Tributes are being paid to Ghana’s Deputy Finance Minister John Kumah, who died of an undisclosed illness on Thursday.

He was aged 45.

Kumah died in the company of his doctor while an ambulance was taking him from Ejisu – the constituency where was MP – to the capital, Accra, about 235km (146 miles) away.

“We decided this morning to take him to Accra so that he takes the next available flight to continue his treatment in Germany,” Kumah’s spokesperson, Bismarck Owusu Twumasi, told Ghana’s Citi FM radio station on Thursday.

“Unfortunately he was not fit enough to board the plane so we decided to take [an] ambulance and take him to Accra,” Mr Twumasi added.

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has led the country in paying tributes to Mr Kumah.

“His warmth, humility, and genuine concern for others endeared him to me and to all who crossed his path,” President Akufo-Addo said on X.

The president also highlighted Kumah’s “unwavering dedication to service, his tireless commitment to the betterment of our nation, and his profound passion for uplifting the lives of the people of Ejisu and Ghana”.

Mr Twumasi said Kumah’s demise was a loss to his constituents.

Kumah was also a lawyer, preacher and entrepreneur.

He is survived by a wife and six children.