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Culture and tradition was yet again in full display as the Ga Traditional Council, led by the Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, last Saturday bade farewell to the father of the king, Dr Ebenezer Nii Armah Tackie, who passed away in June last year.
With the entire palace and its immediate surroundings draped in red and black, signifying the state of mourning, the royal funeral was characterised by a display of tradition and culture as the people of the Ga State paid their last respects to their King’s father, whose body lay in state last Friday when the customary rites began.
Various groups of the GaDangbe State kept pouring onto the funeral grounds in a sea of red and black to pay their last respects to Dr Tackie, who died at aged 83, and who, before being ushered into royalty, had lived his life as an academician and respected architect.
Apart from the traditional display, the funeral also attracted people from all walks of life, including the late Dr Tackie’s contemporary senior citizens, business executives, representatives of other traditional rulers, the clergy and the diplomatic corps.
Amid the firing of muskets, pouring of libation, chanting, traditional dancing and drumming in the course of the funeral, the casket containing the remains of Dr Tackie, went round the funeral grounds three times after which the Ga Paramount Stool Dzasetse bade him a final farewell at 2:28 p.m.
After all the necessary rites, including the burial service, he was then buried at the King Tackie Tawiah Royal Mausoleum at Tesano in Accra.
The Presiding Archbishop and General Overseer Action Chapel International, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, Apostle General of the Royal House Chapel Churches, Apostle General Sam Korankye Ankrah, and President of the Worldwide Miracle Outreach, Rev. Dr Lawrence Tetteh, took turns to pray for the Royal Family.
Describing his father as the first example of an educated man, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II said although he was always busy with work, his father made time for the family.
“He led an exemplary life befitting of his status and admonished us all to do the same,” he said.
He added that his father did everything he could to ensure that his children understood the Ga culture despite his busy schedules, adding, “As children and young people, we regularly attended Homowo festivals in Accra and participated in other family functions, as a way of connecting us to our extended family”.
“Daddy, thanks for all you did for us and particularly for me and thanks for being my best example of whom a leader should be,” he added.
The Ghana Institute of Architects; Architects Registration Council; Victory Baptist Church, Ayigya Kumasi; the Mallet Family; the King Tackie Tawiah Family of Nii Teiko Tsuru We; the Ga Paramount Stool Dzase, the KNUST and the Architecture Class of 2000, among others, took turns to pay glowing tribute to the King’s father whose contributions as a scholar and architect to the country were significant.
In his exhortation, Archbishop Duncan-Williams, who highlighted the impact of Dr Tackie, urged the public to discover their purpose and fulfil them.
He said life would begin after death since everyone would be judged based on their actions while on earth.
“Our father has accomplished his mission and given up but the greatest thing we must be concerned about is not dying but judgement and giving account.
“My assignment is to remind all of us that there is a day of reckoning so it is not just about dying, but it is about facing the day of judgement.
“Nobody is here by chance; everybody is here by divine providence.
You are not an accident or mistake but you’re here to fulfil a purpose and one day you will give an account”, he said.
As an academician, Dr Tackie rose to become the Dean of the Faculty of Environmental and Development Studies, and was also a former Head of the Department of Architecture of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
From July 1988 to September 1996, Dr Armah Tackie served as Chairman of the National Committee on Building Regulations/Codes, which reviewed all the obsolete legislation on buildings and formulated the new Building Regulations (1996) that was promulgated by the National Parliament in September 1996 as L.I. 1630.
In 1995, Dr Armah Tackie worked as the Principal Urban Designer on the New Accra Airport City Scheme on behalf of Consortium/Comptran Group for SSNIT, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and the Lands Commission.
