The mother of Dr Stephen Opuni, a former CEO of Ghana COCOBOD, was this
weekend buried at Babianiha in the Brong Ahafo Region. The tomb of the
deceased has generated a lot of comments on social media and other media
platforms.
The tomb which is in the form of a building was financed by the children of the deceased to honour their mother.
The matter has dominated social media discussions throughout the
weekend with people expressing different opinions. The woman was a
successful cocoa farmer in the Brong Ahafo Region who owned many
businesses in the region and beyond.
All her children are successful professionals including Dr Opuni, a
medical officer at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, two engineers
based in the United States, etc.
According to the children, they would have constructed something more
elegant than what has become a public issue had it not been the
political consequences their brother may suffer considering our
polarised political environment and the associated mischiefs.
Responding to a post by one Kwame Gyan, a popular social media
commentator cum journalist, Madam Lydia Forson also a popular actress in
the country, wrote “Come on Kwame. I don’t get what this has to do
with anything. How someone chooses to mourn or bury a loved one is
entirely up to them no matter how ridiculous we may think it is.
You can’t and shouldn’t compare how people bury their loved ones,
that’s way below the belt. You know we can talk about issues without
being petty, and dragging people’s personal lives and decisions into the
mix. This is how important issues lose their importance because we
focus on all the wrong things. We pick at every single hair and become
so petty that the REAL issue is overlooked. This is so not right I’m
sorry.”
Dr Andrews Prempeh a neurosurgeon based in Canada commenting on his
Facebook wall and Twitter handle, described the criticisms as primitive.
He said, the practice is a common one and nearly everyone who loses the
mother feels, bereft. He said if your mother struggled to sponsor your
education and, other needs and, she passes on there is no reason why you
should not honour her the way Opuni and his siblings did and supported
his assertion with the adage “Grief is just love with nowhere to go”.
You must genuinely acknowledge that you are sad and, miss your mother
and, one way of expressing that inner feeling is what Opuni and his
siblings did or have done.
He, however, advised the public that such tombs shouldn’t be constructed in the cities because of scarcity of land.
