Was the late President Mills a man of Peace?

No, I doubt it.

Fellow Ghanaians, our late President, John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills was not an angel. He was fallible and indeed made grievous mistakes, to numerous to count. Being sons of the Living God who shall judge both the living and the dead, I feel that we ought to tell the story the way it is; nothing but the truth.

We have painted a picture of the late President Mills as if he was next to Jesus Christ. Some even allege that he is Christ incarnate. We have heaped all kinds of praises on him as if he never made any mistake. That the late President came from a humble background and initially exhibited signs of humility is not in doubt.

But as President of this country and Asomdwehene for that matter I beg to differ. His membership of the Nefarious Destructive Cancer eroded all signs of humility in him. The accolade of ‘Asomdwehene’ bestowed on him is therefore the greatest joke of the century. When did the late President exhibit signs of peace during his presidency? At least his comments on the Kenya crisis revealed that peace was the last thing one could find in his dictionary.

Obviously, my strong stance against accolades being heaped on the late President stems from the fact that he could not bring the young Turks in his administration under control. He always spoke of peace and peaceful co-existence but his appointees never subscribed to the mantra as members of his Communication Team had a field day heaping insults on his political opponents, especially, the Flag-bearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo. Whenever any topic was being discussed, those rabid dogs, hyenas, vultures, venomous vipers would steer the topic to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and discuss him in the most uncomplimentary terms

The then Vice President and current President, John Dramani Mahama went to the ridiculous extent of referring to members of the opposition New Patriotic Party as “baloney”. Current Deputy Minister of “misinformation”, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa had described the then Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Joe Ghartey as a man who needed to have his head examined.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa called ex-President Kufuor, Nana Akufo Addo and Ministers in Kufuor’s administration “criminals”. Kobby Acheampong refers to Akufo Addo as a fruit cake. He also refers to “Sir John” as having too much of the “Kumasi thing” in him because he had stayed there for a long time. He also refers to people Kumasi and its environs as “kookoase nkurasefo”. Omane Boamah says Akufo Addo needs a psychiatrist. Kwadwo Twum Boafo says Akufo Addo only makes sense when he keeps quiet. Koku Anyidoho says he hates to see the face of ex-President Kufuor’s face.

Agyenim Boateng went to the ridiculous extent by saying that unlike Kufuor who appointed taxi drivers into his cabinet, their so-called ‘Asomdwehene’ was wise enough not to move in that direction.

Johnson Asiedu Nketiah said of the 17 NPP presidential aspirants in 2007. He referred to the aspirants as “17 thieves going to elect their chief”. Rojo Mettle Nunoo had brought into the country three Venezuelan drug barons on how to transact drug business without exposure. Those Venezuelans ‘oiled’ the NDC electioneering machinery with their drug money. In return, our ‘Asomdwehene’ of a President rewarded Rojo Mettle Nunoo with the Deputy Minister of Health’s portfolio for his innovation in bringing on board the expertise of the three Venezuelans on the NDC thriving business in the country. It was this same Rojo Mettle Nunoo who had described striking Nurses at Okomfo Anokye Hospital “foolish people”

In all those instances, the late President never deemed it expedient to call his men to order. But when NPP members respond in a similar vein the full rigours of the law are made to bear upon them. John Kuma’s issue is an example.

Under the late President, soldiers from the 4th Garrison in Kumasi went and beat up policemen at Suame Roundabout. The soldiers then went to the Police Station at Suame and vandalized some equipment at the station. Three of the policemen were beaten to a state of unconsciousness. A female police officer on duty had to be rushed to the hospital.

Policemen were ordered to beat up and tear gas poorly remunerated and under-nourished teachers whose only crime was to alert the nation about their plight. Some poor fisher folks from the President’s own “adze wo fie a oye” Region, together with their colleagues from Greater Accra were on a peaceful demonstration to present a petition to the presidency at the Castle. The late President, in a manner characteristic of Anita de Souza’s callous and unGhanaian order to her driver to drive through a group of “human cargo” at Abomoso also ordered the NDC police to deal with the protesters for taking the late President’s leniency to be his weakness.

