When Angels Depart: Birthday That Became Benediction -- Honouring the memory of Alhaji Limuna Muniru

When Angels Depart: Birthday That Became Benediction -- Honouring the memory of Alhaji Limuna Muniru

By: Ananpansah Bartholomew Abraham (AB)Assemblyman, Canteen Electoral Area(0241129910/0200704844)

Today , August 8, was meant to be a day of light, laughter, and legacy. It was meant to shine with hope. The birthday of our beloved fallen hero.

One hundred adolescent girls from the Greater Canteen Electoral Area were poised to benefit from the noble heart of Honourable Alhaji Limuna Muniru through a life - transforming initiative championing menstrual hygiene,  empowerment, and skills development. A man whose name echoed compassion, whose every birthday was an act of selfless giving.

But alas,death, which is too painful to remember, too cruel to understand - interrupted our joy and wrote sorrow across the skies. It stole from us a leader and a legacy in motion. 

Today, the 8th of August, would have marked the birthday of Alhaji Limuna Muniru, Ag. Deputy National Security Coordinator, former Minister for Agriculture, and the visionary behind the "Hope Again" literally translated as Tamawuta Foundation - in our cherished Gonja tongue. A fallen hero in the tragic plane crash that took the lives of eight of our finest statesmen. Our hearts still bleed.

Alhaji Muniru habitually dedicated this day to lifting the downtrodden, empowering the voiceless, and nurturing the hopes of the underprivileged. 

He was not a man of mere words; he lived his values. On every birthday, he chose service over celebration. It was on this very date, just last year, that he launched the Tamawuta Foundation - a beacon of hope for the underprivileged child. I had the rare privilege of witnessing that launch and the sincerity with which he pledged to sustain the vision.

Barely weeks ago, I received a call from the project coordinator of the foundation. Plans were underway to commemorate Alhaji’s birthday with a life-changing programme, where 100 young girls from my beloved electoral area stand to benefit hugely - offering free sanitary pads, menstrual hygiene education, and a precious chance to interact directly with the CEO himself at the Damongo Community Centre. The honour extended further: I was invited to a private birthday dinner with him. It was a moment I treasured deeply.

I immediately mobilised the girls, collected their contact details, and began preparing them for the occasion. They were full of joy, eager to meet the man behind the kindness. Later, the coordinator followed up with news of an expanded programme - a Tamawuta Skill Hub to train girls in soap and detergent making, vegetable preservation, branding, entrepreneurship, and legal advocacy in child and human rights. It was to be a four-day experience - August 8 to 11 - blessed with wisdom and hope.

But then came August 6: where fate had other plans:

A missed call. A heart too preoccupied. And then… silence turned to sirens.

On this faithful dark Wednesday,I missed a morning call - likely a reminder about the programme. Later that day, the airwaves filled with chilling reports: a government aircraft had gone missing. Anxiety gripped the nation. And when the dust settled, our fears were confirmed. Alhaji Limuna Muniru was among the fallen. I was left in disbelief. Shocked. Broken.

At that moment, everything stilled. The programme was postponed indefinitely. The dream deferred.

Savannah Region has lost an irreplaceable gem. Ghana has lost a statesman of deep convictions and a boundless heart. A man with a heart vast enough to carry the hopes of a generation.  As HE John Dramani Mahama rightly described him, "a humble yet effective public servant."

Many dreams rested upon his shoulders - dreams now suspended in sorrow.

My personal memories with Alhaji are too vast for this tribute. Words may fail to capture them. They stretch beyond this moment and call for an entire memoir. 

For now, I mourn quietly, with a trembling heart.

Yet we do not weep without hope.

We do not question the will of God. 

For it is written, "it is appointed unto every soul to pass through the veil..."

We are too mortal to question the eternal. But in our grief, we pray - for his family, for the grieving nation, for the many lives he touched and would have touched still.

May the Almighty stretch forth His healing hand and comfort our broken hearts and the troubled soul of our beloved nation.

This is a dark day in our collective history. But even in this darkness, his legacy shines. We shall carry forward the light he left behind.

May the good Lord show compassion to the eight fallen heroes and all the faithful, departed souls.

Forever in our hearts. Never again.