Presidential burials and what not to do

E.  Ablorh-Odjidja

August 2, 2012

I wrote a piece titled “Nkrumah Memorial is not a burial place for presidents” and I thought I was done with the subject.  But then came a recent edict by President John Mahama, the new leader of Ghana, which changed the entire discussion on presidential burials.

According to President Mahama, a new burial place is needed to house our dead presidents.  This caused me to wonder why he couldn’t first think of the abuses the idea might invite.

Burial grounds for only presidents, are we being asked to establish a new royalty, one would ask? 

How about presidential wives and presidential contenders and their relatives too, where do these folks go?

Then there are the Chief Justices, Speakers of Parliament, and the Elders of State.  I am certain the latter groups, sooner or later, may want in on the act and the glory too. 

The late President Atta Mills almost sneaked into the Nkrumah Mausoleum solely on the ticket of his death and our love for funerals. Our love affair with funerals is not only proverbial.  We are Ghanaians.   It is our cultural reality.

Indeed, the grander the funeral the more starry-eyed we become about the standing of the departed. 

And for this standing, a lot of money is spent on the build-up.  Character defects and the morbid nature of the death itself, just like the cost of the funeral, are never allowed to diminish our enthusiasm, nor shade down the grandeur of the celebrations.

In the case of a presidential burial, the cost will be no problem.  It belongs to the state and it can be placed stratospherically high, with no disturbing financial impact on our collective conscience. 

The more the merrier, it would seem and could even usher in the opportunity for fraud.

The entire enterprise will be creepy.  But it is creepier to think how our dead presidents will be all stacked and rested in the same manner, same place, same row, equal in rank with no distinction between them whatsoever.

Alas, the best example is the “Big Six” images of our historic leaders on the back of our paper money, the Cedi.

This drive for prestige for all presidents, in the manner of stamping equal respect on them in death, maybe democratic but certainly not fair.  At least, not to those presidents who excel in the service to Ghana.

Less we lose sight of why we elect our presidents, we must not encourage this posthumous stamping of uniform prestige on them.

And this is where we come in as citizens.  It is our right to have the last word as to whom we mark as heroes.

We elect presidents to the office to serve on a merit basis. 

They deserve the right to be honored on the same merit.  And we reserve the right to honor them for the meritorious service they perform while in office.  Death alone should not be the standard for the honor.

The purpose of any presidential cemetery must be to honor the best.  The world already knows about our funerals.  We are phenomenally eloquent in stating our bereavement.  We have all manners of approaches in mourning.  

The praises we reserve for the dead, especially for the wealthy are unbelievable. The sad part is no consideration is given to how the wealth was acquired.

These praises will be exceeded when it comes to burying our presidents. 

Instead of reserving the national honor for the deserving, for those who serve us well, President Mahama is asking for the ceremonies and final resting places to cover all in the same manner.

The proposed presidential cemetery will give a blanket cover of worship to all presidents who are interred at this cemetery.   And these may include miscreants who may come to the presidency by coups or stroke of luck. 

So why must the corrupt and the incompetent not strive hard for the presidency, and while in office offer no exceptional effort at governance, when the glory is already assured at his demise? 

Certainly, the prospect for competing legacies among presidents will be diminished by this common or equal notion of a presidential burial place.  Why even work hard to match or beat the legacy of the president before you when the honor is already assured?

The presidency is not a royalty.  

Presidents, while alive, must compete for our eventual appreciation and honor. This is why there are mausoleums and memorials for the true and dedicated statesmen among the presidents we elect. 

The memorials then serve to remind us of the benefits we received from these individuals when they were in charge.

The final resting place should be the sobriety test to be applied. 

We must ask of our presidents, “Do you want your deceased body to be sent back to your ancestral village, or be buried at the Osu Military Cemetery, with a perpetual flame burning, a flag and a sentry at the foot of your grave”?

The behavior f the president in the office  should be the answer to that question.

Professor Adjiri Wellington, an architect, and a heritage scholar wrote on the question of burial for the late President John Atta Mills, “The best thinkable arrangement….. should be the Osu Military Cemetery. If a seating president is the Commander in Chief, President Mills is qualified to go there for his final rest. Thankfully, because of military discipline, the place is well kept and it conjures dignity with its simplicity in outlook.”

And thank heavens the Osu Military Cemetery is there.  But only the exceptional and the transformational presidents should be buried there (their families permitting) to be celebrated nationally and forever. 

Those who do not pass muster should be sent to their ancestral homes.  In all cases, we the people, through our representatives in Parliament, must decide on who goes in and who goes out.

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publsiher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, August 2, 2012

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