The murdered Assembly Member for the Sogakope South Electoral Area in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region, Hon. Marcus Mawutor Adzahli was on Saturday, June 27, 2020 buried at Toklokpo near Sogakope at a solemn but heavily attended funeral event.
Even though the family made arrangements and preparations towards accommodating one hundred (100) people for the burial service event per the President’s directive, hundreds of mourners from all walks of life besieged the Toklokpo Basic School Park to give their last respect to the departed businessman who was murdered in cold blood at his Sogakope residence by some assailants during the early hours of Sunday, 1st March, 2020.
The numbers at the funeral were so high that it was very difficult to adhere to the Covid-19 social distancing protocol. A large number of the mourners including all the invited guests were seen in nose masks while quite a number did not also cover their faces with the masks.
Some analysts told our newsteam that the huge numbers at the funeral were expected, attributing it to the heinous way and manner the late Mawutor was killed.
Though the District Assembly provided Veronica buckets containing water in addition to liquid soaps and tissue at vantage points at the funeral grounds for hand-washing purposes, patronage of the facility was not encouraging apart from the fact that they were very few as against the large number of mourners that thronged the school park for the funeral service.
The funeral was attended by a lot of Chiefs and Queenmothers as well as Assembly Members from the five (5) traditional areas of the district namely Sokpoe, Tefle, Agave, Fievie and Vume.
Also present was a government delegation led by the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area, Hon. Emmanuel Louis Agama. Equally and heavily represented at the funeral was a high-profile National Democratic Congress (NDC) delegation under its National Chairman, Hon. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo. Other members of the NDC delegation included Hon. Nurudeen Mahama, a Stalwart of the NDC, Regional Chairman and Secretary, Hon. Henry K. Ametefe and Hon. James Gunu respectively. The rest were Members of Parliament (MPs) for the South and Central Tongu Constituencies, Hon. Wisdom Kobena Mensah Woyome and Hon. Alexander Gabby Roosevelt Hottordze respectively as well as some other regional and constituency executives of the opposition NDC party.
The burial service was under the auspices of the Global Evangelical Church (GEC) with the Sogakope Presbytery Chairman, Rev. C. K. K. Aglago and the Sogakope Parish Pastor, Rev. M. K. Atsagli amongst others, attending.
Rev. Aglago who preached the sermon during the burial service, reminded Christians of a day of accountability in their lives, adding that as followers of Christ, everyone should be prepared for any eventuality one day. He urged the bereaved family not only to remain resolute and faithful to God but also strive harder to be closer to the Lord.
Out of the twenty-four (24) paged brochure in memory of the late Hon. Mawutor Adzahli, sixteen (16) were full of tributes, describing his sudden end not only as painful but also a huge loss to the family and the district as a whole.
There were eulogies from the Widow, Children, Parents, Staff of Mac-Green Ventures as well as the Nephews and Nieces. Other tributes came from the NDC, Nanatel Limited, MTN Distributor for the Volta Region as well as all his eight (8) siblings. The rest of the eulogies came from the Sokpoe Traditional Council, the 2004 Old Students’ Group of the Sogakope Senior High School (SOGASCO), the Solution Chapel of the Global Evangelical Church, Sogakope as well as the South Tongu District Assembly (STDA).
A tribute by the Widow, Ms. Abigail Mawuena Dogbe described Marcus as her strategist and planner whose life had been cut short in such a world full of wickedness. According to her, the husband’s sudden departure had left her and the children in pain, sorrow and loneliness, adding that these cannot be measured.
The eulogy by the STDA described the late Hon. Marcus Mawutor Adzahli as an epitome of peace and unity in the Assembly. The tribute said although the late Mawutor was youthful, he reflected not only dynamism and progress but also cherished virtues such as hardwork and respect for authority.
The opposition NDC of which Mawutor was an active member, said the party had lost a great fighter, a brother and an anchor, adding that the volume of tears at the funeral event cannot be compared with the volume of darkness caused by his death.
The NDC in total donated an amount of Ten Thousand Ghana Cedis (Ghc10,000.00) to the bereaved family. Out of the amount, Five Thousand Cedis (Ghc5,000.00) came from the leader and flagbearer of the party, Mr. John Dramani Mahama. Two Thousand Cedis (Ghc2,000.00) each came from the Volta MPs Caucus in Parliament and the South Tongu MP respectively while the remaining One Thousand Ghana Cedis (Ghc1,000.00) was added from the regional and constituency branches of the party.
The late Marcus Mawutor Adzahli was born on 13th November, 1982 to Mr. G. M. K. Adzahli and Madam Juliana Amemornu of Toklokpo and Kpekpo respectively. He was the 8th born of his father and the 4th child of his mother.
After his basic and secondary school education at Sogakope, he identified a talent in business other than the academia hence ventured into the then ‘Space to Space’ phone call business which later became ‘Areeba’ and now ‘MTN Ghana’.
Apart from being a successful businessman under his popular Mac-Green Ventures at Sogakope and its surrounding areas, the late Mawutor contested for the position of Assembly Member for the Sogakope South Electoral Area in 2019 and won the position for the first time.
Mawutor’s biography also described him as someone who could not stand the sight of people in need. He could spend his last coin on someone in need just to put smiles on the fellow’s face. Until his demise, Marcus on his birthdays made donations to hospitals, schools and sometimes the elderly in the community.
Mawutor and his family were attacked by some assailants at around 12.15am, the dawn of Sunday, 1st March, 2020. He was shot multiple times and also wounded with a knife during the sad incident. Unfortunately, he did not survive the attack.
He was blessed with four (4) children but three surviving namely Rex Delali Adzahli, Derex Deladem Adzahli (of blessed memory), Cataleya Sedem Adzahli as well as Kayla Setor Adzahli.
The funeral was later climaxed with a four (4) hour non-stop ‘Borborbor’ drumming and dancing session by the youth near the Toklokpo Basic School Park in total disregard for the Covid-19 pandemic protocols on social distancing and the wearing of nose masks.
Credit: Akukorku Media Consult
