Mills was visionless - Sekou Nkrumah

Dr. Sekou Nkrumah has indicated that inasmuch as Ghanaians will eulogize late President Atta Mills, his negative traits must as well be highlighted.

Shedding light on his weaknesses, Sekou described former President Mills as a man of “double standard” since his days as a lecturer at the University of Ghana to his era as the president.

Dwelling on his three-and-half-years presidency, he faulted president Mills for failing to rein in foulmouthed appointees in his government and party – National Democratic Congress.

He recalled that the late president went about preaching peace and deploring foul language and corruption, but his own officials indulged in the same things he spoke against.

He said for President Mills to sit down and act as though he appalled misdemeanor while he supervised over officials who wallowed in the same behaviour exposed “the element of naivety and hypocrisy” in Prof. Mills.

“Are you somebody who is thinking OK, let them do this chopping (dissipating resources) and so on, but in the interest of the party, [because] that is how we finance the party. Or was it that you just want to close your eye and pretend these things don’t exist, but they exist?”

Speaking on Asempa FM's Ekosii Sen on Tuesday, he also described Mills as a president without vision and lacked dynamism.

“As a leader, if you want to leave a legacy you must have a vision. What is it that you can tell me it is Professor Mills’ vision? Forget about manifestos …can you point one concrete achievement of Prof. Mills as the president of this country? That is where my problem is, and I think that is a big weakness in Prof. We need the kind of leadership that has a vision to move and do things differently, and Prof. did not have that.”

Ironically, Prof. Mills was “a perfect vice president” under former President Jerry John Rawlings, he claimed.

Moreover, Sekou Nkrumah saw Prof. Mills as friendly and a fine gentleman – professionally and academically - which “nobody can dispute that”.

Also, he recalled that under his leadership, Prof. Mills “brought level headedness” into the NDC which caused many to join the party.

Former President Mills died on July 24, 2012 in the afternoon, three days after celebrating his 68th birthday.