The Multimedia Group Ltd, with its flagship unit, Joy FM, has paid its last respect to Komla Dumor, who is easily, the most successful talent from the pool of talents honed in one of Ghana's foremost media organisations.

At a funeral  ceremony to usher the late Dumor to eternal glory, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Multi TV, Klaus Von Bakustein echoed the sentiments of the Multimedia family describing the late Dumor as a gem of great promise but, who left the Multimedia family all too soon.

The following is the full tribute both in audio and print by the Multimedia Group.

TRIBUTE TO KOMLA AFEKE DUMOR

It was few minutes after 3pm and the Joy News room was bubbling as usual. Even with a skeleton staff on a Saturday, the newsroom was far from a funeral parlor. Real Madrid were in action and so too were Arsenal. The shouts were loud, the jeers thundering. In the mist of the lively chaos, George Wiafe, known for his calm demeanour quietly called us into the production room.

In our usual lightheartedness, we remember asking him if the meeting he was going to have with us was going to bring money. He was exceptionally quiet. We followed him into the small cubicle. He turned and faced us saying, "Komla Dumor is reported dead but we are still confirming."

Minds instantly went blank. Jaws dropped. For several seconds there was just silence. Could this be true? Could this possibly even remotely, be true?

We were all devastated, yet clutching onto a faint hope that the confirmation that we now sought would never come. Komla couldn't be dead. No, he couldn't.

As journalists, when reports or even rumours of death break our call to duty is not to cry or mourn, as others will normally do. Even in grief, our job is to begin researching the background of the person and to begin writing the story. The story of death. How it happened? When it happened? Who was there when it happened? Then we try to get a confirmation from family sources before pushing the story. It is the cruelest part of our job!

But here we were, digging to write the story of death; not of a distant politician or a distant celebrity but the story of death of Komla Afeke Dumor, a colleague who was a role model to many and whose towering credentials remain indelible.

He was in far away BBC but he always found space on Myjoyonline.com because he was always achieving great things.

He was loved so much by the Multimedia Chief Executive, Kwasi Twum (KT), who made it a hobby surfing the net to find if there is anything about his darling boy. And when he found it; he would either call or send a link of that story and demand that it be placed on Myjoyonline.com and given all the prominence it deserved.

On Saturday January 18, 2014, KT, as we affectionately call him failed to send a link. He failed to call. It was a story about Komla but it was a story too hard to break. He never found the strength to confirm it. We did get the confirmation from a family friend of Komla's but we still could not break the story- we had to wait for the family confirmation of the death- that is the convention.

It was the most difficult two hours of our careers in journalism. We had the confirmation from an impeccable source, social media was inundated with reports about the death, our phones were ringing ceaselessly with friends and family members calling to find out if it was true. Praying against the confirmation didn't seem to be working- It had to be true. Komla was no more. We were grieving and yet had to craft the story we were unwilling to broadcast.

As the calls came, so too did colleagues in other departments- flooding into the newsroom to find out if what they were hearing was true or just  rumour but the atmosphere in the newsroom did little to comfort those who held hopes that it was it was it was just a distasteful hoax.

They had heard the news; read about it from several platforms but Joy FM, where Komla was nurtured and groomed for global success had not broken it. Its website, Myjoyonline.com had not published it. Some prayed that Joy would never break the sad and unfortunate news, because if it did, it would have sealed a heart wrenching piece of information so early in the year.

At 5:30pm, Joy FM through George Wiafe and Elton John Brobbey broke its long, forced silence and announced the death of their most beloved Komla Dumor. Myjoyonline.com published it almost simultaneously.

Messages started pouring in. For the first time colleagues, who were with Komla Dumor in his days at Joy FM and who rattled the queens language with such proficiency and extravagance were groping for words to describe the man they so loved and cherished.

Doreen Andoh, host of the Cosmopolitan mix, the show that follows Komla's Super Morning Show, remembered how she swapped witty jokes and slogans with the boss player.

 Matilda Asante Asiedu and Dzifa Bampoh could not be heard. Their low sweet voices had been subdued and taken over by grief.

Charles Mensah, Samens, Stan Dogbe and Eugenia Appiah were too overwhelmed to speak.

Kofi Ansah, current Programmes Director could not find one word to describe Komla Dumor as he was asked to do. He called him the "presenters presenter."

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, usually witty struggled for words. He mumbled all through the interview as he openly wept.

And who would not grieve over the death of a-41-year-old gem. A man with such promise, easily, the most successful broadcast journalist Joy FM, Ghana and Africa have produced.  We will all miss you dearly, Komla.

In grief, our thoughts turn to those whose pain could only be more intense than ours. Your wife, Kwansema, your three lovely kids, Elinam, Emefa and Araba, your father Professor Ernest Dumor and your siblings Mawuena and Korshi.

Rest in Perfect Peace Komla Afeke Dumor!!!!!!!! There will never be another you!