié:
Listen more often to things rather than beings.
Hear the fire’s voice,
Hear the voice of water.
In the wind hear the sobbing of the trees,
It is our forefathers breathing.
The dead are not gone forever.
They are in the paling shadows,
And in the darkening shadows.
The dead are not beneath the ground,
They are in the rustling tree,
In the murmuring wood,
In the flowing water,
In the still water,
In the lonely place, in the crowd:
The dead are not dead.
The dead are not beneath the earth,
They are in the flickering fire,
In the weeping plant, the groaning rock,
The wooded place, the home.
The dead are not dead.
Listen more often to things rather than beings.
Hear the fire’s voice,
Hear the voice of water.
In the wind hear the sobbing of the trees.
It is the breathing of our forefathers.
You are always with us, my colleagues in the business of resetting our country and of guiding our steps though the legacies of humanness, loyalty, justice, dedication, determination, trust, and sheer hard work.
Thanks for leaving these gifts, and more, with us.
Rest in Peace
Source: Leticia Osei
