The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has officially expressed its condolences to the family, associates and people of Senya Breku following the passing of its founding member Harona Esseku.
The late Esseku was reported to have died at age 88, on Wednesday, August 3, following a statement from the family.
According to the statement, “burial and funeral arrangements will be announced later.”
The New Patriotic Party described the death of late Esseku, a former National Chairman of the Party, as a huge loss to both NPP and Ghana.
“Mr Esseku’s contributions to the Danquah-Dombo-Busia political tradition and Ghana at large cannot be overemphasized. His passing is a huge loss to both NPP and the nation. We have indeed lost a father, mentor and colossus,” the statement said.
The statement, signed by Mr Justin Kodua Frimpong, General Secretary, NPP and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Tuesday, directed all party flags at the party offices across the country to fly at half-mast for the next seven days.
It said the NPP received the news of the passing of our founding member with grief.
The statement further assured the family and people of Senya Breku of the Party’s support in their period of difficulty.
It said: “May the soul of our dear departed father and mentor find solace in God’s bosom.”
According to the statement, the late Esseku was a great source of inspiration, wise counsel to the party and revered by many as a symbol of peace and a consummate statesman.
In 1992, the late Esseku was a founding member of the NPP who became chairman of the Party from 2001 to 2005.
In the Second Republic, at age 35, the late Esseku became the youngest Cabinet Minister for Transport and Communications in the Busia government, a ministry which by 2008 had been split into four Cabinet Ministries namely; Transport, Communications, Civil Aviation and Railways and Harbours.
His political career started in 1968 when he was elected by the Awutus, Effutus, Gomoas and Agonas to represent them in the constituent assembly during the drafting of the constitution of the second republic.
When the Progress Party was founded in 1969, Esseku was one of the members.
In the elections that took place on 29 August that year, Esseku was returned as a member of parliament for the Awutu-Effutu-Senya Constituency.
At the onset of the third republic, he became a founding member of the Popular Front Party (PFP) and later a member of the steering committee of the party.
He was a beneficiary of the member of the Order of the Star of Ghana award, conferred on him by the then President John Agyekum Kufuor in 2007.
He was married to Janet Esseku, a Ghanaian broadcaster who worked with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.
He was a Christian.
Source: newsghana.com.gh