Greater Accra residents suffered most under, Mrs. Rose Bio Atinga, the then Regional Commander of the Greater Accra Police. They went through the statute books and resurrected the moribund law of “causing fear and panic” to deal with known critics of the NDC administration. During the registration of voters exercise, Nii Lante Vanderpuye a Parliamentary aspirant on the ticket of the NDC and presidential staffer went about causing mayhem at Odododiodoo with some hoodlums. They beat Ursula Owusu an NPP parliamentary aspirant to a pulp for ‘venturing’ into Odododiodoo constituency to lend support to the party’s parliamentary aspirant there. The same Nii Lante Vanderpuye had earlier on during the NDC parliamentary primaries in the constituency used his ‘CASTLE’ connection to intimidate the incumbent NDC MP and his supporters into “submission”.Nii Lante Vanderpuye and his supporters went to various polling stations to forcefully ‘eject’ prospective voters in the queues bearing Akan names from being registered as voters. This was brought to the attention of the police and till today, nothing has been done about it. The then President who was the Chief security Officer of the country chose to look the other way whilst mischief was at work. And you call him a man of peace?

We mustn’t forgot that the late President had asked his Spokesperson, the medusa and oblong-headed Koku Anyidoho to issue a strong-worded statement to deal with the Presidential Candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party for an innocuous remarks the latter had made pertaining to the way the country was being administered. The President in a show of force, reminiscent of the Idi Amin days put the entire Armed Force of the country on Red Alert. And you call him a Man of Peace!

It must be recalled that four members of the NPP were cut down at the prime of their lives right in front of the Agbogbloshie Police Post . Names of perpetrators of that hideous crime were given to the Police but our Asomdwehene never did anything about the murder and today those murderers are walking the streets of Accra as free men.

At Akwatia during a run off election in six polling stations, Yaw Dankwa, a notorious criminal and founder of the church of satan and a member of the NDC openly fired a pistol in broad day light. In a similar fashion, a member of the Security outfit was also seen firing a pistol in broad day light during the Chirepone Bye Election, Some people got injured. The presence of Dr Frimpong Boateng saved the situation when he performed an emergency operation on the victims.

Anita de Souza exhibited her innate taste for human blood and outright disregard for human life when she instructed her driver to callously drive through a group of people at Abomoso whose only “crime” was to ensure the sanctity of the ballot boxes.

In all those situations, the late President who was eulogized as a peacemaker and next to God remained silent. The culprits were never brought to justice.

Act of recklessness and vandalization of property by NDC foot soldiers were so numerous to be counted during the presidency of the person we have touted as King of Peace. The Yendi MCE was declared persona non grata by NDC foot soldiers. The NDC party headquarters was captured in a commando style by foot soldiers; the Adomi bridge was seized by party foot soldiers and tolls collected for some hours’ Tender documents were seized and destroyed by party foot soldiers. Lorry stations and toilets were seized by party foot soldiers. In all these instances, our “Asomdwehene” remained quiet.

The late President was very vindictive. When the wife of the Founder of their nefarious contraption made public her desire to contest the presidential slot of the NDC the battle line was drawn. The Founder, ex President Rawlings was to go and witness the swearing in of Lucky Ebele Jonathan as President of Nigeria. The late President instructed the officials manning our airspace not to allow the plane carrying the former president to depart from the airport. And so The Former President never got the opportunity to witness the swearing of his brother as president

Our late President also resorted to the use of the courts to settle personal scores against his political opponents. Atta Kyea, MP for Abuakwa South has been a thorn in the flesh of the NDC. Thus efforts were made to humiliate him and cut him down to size. There was a civil case pending before him in court. Just as he was about to mount the witness box, the police who had lain in ambush around the court premises moved in and arrested him.

The principle of selective justice was in full force throughout the entire period of the late President’s administration. NDC men and supporters went about holding the entire nation to ransom. Nothing was done about it. Even when issues which bordered on criminality were reported to the Police, they were under instructions to let the status quo prevail. The saying goes that “once a thief, always a thief”. The NDC MP for Sene, Twumasi Appiah was busted for engaging in Gold scam on two occasions. The first happened under the NPP administration and the case was in court. When the NDC took over the administration, it discontinued with the case.

The second one happened under the NDC administration. The court ordered the Police to arrest the MP, but till date, the man is breezing the air of freedom and making cacophonous noise against the founder of his own contraption and the NPP. And we had a professor of law as our President! How could you say he was a man of peace?

