By Abiola Olawale
Ghana, as well as the diplomatic community, has been thrown into a mourning state as the country’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Alhaji Rashid Bawa has passed away.
The 83-year-old diplomat, who had also served as Ghana’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, succumbed to the cold hands of death in Nigeria on Thursday.
Though details of his death remain sketchy as of press time, the New Diplomat gathered that the remains of Bawa had been flown back to Ghana for burial under Islamic culture.
The New Diplomat also reports that Bawa was a Ghanaian politician, diplomat, and a member of the New Patriotic Party of Ghana. He was Ghana’s ambassador to Nigeria until his death on Thursday.
He had previously served as Ghana’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He was a former Member of Parliament. He was the member of parliament for Akan Constituency of the Republic of Ghana from January 7, 2001, to January 6, 2005, as an independent.
He was elected as the member of parliament for the Akan constituency in the Volta region in the 3rd parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana.
Bawa was elected as a member of parliament for the Akan constituency in the 2000 Ghanaian general elections. He was an independent candidate for the said elections.
His constituency was the second independent candidate to win the 2000 election in the Volta Region. He was elected with 12,306 votes out of 22,533 total valid votes cast.
This was equivalent to 54.9% of the total valid votes cast. He was elected over John K. Gyapong of the National Democratic Congress, Kofi Asiedu-Mensah of the New Patriotic Party, Gibson-Godfried Akromah of the Convention People’s Party, and Peter K.E. Ansah of the National Reformed Party.
