Atta Mills 12 Years On: Major political happenings since July 24, 2012

GhanaWeb Feature by Etsey Atisu

Perhaps, the scariest, most unbelievable political news in the history of the Fourth Republic in Ghana was what hit everyone on Tuesday, July 24, 2012.

Confirmed to have died at 14:15 PM, the news of the death of the sitting president, Prof John Evans Atta Mills, swept through the country like a plague. Beyond the shock and the doubts, it was true and everything just reset in ways that no one planned.

12 years on, so much has happened in the country he left behind so abruptly. In fact, had Prof John Atta Mills been alive, he would have turned 80 on Sunday, July 21, 2024.

It also means that in the last 12 years, posthumously, the late former president has missed quite a lot of things that have transpired in his country.

Here in this article, GhanaWeb reflects on some of the most predominant news headlines, particularly in politics, that have taken place in the period that he has been away.

Let’s begin with news about the sitting president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo because since Prof John Evans Atta Mills died, the man who contested him for the presidency in 2008 has won two consecutive elections.

In 2016, after John Dramani Mahama, who succeeded Atta Mills, lost the elections to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), it marked one of the widest margins between two leading contenders in Ghanaian electoral history.

Since then, Akufo-Addo has won another election, and is in his final months of serving his constitutional two terms as president.

Carlos Ahenkorah incident in parliament

Ahead of what will become known as the historic hung parliament in Ghana, on the morning of the vote in the House for a Speaker of Parliament, a most unusual thing happened when the Member of Parliament for Tema West, Carlos Ahenkorah, snatched uncounted ballot papers and attempted to bolt with it. This was after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament began celebrating what they expected to be a victory in their favour. The former Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, who was not previously sighted, ran to the table during counting and snatched the ballots of Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye (former Speaker of Parliament) and attempted to bolt with it.

He was quickly chased and accosted at the entrance of the parliamentary chamber and physically challenged by some NDC MPs.

The Chief Whip on the NDC side at the time, who also doubles as MP for Asawase, Mohammed-Muntaka Mubarak, also went after him in a chase and secured the ballot papers which were returned to the table.



Historic Hung Parliament in Ghana:

Since President John Atta Mills died, Ghana has had a hung parliament, which only means that in the House, there is no clear majority side because the tally of Members of Parliament on either side (the NDC and the NPP) are split exactly in the middle.

This is unprecedented in the history of the country but that is not the most interesting aspect of that situation.

First time Speaker of Parliament is from the Minority:

At the end of votes in Parliament on the morning of January 7, 2021, for the first time, the election of the Speaker of Parliament was counted in favour of the opposition political party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Alban Bagbin was declared the winner of the vote for Speaker, beating Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye.

Bagbin, who served as MP on the side of the NDC since the inception of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, pulled a surprise in his win, emerging leader of Parliament at a time the country also had its first-ever hung parliament.

There have been quite a number of happenings in parliament, including the deaths of some MPs that could have created a clear-cut case of majority and minority, but the trend has remained.

Military invaded Parliament

Still talking about issues surrounding the current parliament – the 8th Parliament of Ghana, another unexpected thing happened on the night of the election of a Speaker of Parliament.

In the most unexplainable circumstances, some uniformed and armed military men stormed the Chamber of Parliament.

This was in the moment of the fracas in the House during the election of the Speaker of Parliament.

Explanations that followed afterwards said that the soldiers were in the House to break up the scuffle between the rival lawmakers.

The action was widely condemned.

JJ Rawlings died

And then another major news since Mills died was the death of his former boss and president, Jerry John Rawlings.

His death occurred on November 12, 2020, just a few days shy of the general elections.

He died at the age of 73.

Kofi Annan died:

Another major political death within the period was that of Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General.

He died peacefully after a short illness on August 18, 2018, at the age of 80.

Two new EC Commissioners who are all women:

Between 2012 and now, there have been new Commissioners of the Electoral Commission of Ghana.

After Kwadwo Afari-Gyan retired as the longest-serving Chairperson of the EC in 2015, John Dramani Mahama appointed then Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Charlotte Osei, as the new EC chairperson.

Her reign was, however, very short because in 2018, under the presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, she was removed from office.

Together with two of her deputies, Charlotte Osei was removed based on recommendations from the committee that investigated matters of corruption and misconduct allegations brought against them after the 2016 elections.

Charlotte Osei was accused of taking unilateral decisions without recourse to the appropriate departments of the EC, engaging in fraudulent activities and citing her decision to cancel a contract awarded to Superlock Technologies Limited (STL) to supply and manage Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) machines and the Biometric Voter Devices (BVDs), as well as her directive for the payment of $76,000 to IT firm, Dream Oval.

Charlotte Osei, however, denied any wrongdoing.

Akufo-Addo then appointed Jean Mensa, then head of the Institute of Economic Affairs, to take over the EC, a position she has held to date.



Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur died :

And then there was news of the death of the man who served under John Mahama as vice president, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur.

On June 29, 2018, at the age of 67, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur was reported dead after he was said to have collapsed at the Airforce Gym in Accra during a workout.

He was rushed to the 37 Military Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Two election petitions:

Within the period as well, there have been two Election Petitions at the Supreme Court of Ghana.

The first happened in 2013 after Nana Akufo-Addo dragged John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the Supreme Court, challenging the results of the 2012 general elections.

The court eventually upheld the decision of the EC that John Mahama won the elections.

And in 2021, another similar case happened when the tables turned and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo beat John Mahama in the 2020 elections.

Mahama also dragged Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the Supreme Court to contest the results of the polls and was also ruled against by the justices of the apex court.

First time a president in the Fourth Republic served one term:

That brings us to how, for the first time, a president under the Fourth Republic only served one term in office.

