President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has joined hundreds of mourners at Keta Senior High Technical School (KETASCO) Park to pay his last respect to the late Mrs Gertrude Essie Quashigah (nee Darteh).
Also, in attendance to bid farewell to the wife of the late Major (Rtd) Courage Quashigah, a former Minister of Health, and Agriculture under the Kufuor government, was the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo.
Among other dignitaries at the funeral were Madam Akosua Frema Osei Opare, the Chief of Staff, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister, and other national, high-ranking members of government, Regional and Constituency Executives of the ruling New Patriotic Party.
Mrs Quashigah, the former National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) and Chief Executive Officer of Ambar Quality Foods Limited, died on Sunday, November 12, 2023, at age 63.
Under her leadership, the GSFP made remarkable strides in ensuring that schoolchildren nationwide had access to nutritious meals.
The programme, a government intervention, which started in 2005 to provide food to children in public basic schools from kindergarten to primary six, aims to increase school enrolment, attendance and retention while reducing short-term hunger and malnutrition among pupils.
Some attendees speaking to Ghana News Agency at the funeral, described her as someone, who had left a mark on the nation’s socio-economic landscape by dint of dedicated service and entrepreneurial endeavours.
A staff from the GSFP alluded to the significant contributions the late Mrs Quashigah made as the GSFP boss, saying, she worked to uplift the country’s educational system and improve lives of many schoolchildren and that “her legacy which is the power of perseverance, compassion, and leadership will inspire Ghana’s future generations.”
