John Evans Atta Mills – A Dictator In Disguise

To all those who were fooled into the belief that candidate John Evans Atta Mills was indeed an “Asomdwehene” or King of Peace, his true colors have emerged as president. One day out of the week he goes to Church and declares that God is the president and that he owes no apologies for believing in God. The remaining six days he connives, tries to intimidate, and harasses anyone, including the main challenger in his own party, who dares threatens his continued presidency. He sends his foul-mouthed lieutenants to insult everyone else, but when anyone dares insults him, he sends the police to arrest and harass them. Dare encourage the people to defend their God given rights and to resist the oppressor’s rule, and he would invoke the “Red Security Alert” on you. But what conclusively indicates President Mills’ inclination to dictatorship emerged in two stances he has taken over the last few months on important international issues.

It is patently contradicting to profess peace while at the same time supporting a president who, after losing an election, decides to risk throwing his country into a state of anarchy by refusing to step down. Ivorian President Gagbo’s flat refusal to hand over power to a democratically elected president is such a slap in the face of democracy that, for once, the entire world except President Mills is on the same page asking him to leave office. Even stranger is President Mill’s silence in Abuja where the ECOWAS Declaration was agreed upon to use force if needed to oust Gagbo while all the while believing differently. No sooner had the ink with which Mills signed the declaration dried up did he turn around to declare that he would not contribute forces to enforce that declaration.

It is not unreasonable to deduce from President Mills’ stance on Cote d’Ivoire that as the world gets used to presidents ignoring the will of the people through the ballot box, his up coming plans, perhaps to emulate that defiance in 2012 would not be such an outlier as to attract the wrath of the United Nations and other world bodies. Mills’ plan is simple – help establish precedence, then like a lawyer relying on *stare decisis*, further the trend.

Some have argued rather lamely that Ghana’s close proximity to Cote d’Ivoire and the fear of refugee influx were factors in Mills’ decision not to join the world to pressure Gagbo out. For a while, that argument appeared to make sense until the Libyan uprising began. Here again, President Mills decided to be on the wrong side of history. Again no sooner had the United Nation’s no-fly-zone been imposed on Mouamar Gadhafi to prevent him from massacring his own people did Mills send his Foreign Minister Alhaji Mumuni to speak out against the UN measure. Here again, through shenanigans, Mills appears to be backing another dictator. It is thus clear that President Mills’ vision for Africa is the perpetuation of entrenched dictatorship when the rest of the world is favoring democracy.

Here is a warning to President Mills that he could do worse than ignore. If he finds the tactics of Gagbo and Gadhafi admirable, that is his prerogative. But woe betides him to try and ignore the imminent voice of Ghanaians in 2012 if the people overwhelmingly decide to fire him for ineptitude, corruption, deception, violence, intimidation, divisiveness, and pettiness. We Ghanaians have been peaceful for 54 years now, and it is in our collective interest to maintain that tranquility. But we shall not allow a repeat of Cote d’Ivoire in Ghana. After all no tanks and jets can stop long suffering and determined people who want to live free or die resisting tyranny. All-die-be-die.