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| What Killed Mills; Otuam Family Cries |
7/28/2013 |
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The controversy over what killed the late President, John Evans Atta Mills has resurfaced again as his family members in his Ekumfi Otuam home renew their demand from President John Mahama an authentic post-mortem report about the cause of his death.
Leading the charge is the family’s spokesperson, Paul Ackom, who has served notice that “we would battle the government to furnish us with this information. Governments will come and go and this issue must be resolved. No matter the number of years that elapse after his death, we would continue to make this demand.”
The family’s demand coincides with the one-year anniversary of the demise of the late President Atta Mills.
This was during an interview on Oman FM’s ‘National Agenda’ morning show hosted by Fiifi Boafo yesterday.
The family is also angry that they have not been recognised by the government in the celebration of the anniversary.
Ackom, who was speaking from Otuam, hometown of the late President in the Central Region where family members gathered to mark the anniversary, said it was important to bring to a closure what killed Mills.
He said government could go on with their version of the celebration in Accra but they would do theirs in the deceased’s hometown, since after all his soul resided there.
Medical Report
“We are asking President John Mahama who claims the late President was his mentor to provide us with the medical report about his death,” he said.
He dismissed claims by Dr. Cadman Mills, brother of the late President, that the deceased died of mild stroke asking “can mild stroke kill? He bled from his nose and ears. He went to office at the Castle in the morning to work; then we were told about his death. Let them tell the whole world what killed him. We are holding President Mahama responsible for the medical report about Mills’s death.”
Apart from that, he said Cadman Mills was only a brother to the deceased and that the issue at stake involved the whole larger family.
Bane
The family spokesman could not but asked rhetorically “is Cadman a medical doctor?” in relationship to the claim that his brother died of a mild stroke.
“We want an authentic medical report about what killed Mills from a renowned medical doctor from the United States,” he said.
The question about what killed the late President Mills is being posed at a time when the celebration of the first anniversary of his death had peaked with activities lined up for the Asomdwee Park, where he was interred.
The bitterness in the family of the deceased about his burial outside his hometown popped up in his remarks, when the family spokesman wondered why other statesmen such as Busia, Aliu Mahama and others were interred in their hometowns with the exception of their brother (late Mills), who was buried in Accra, asking rhetorically “what wrong have we done?”
On whether there has been any development in the deceased’s hometown since his death, he answered in the negative adding, “President Mahama and Hon. Joe Gidisu came here sometime ago and promised to do something for the town but to date nothing has happened in that regard.
“We don’t want money. We are fishermen and that is what we know. We live by the sea,” he said.
No Projects
Earlier, the chief of Otuam town, who is domiciled in the US, challenged the attribution of certain development projects to government, pointing out that “I initiated the project while in the US and had it executed. I have not seen any development project undertaken by government here.”
The late President Atta Mills died exactly a year yesterday under circumstances shrouded in controversy. A year after his demise, family members are still demanding an authentic post-mortem report on what killed him.
The issue of what killed the late President has virtually become a taboo or a no-go area for most government officials, including the man who used to be his Communications Director and right-hand man, Koku Anyidoho.
When the issue came up for discussion on the same platform yesterday, Koku who has admitted life has been tough without Mills, brushed it aside yesterday saying “I beg you I don’t want to go there.”
What remains uncertain is whether this latest call by the family of late President would compel the Mahama government to come out and make public what exactly caused his death or better still an authentic autopsy report to settle the matter once and for all.
Family Sidelined
The acting President of Ekumfi Traditional Council, Nana Mprim VII, expressed concern about the way the government sidelined the Traditional Council during the funeral ceremony as well as the first anniversary celebration.
According to him, although the late President hailed from the place, the government has not done enough in remembrance of Mills in the area.
“I’m sad that the funeral planning committee ignored the traditional council in planning the first anniversary celebration of our beloved son, President Mills,” he said at Otuam yesterday.
He emphasised the need for President Mahama to fulfil all promises made by the late President to the people in the area.
He cited some of the promises as establishment of vocational and technical school and the tarring of roads in the area.
He also questioned the motive behind the siting of the Atta Mills Research Centre in Cape Coast instead of Ekumfi Otuam.
He bemoaned that some pipelines which were being laid in the area were not enough.
The Central Regional Minister, Samuel Sarpong, assured the traditional council of the President’s commitment to deliver on the promises made to the people of Ekumfi.
Mr. Sarpong explained that Atta Mills Research Centre was being constructed in Cape Coast because it was the regional capital.
The anniversary celebration was nearly marred by the heavy downpour.
Asafo Companies and frontonfron drums were beaten to herald the anniversary.
DAILY GUIDE observed that as at 10:30 am, the people had just started arranging chairs and canopies at the Methodist School Park where the programme was held.
Asomdwee Park
The anniversary was climaxed with a wreath-laying ceremony where dignitaries including former President Jerry John Rawlings attended with his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.
The event, which attracted huge attendance, was held at the Asomdwee Park and also beamed live on national television.
In attendance were President Mahama, his Vice, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur and his wife, the widow and former First Lady, Ernestina Naadu Mills, Speaker of Parliament Edward Doe Adjaho, Chief Justice Georgina Wood, Ministers of State, government officials and heads of various security agencies.
It was a solemn reflection on the death of President Mills, which happened exactly a year yesterday.
At exactly 2:15pm, the time officials announced President Mills’ death, a siren was sounded at the Asomdwee Park followed by two minutes of silence in remembrance of the man christened ‘Asomdwehene’, whose death shook the entire nation.
The only son of the late President, Samuel Kofi Atta Mills, was visibly left out of the programme as he did not lay a wreath on his late father’s grave. However, he accompanied Cadman Mills to lay one.
It is not clear whether it was intentional or a mere oversight on the part of the Kofi Totobi Quakyi-led committee tasked to organise the activities marking the one-year anniversary.
The man who served as his Communications Director, Koku Anyidoho, was perched at an area standing all alone looking not only worried but also devastated, probably reminiscing the moments he shared with the late President since he was seen as his right hand man.
Eulogy
President Mahama described the late President as “a great crusader for social justice, peace, love and the politics of tolerance and inclusion.”
“A year ago about this very same time, the tragic news had just been received and up there in my office at the Castle, I recollect vividly as if it were only yesterday the emotional breakdown that I suffered upon hearing,” he noted.
He described the death as “a grief that was so intense that it shook the very foundation of our land; it cast a dark cloud over our country and set the hearts of all Ghanaians bleeding with shock and sorrow.”
Apart from that, he indicated that “the nation felt a deep sense of remorse because his passing caused us to re-evaluate the harshness, the scorn and cynicism with which we had often treated his attempts to recapture the fellow-feeling and ethical values that had kept us united for generations.”
He, therefore, asked Ghanaians to, as he put it “rededicate ourselves to the many things that the late Professor John Evans Atta Mills stood for; peace, social justice, building a country of a united people devoid of deep-seated partisan interest, being a father for all and developing Ghana into a country of equal opportunities without regard to partisan, tribal, religious or any other considerations.”
“We as a people must continue to build where he left off,” he charged while imploring the youth to be inspired by the attributes of the late President and resolve to be instruments of positive change in the country.
President Mahama further tasked Ghanaians that “in everything we do, let us ask ourselves what the impact of our actions or inaction will be on our nation and our fellow citizens.”
By so doing, he stressed the belief that “we shall be doing honour to the memory of our departed President.”
By Charles Takyi-Boadu & Sarah Afful, Ekumfi Otuam
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