Mills bounces back

The issue about what exactly killed the late President John Evans Atta Mills refuses to die a natural death, as questions are still being asked as to what might have caused his death.

Even though Mills’ younger brother, Dr Cadman Mills, claims his brother died of what he now calls ‘hemorrhagic stroke’ and not the massive stroke as he once told Ghanaians, people are still not clear in their minds about what really killed the man.

Some have indeed asked the government to come out with the content of the autopsy report on the late president on the eve of the third anniversary of his passing on.

The late president would have marked his 71st birthday yesterday.

He died on July 24, 2012, in a bizarre circumstance at the 37 Military Hospital.

Government has shied away from telling Ghanaians what exactly caused the late president’s death.

But Cadman believes some of the claims about his brother’s death are stupid and mindless.

“We were taken aback by some of the stupid claims by people who said they knew the cause of his death” were his exact words in an interview on Kasapa FM Tuesday morning.

That, according to him, was because “He wasn’t poisoned as has been suggested,” describing the speculations as “mindless.”

“Believe me, we can discuss this until kingdom comes and a lot of people will have a lot of questions. And they would do their own speculations. They would point to things that happened 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, even up to childhood that could possibly have caused his death. It’s pure and mindless speculations,” Cadman fumed.

According to him, “…at least as far as science is concerned, we are able to determine with reasonable certainty what cause of death is; that’s what I would go by. Conspiracy theories would always exist,” insisting that his brother and former President Mills died of “natural causes.”

He claimed, “The family has put out exactly what it was…the immediate cause of death. Please, it was very sudden; he fell, bled through his nose and mouth. When an autopsy was conducted, it was consistent with arteries breaking. Very close with hemorrhagic stroke.”

For this reason, he charged, “People should stop making all those speculations.”

The third in a series of annual memorial lectures was held in the late president’s honour yesterday.

The event, which took place on the main campus of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), was addressed by former Governor of Ekiti State in Nigeria, Dr Kayode Fayemi, under the theme, ‘The Role of Intellectuals in African Politics and Governance.’

Present were Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur and a host of government officials and high profile personalities, including a former minister in the erstwhile Rawlings administration, Dr Christina Amoako Nuamah, who chaired the function.

The maiden Atta Mills Memorial Lecture was delivered by Professor Kwamena Ahwoi, former minister in the Rawlings administration, while the second was delivered by Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, former deputy foreign minister of Ghana and the current UN Special Representative for West Africa.