Do not forget that earlier on during his administration, his men had been on rampage seizing vehicles belonging to former ministers under the NPP administration. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, presidential candidate of the NPP had his vehicle seized, Chief Kufuor, son of President Kufuor had his vehicle seized, the then MD of Barclays Bank, a citizen from Zambia had her vehicle seized and others too numerous to recount. We are an evolving Democracy. If NPP did a similar thing when it came to power, does the NDC have to follow the same tract eight years later? And we had a law professor as our President!

What was more humiliating than the National Coordinator of the BNI ordering his men to seal up the premises which former President Kufuor had wanted to use as his office? And there was ample evidence in the form of correspondence between the offices of the ex president and Professor Mill, the President.

Another factor that takes so much from the demeanor of the late leader was his inability to take prompt decision on matters that affected the country. Most often he prevaricated and allowed others to take decisions for him. A case in point was the award of a National Honours to be bestowed on him. He could have written his name in gold if he had taken personal responsibility to accept the offer. The late President had been contacted by emissaries from the office of President Kufuor and he had given him his word that he would accept the award. But he allowed the hawks in the party to dictate terms for him by rejecting the award. It would have reconciled both parties if the then Candidate Mills had accepted the offer.

Does the refusal to accept an award offered in all sincerity be counted as a trait of peacemaker? Definitely, not!

The late president believes in the philosophy which says those who are not for me are against me. And true to type, the Takyimanhene who is a well-known member of the NDC kidnapped the Chief of Tuobodom and subjected him to some indignities. National Security turned a blind eye on it and pretended nothing was happening. It took the personal intervention of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll to resolve the issue.

We all know that there cannot be any peace without justice. Yet, our President attempted to impose his own version of peace on the people. The Dagbon crisis involved two factions, the Andanis who are perceived to be having soft spot for the NDC and the Abudus with sympathy for the NPP. The Committee set up by the Kufuor Administration recommended the arrest and prosecution of some people from both sides of the political divide. When Mills assumed office, he sent soldiers and policemen to arrest only Abudus at such an ungodly hour of 2:00am. The most pathetic aspect of the arrest was that some were taken in their under wear or pajamas. They were taken to a place more than 60kilometres away from the place of arrest. There they were “examined” and those with no evidence against them were left behind, while those with “incriminating evidence against them were sent to Accra. How were those left behind expected to go back to their destination? Some had no money on them, so you can see how wicked and callous our late President was.

We had our Executive President who when our next door neighbor (Cote d’I voire) had a serious problem and needed our help, turned his back on them and told them to tackle their problem themselves. – the “dzi wo fie asem” mantra. In other words he preferred us to revert to the era of isolation. When the entire ECOWAS had decided to use force as a last resort to force the then Gabgo regime which had lost the election, our late President sent his propaganda team to deceive Ghanaians that the opposition NPP Candidate wanted to send Ghanaian soldies to be killed in a war in Cote d’I voire.

The way he became the Presidential Candidate of his political party in 2002 doesn’t portray him as a man of peace. Those who opposed him or challenged his candidature were flogged with horse whips. Their then National Chairman, Dr Obed Asamoah was glued to the same spot for nearly 15 hours. He could not attend to even nature’s call for fear of losing his life at the hands of the notorious Azorka boys. Yet Candidate Mills never made reference to the incident during his presidency. He never did visit the victims; neither did he send any message to commiserate with them. If truly, the late President was a man of peace, he should have renounced the candidature that was foisted on him on account of the violence that went with his election.

Let me conclude by saying that our late President, John Evans Atta Mills could have been a good man if he had been in any other party but the National Destructive Cancer. That he found himself in the wrong party is not in doubt. The NDC is a party that doesn’t have any good credentials at all. As soon as you become associated with it, you lose all his human and God-given credentials. It is a place where all your God-given rights are constantly abused. We should therefore be lenient when passing judgement on him. But that does not mean that I endorse the title of Asomdwehene.

Here was a man who could have become one of the greatest leaders of all time in Africa if he had treaded cautiously and not allowed himself to be manipulated like a yoyo by a gang of sycophants who were only after noko fio. Here was a man who was plucked from obscurity and put into the limelight. But his actions and inactions dimmed the aura surrounding his personality.

Daniel Danquah Damptey (damptey_daniel@yahoo.com)(danieldanquah_damptey@yahoo.com)

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