FAMILY OF LATE SAWLA-TUNA-KALBA MP APPEALS TO PRESIDENT MAHAMA OVER GH¢944,955 DEMAND BLOCKING HIS BURIAL

The family of the late Member of Parliament for the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba Constituency in the Savannah Region, Joseph Trumah Bayel, has appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to urgently intervene in a dispute they say is preventing his burial.

According to the family, the Chief of Tuna, Tunawura Daniel Mahama Amantana, is demanding payment of GH¢944,955 as costs allegedly incurred in a long-running court case between him and the late MP before the body can be laid to rest in the Tuna enclave.

The appeal was made during a press conference at Dakompilayir, the late MP’s hometown, a suburb of Tuna in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District.

Family spokesperson and Dakompilayir branch chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Atluor Issahaku, said the family was relying on the longstanding relationship between the late MP and President Mahama to help resolve the matter peacefully.

“We as a family remember, are aware of the friendship between the two of you to the extent that when his [late MP’s] mother died, you [President] attended her funeral to console your friend.

“But today, he himself is dead, and the date has been set for his burial, only to be told by the chief of Tuna that no and demanded that we [family] pay a fine, else he will not allow us to bury our kinsman,” Mr Issahaku said.

He added: “We, the family and elders of Dakompilayiri, need you to complete your love for our brother, father and late MP by settling the dust preventing his peaceful burial.”

The family also commended President Mahama for supporting the late MP’s medical treatment in Accra before his death, but said developments after his passing had brought embarrassment to both the family and the NDC.

“The situation has opened the door for our opponent, the New Patriotic Party [NPP], to make a mockery of us.

“They [NPP] are even laughing at us, that every now and then we say NDC and John Mahama, and that here we are stranded and cannot even bury our brother who served the same NDC,” he stated.

Mr Joseph Trumah Bayel passed away in August 2025. He entered Parliament in 1993 on the ticket of the NDC and served until 2005.

NKONKONSA.com