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It is legendary Highlife artiste Kojo Antwi’s opinion that state burial to commemorate the memory of late celebrities is insignificant.

Since time immemorial, the forecourt of Parliament House has been designated for state burials as a way of paying utmost respect to the personalities who, during their lifetime, made significant impact in their respective fields.

This, The Maestro, as he is affectionately called, believes does not tell the real story of the struggles the celebrities faced in their quest to make history.

“Yes state burial is beautiful, after that what happens?” he quizzed the benefit of the elaborate funeral. Kojo Antwi is pioneering an agenda for late celebrities to be honoured in an unconventional way; including being named after monumental buildings or carved as marble statues.

“If we can name some of them after roundabouts, streets, community centres or we we make a symbolic representation, I am sure someone will see and ask, ‘who is this great guy’?” he said at the sidelines of a health screening by Kojo Antwi Foundation in collaboration with Royal Fantasy Club at Obo at Kwahu in the Eastern Region.

In the case of musician Nana Ampadu who passed on last year after entertaining Ghanaians for almost five decades, Kojo Antwi proposed a statue of him holding his guitar. 

According to him, the move is geared towards alerting the government to recognise the effort of stakeholders, especially in the Creative Arts industry.