Akufo-Addo says he’s lost ‘a trusted, wise counsellor’
President Nana Akufo-Addo says he has been saddened by the death of Josepj Henry Mensah, indicating Ghana has lost a staunch patriot.
“I am greatly saddened by the news of the death of Joseph Henry Mensah, affectionately ‘JH’ to me and many, many others. Ghana has lost a staunch patriot, a fine public servant, and a genuine democrat,” he said in a Facebook post to commiserate with the family of the veteran politician.
Mr. J.H Mensah died Wednesday morning at the 37 Hospital where he had been on admission having suffered a stroke in 2017.
READ: Former Senior Minister J.H. Mensah dies at 89
He died at the age of 89.
He was the senior minister under the John Kufuor-led government and was the first to take up that controversial portfolio created in 2005, now occupied by former finance Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo.
Mr. J.H Mensah who worked at the United Nations prior to engaging actively in politics, spent four-and-a-half years as political prisoner in Ghana having been on a 13-year political exile.
His interest in politics developed at a time that he was in secondary school at Achimota; a period that the nationalist movements started.
The political career of the seasoned politician dates back to the 1960s when he was in charge of planning in Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s government.
According to President Akufo-Addo, Mr. J.H Mensah has been his inspiration and counsel for the past 40 years describing him as “a valued and trusted counselor”, and that he is now “bereft that I cannot have access to JH again”
“Huge, brilliant mind, vast experience, he had an unrelenting commitment to the rapid development of Ghana, and believed firmly in the capacity of the Ghanaian people to build a progressive and prosperous nation,” Nana Akufo-Addo said.
He expressed his “deepest condolences” to his children, family, and to the New Patriotic Party, whose ideals and principles, he said, was espoused by JH Mensah with “passion, wit, and eloquence. Wonderful man”.
By 3news.com|Ghana
