An amount of GH�3.6 million was spent on the funeral of the late President J. E. A. Mills, the Funeral Planning Committee has said.
The amount comprised GH�2.2 million in donations (excluding food items) from individuals and institutions, and GH�1.4 million provided by the government.
The expenditure given by the Chairman of the committee, Mr Kofi Totobi-Quakyi, is in sharp contrast with the amount of GH�30 million speculated to have been spent on the funeral.
Mr Totobi-Quakyi told journalists at a news briefing in Accra yesterday that the detailed income and expenditure budget of the funeral would be submitted to the Auditor-General for auditing.
The Funeral Planning Committee was inaugurated by President John Mahama on Monday, July 30, 2012, charged with the mandate to plan a befitting funeral for the late President.
The news briefing brought to closure the activities of the committee, and as the chairman indicated, all residual matters relating to the funeral must be channelled through the Office of the Chief of Staff henceforth.
Mr Totobi-Quakyi said the total expenditure included the cost of hospitality for the 16 Heads of State and foreign dignitaries who attended the funeral, casket, printing of tributes and other preparatory works.
He said after the funeral, unused food items and drinks left in stock were donated to charity, citing some educational institutions for the physically and mentally challenged as beneficiaries.
Mr Totobi-Quakyi said the committee presented a blueprint to the government, containing some recommendations on the way forward, such as the need for an expedited action to make provisions for the physically challenged to have access to the Banquet Hall.
That recommendation was informed by the discomforting sight of persons with disability who had to be carried on shoulder into the Banquet Hall to pay their last respects to the late President simply because they could not use the staircase leading to the hall.
The Persons With Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715) provides in Section 6 that: �The owner or occupier of a place to which the public has access shall provide appropriate facilities that make the place accessible to and available for use by a person with disability�.
Mr Totobi-Quakyi said the Asomdwe Memorial Park, an enclave of the Castle Drive and the Marine Drive in Osu, where the late President was buried, would be re-opened to the general public in mid-October after its development, which is currently ongoing.
The designing part is being handled by Dr Don Arthur, a Ghanaian who designed the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum in Accra and the Kwame Nkrumah Statue at the new African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Mr Totobi-Quakyi said in spite of the time constraint and the lack of template or precedent to guide the committee and a budget to discharge its mandate, the members delivered to the best of their ability, but noted that Ghanaians were the best judges.
He reiterated that no member of the committee received a pesewa, adding that their services were voluntary.
He thanked members of the committee, donors, the media, the security agencies, the general public and all those who contributed in diverse ways to ensure the successful organisation of the funeral.
During question time, Mr Totobi-Quakyi spent considerable time to respond to a plethora of allegations surrounding the funeral.
On the allegation of $75,000 spent on the casket, he produced a payment invoice that suggested that the cost was GHc4,660.
He also dismissed the allegation that the late President was buried in a glass casket, pointing out that it was the handiwork of a local manufacturer, who was present at the news briefing.
Mr Totobi-Quakyi further dismissed the allegation that the body of the late President was flown to South Africa for embalming prior to his burial.
He insisted that the body never left the 37 Military Hospital morgue until the morning of August 8, 2012 when it was conveyed to his residence en route to the Banquet Hall.
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