The Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS), family of the late Christian Atsu Twasam and other stakeholders will meet President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo today to discuss a date and other burial arrangement for the late footballer.
The meeting was announced on Friday when the family of the Atsu called on the sector Minister, Mustapha Ussif to officially inform him of the death of the former Black Stars player and deliberate on his burial plans.
“We would meet the President on Monday to set a suitable date for the funeral. The family is the main stakeholder as far as Atsu is concerned, and we would continue to engage you on decisions towards the funeral and inform the public accordingly,” he told the family members.
He said, the President was very instrumental in getting the late footballer flown back to Ghana to be given a befitting burial, and was appropriate to involve him in setting a date for a befitting burial arrangement.
The Minister expressed his condolences to the family and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) over the tragic loss of the player in the deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria that claimed over 44,000 lives.
At the meeting, the family accepted a ‘one-week observance’ be held at the Adjiringanor Astro-Turf Park on March 4, though it’s not part of Dangme culture, explaining that “the family agreed to observe it, since their ward had become a national asset and the public needed to pay their last respect to him.”
The head of the Twasam family, Nene Gabriel Kofi Tswasam, expressed the family’s appreciation to the government for the support so far.
He said the family was opened to the plans of government and other stakeholders to give Atsu a befitting burial.
Present at the meeting was the Chief Director of the Ministry, Alhaji Hafiz Adam, who stated that the demise of Atsu was a tragedy to all Ghanaians considering his love for charity and of football.
BY MICHAEL D.ABAYATEYE
