The Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul has disclosed that progress has been made on the establishment of the endowment fund in honour of the late Major Maxwell Adam Mahama.
He was speaking to representatives of the family of the late major who called on him to show appreciation for the roles he played during Maxwell Mahama’s funeral.
The president announced the establishment of the fund and others when he visited the family last month, which the minister said government is committed to fulfilling all the promises it made to the family and that everything is on course to attain them especially the endowment.
He said, “We have drafted the endowment fund bill, Major Mahama endowment fund bill, we have drafted it, it has gone to the AG, the AG has brought it back to my office, I have forwarded it to my Jack to look at it and I believe by the close of this week I’ll send it back to the AG and put a cabinet memo. I have instructed the chief director to put a cabinet memo by Friday so that we can send it to cabinet because we’ll send it to parliament”
He added that the establishment of the endowment fund is a national concern for that matter it will not be shrouded in secrecy and it will be unique.
“That is the way we are doing it, it’s not about hiding to do it, it is a national thing and I hope that the day we’ll be taking it in parliament you will be there. That is how we are establishing it so it is not just the normal appeal for fund that we want to do, that’s not it. We’re going to have a law”, he explained.
Spokesperson for the family Zakaria Sakara Ahmed, expressed the family’s gratitude to the government for agreeing to raise the monument in honour of the late soldier and also to establish the endowment fund to support soldier’s family.
“We made a request that we wanted a monument erected in the memory of Maxwell as a reminder to all Ghanaians that never again should such a thing befall anybody in this country. That request was granted. The additional which we didn’t ask for but which was a pleasant surprise to us was when the president visited us and announced that an endowment fund would be set up for Maxwell’s family…” he expressed.
The family also requested that the minister keeps them posted as and when progress is made. They further expressed interest in being present at the trial.
The Major Maxwell Mahama fund is expected to receive GHS 500,000 from the state and 50,000 from the president’s and other donations from the public.
By P. D. Wedam |3news.com |Ghana