A cousin of the late Kofi Annan has disclosed that the former UN Secretary General personally asked that his casket is covered from public view during file past, before he passed on.
Some Ghanaians who filed past the body which has been laid in state at the Accra International Conference Centre on Tuesday were not happy that the remains of Mr Annan was not displayed for public view as is the tradition and practice in Ghana.
But Mr Ahuma in an interview explained that the family is only respecting the wishes of their deceased relative.
“It was his own decision, we have to respect his wish, that is his wish, that is what the man wanted, we have to give respect for what he stands for. It does not take anything away from the ceremony, for as long as what he wanted the family is doing that, I think we are happy with it,” he explained.
Mr. Annan died in Switzerland in August this year.
He was the 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations.
He was appointed as the Secretary-General on 13 December 1996 by the Security Council, and later confirmed by the General Assembly, making him the first office holder to be elected from the UN staff itself.
He was re-elected for a second term in 2001, and was succeeded as Secretary-General by Ban Ki-moon on 1 January 2007.
Kofi Atta Annan was born on 8 April 1938 in Kumasi, in the Ashanti region of Ghana.
Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.
He is the founder and chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, as well as chairman of The Elders, an international organization founded by Nelson Mandela.
Annan went on to study economics at Macalester College, international relations from the Graduate Institute Geneva and management at MIT. Annan joined the UN in 1962, working for the World Health Organization’s Geneva office.
He went on to work in several capacities at the UN Headquarters including serving as the Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping between March 1992 and December 1996.
