The mortal remains of the Greater Accra Regional representative on the Council of State, Enoch Teye Mensah, will be brought home from South Africa on Saturday.

The late E.T Mensah, a former Minister of Sport and a Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, passed away last Sunday in South Africa, where he hd gone to seek medical treatment.

The news of his death has attracted messages of condolences to the family and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of which he was a key member.

Among the personalities who have expressed their sadness are

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo.

Consequently, they have extended their deepest condolences to the widow, children and the NDC on their loss.

The first family similarly extended same to the chiefs and people of Ningo-Prampram, the Council of State and the people of Ghana.

Friend

Both President Akufo-Addo and the late Mr Mensah entered Parliament together in January 1997 and even though they were on different sides in the House, they became very good friends.

In a statement, President Akufo-Addo said the death of his friend of long standing brought up so many emotions – grief, sense of loss, sadness, reflections on friendship, reminiscences on a generation — and the stark reality of mortality.

The statement described the former MP for Ningo-Prampram as a warm, generous, gregarious man with a keen intellect and wonderful sense of humour.

“In his element, you could find no better company, and was a good source of advice for me as President of the Republic.

I have lost a good friend,” the statement added.

In a related development, a former Ghana Football Association chairman, Nana Sam Brew-Butler, has eulogised the former sports minister with whom he worked for many years to advance Ghanaian football.

Sports

Mr Brew-Butler, in a tribute, described Mr Mensah as a “great sports personality, loyal, faithful leader and friend”, recalling the support he enjoyed from the late minister which ensured they both stormed the world with Ghana’s brand of football and were guests to several European and Asian football nations.

“At home we spearheaded the Winneba Declaration and implemented the Professional League and commercialised it,” wrote Mr Brew-Butler, GFA Chairman from 1993 to 1997, as he listed some of the achievements during the minister’s administration, including Ghana’s triumph at the 1996 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Ecuador, 1999 U-20 AFCON title, among others.

He described his friend as “persistent and eager to achieve results that led him to become involved in every aspect of management” to the extent that he was said to be “interfering”, a tag Mr Mensah described as “intervention”.

Onetime chief executive of Accra City Council, the late Mr Mensah was Ghana’s longest serving sports minister from 1993 to 2001.

He served as MP for Ningo-Prampram for five consecutive terms after which he was elected as Member of the Council of State in 2021.

SOURCE: GraphicOnline