John Mahama’s defeat in the 2016 elections made him the first and only president so far to serve only one term in office, although he is making another attempt at returning to the highest office of the land to complete his constitutional last set of four years.

Founders’ Day modified or scrapped:

After some deliberations, the Akufo-Addo government decided to scrap the September 21 Founder’s Day and rather introduce new national days to mark what they say is the celebration of the collective efforts of some personalities who contributed to Ghana’s independence.

This brought about the August 4 Founders’ Day, which is now a statutory public holiday, while the September 21 day, which, for almost a decade, was observed as Founder’s Day, is now merely observed as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day.

Party in power demands sacking of Minister of Finance:

For the first time, the members of the ruling party decided to press home demands for the removal of one of their own; the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta. He had served in that capacity from 2017 to 2024.

Led by some over 80 Members of Parliament from the NPP, they mounted pressure on President Nana Akufo-Addo to sack Ofori-Atta or they will boycott government business in Parliament.

This was a major demand because this happened in this period when Parliament was hung, meaning that decisions by the government would have always faced rejections from the Minority without the support of the Majority MPs.

Their reason stemmed from how the minister had managed the economy and the fact that the MPs believed that Ken Ofori-Atta was not acting in the best interest of the citizens of Ghana, which ultimately was affecting their respective constituents.

The matter was also related to a Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) initiated by the Ministry of Finance.

In the DDEP, the government initially said it would affect securities dealers and funds, private banks and investment companies, insurance schemes, pension funds, and non-resident investors, but after pressure and threats of strikes by labor unions, they excluded pension funds.

Akufo-Addo eventually removed Ofori-Atta from office but that was when the calls appeared to have relatively reduced.



COVID-19 ravaged the world:

In 2020, Ghana recorded its first cases of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) which brought many economies of the world to a standstill.

The global disease phenomenon crashed the economy in unexpected ways, with several hundreds of people succumbing to the viral infection.

It became fashionable to walk around in face masks, constantly have alcohol-based sanitisers on you, and often wash your hands.

At a point, the country was ‘locked down’ and the movements of people were strictly limited.

Russia-Ukraine War:

Even as the world was recovering from the ravages of COVID-19, a war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, which greatly impacted the rest of the world in a way.

The war has continued to form part of excuses given by the government in its attempts to defend why the economy has been crumbling.

Seat of Government moved from Castle to Flagstaff House (Jubilee House):

At the time Professor John Evans Atta Mills died, the official seat of government was at the Christiansborg Castle at Osu, Accra, but it has since been moved to the Flagstaff House.

The first occupant of the new official seat of government was John Dramani Mahama.

Upon assuming office, President Nana Akufo-Addo changed the name of the seat of government to Jubilee House, from what used to be known as Flagstaff House.

Major Mahama lynched:

On May 29, 2017, a small town in the Central Region called Denkyira-Obuasi, gained popularity, albeit negatively, when videos emerged from there about the gruesome way they lynched a Ghana Army officer, Major Maxwell Mahama.

He was mistaken for an armed thief and attacked by a mob who beat him to death, using stones, building blocks and sticks, after which they set him on fire.

After many years, a court found the actors of this horrific act guilty and sentenced 12 of them to life imprisonment.



Two major political candidates for presidency from Northern Ghana:

Ghana goes to the polls on December 7, 2024, for a crucial election, even as Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ends his two terms as president but that is not all; that makes the pending polls intriguing.

For the first time, the presidential candidates of the two leading parties in the country: the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are both from the northern parts of Ghana.

They are John Dramani Mahama of the NDC and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia of the NPP.

Building on that, for the first time, a woman was selected as a running mate by one of the leading political parties in the country four years ago and has been chosen again for the 2024 polls.

Should Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang’s candidature help the NDC and John Mahama win the 2024 elections, she will become the first-ever female vice president of Ghana.

National Cathedral construction:

President Akufo-Addo has been trying to fulfil a personal promise he made to God to build him a National Cathedral.

The cathedral, which is estimated to cost about $400 million, with recent projections saying it will cost over GH₵1 billion, included the demolition, relocation and other compensations of people and offices who used to reside at the location of the project.

As of today, the project has only gone as far as the foundational level although Akufo-Addo initially projected that it would be commissioned on March 6, 2024.

Ghana Card is the main ID in Ghana:

Thanks to the work of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in digitalising Ghana, the Ghana Card has become the most important ID for any citizen.

The government has claimed that with the Ghana Card, a person can travel to other parts of the world without a passport. However, not every registered Ghanaian has received their card, as the National Identification Authority seems to be facing logistical challenges and other issues.

Nana Akufo-Addo moves around with his chair:

With not much of an explanation given to this spectacle, President Akufo-Addo has become the only known president to travel around the country with his own chair.

In fact, there is a dedicated car that carries this gold-plated chair around for him to sit on, no matter the occasion.



Otumfuo receives returned stolen Ashanti artefacts from Britain:

On the occasion of his silver jubilee as King of the Ashanti Kingdom in 2024, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, received some Ashanti artefacts currently found in some British museums back to Ghana for a brief moment.

These artefacts, most of which were stolen during the colonial era, including the Sagrenti War, were returned to Kumasi and displayed for the public at a point.

The items were later returned to the UK although Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has made a case for the UK to permanently return them, scrapping the law in the UK that prohibits stolen artefacts such as these from being permanently returned to the original countries.

Attempted coup:

Although the case was eventually thrown out of court, there was a reported case of an attempted coup by some people, including a former senior police officer, ACP Dr. Benjamin Agordzo, although he was found not guilty in the case.

He was acquitted by a three-member panel of the Accra High Court in January 2024.

This list is inexhaustive but GhanaWeb will leave it here for now.