Under the solemn skies above the Black Star Square, Mrs Rita Omane Boamah’s words cut through the heavy silence of national mourning, carrying the weight of a love interrupted by tragedy.
In a tribute read on her behalf during the state funeral for the eight Ghanaians who perished in the August 6 military helicopter crash, Mrs Boamah revisited the question her late husband, Defence Minister Dr Edward Kofi Omane Boamah, asked countless times: “Abena Rita, what will you do when I am not around?”
“I never answered you,” she admitted, her words trembling with grief. “And till today, I still don’t have an answer.”
She painted a portrait of their life together — from an unlikely first meeting on a medical school bus (even though she wasn’t a medical student) to years of laughter, shared dreams, and late-night walks. To their children, he was not just a father but their favourite teacher, effortlessly blending his roles as doctor, politician, and family man.
“Despite your busy schedule, you either bathed the children every morning or dressed them while I bathed them. You knew their syllabus back to front,” she recalled with fondness.
Promising to carry on his legacy, she said, “I will, with God’s help, take care of mummy and our three kids, knowing you will be looking down on us from the heavens.”
Her final words to him were as personal as they were powerful: “Kofi B, thank you for loving me, the children, my family, and everyone who came to know you. Rest in power, my love.”
Dr Omane Boamah’s name now joins the roll of national heroes lost in the crash, alongside Minister for Environment Dr Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, politician Samuel Aboagye, NDC Vice Chairman Samuel Sarpong, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator Alhaji Limuna Muniru Mohammed, and Air Force crew members Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manin Twum-Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.
In the quiet that followed her tribute, the nation was reminded that behind every fallen leader is a family — and a love story — forever changed.
