They say that behind every successful man, there is a woman. What we don’t often
hear is that a man’s true nature is largely attributable to the nature of the
woman behind him. Little is known about the real nature of Naadu Mills, wife of
president Mills partly because many who know her have been loudly silent.
However, it is important that we expose the nature and character of the woman
who largely influences the actions or even thoughts of our president on minute
bases.
Ernestina Naadu Mills has been talked about very much lately—but privately. And
much of the talk has largely come from people who worked with her prior to the
year 2000 when Prof. Mills was still vice president and chairman of the police
council under President Jerry Rawlings. There are also a lot of murmurings among
people who work with the presidency today about the true nature of the first
lady of Ghana. She is widely described among people who worked, and still work
with her as a bully, a snobbish personality, suffering from a certain complex,
quick tempered and lacking basic public engagement etiquette as a public figure.
She is also fond of courting public ignominy for herself. Many people believe
she bears a large responsibility for her husband’s inability to win the 2000
presidential elections. Why? She already had begun to lord it over the people
around her husband when Prof. Mills was selected as flag bearer prior to the
elections in the year 2000. She began to defy basic state protocol precedents
that had been set earlier. She even started threatening people and causing the
arbitrary transfer and dismissal of some castle and state protocol staff.
According to one senior man in the NDC 1 regime, many NDC people got afraid of
having an Atta Mills presidency after the year 2000 because of the appalling
attitude of Mrs. Mills. Many senior appointees expressed the fear they could not
work with her under her husband’s presidency. And this feeling introduced a lot
of apathy from people who otherwise would have worked hard to retain power for
the NDC in the year 2000. The feeling is not different today—may be even worse.
An incident happened last year in an international forum in Brasils, Belgium
involving the first lady Mrs. Naadu Mills which sounded really unbelievable to
many Ghanaians—but which clearly defined the real nature of this woman. During
an international forum that brought together both current and former first
ladies, Mrs. Mills decided to create public spectacle at that international
forum where she behaved as though she was total strangers to the other high
level Ghanaian participants such as Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings the former
first lady of Ghana and wife of the NDC founder and other high powered
delegates. That incident made the headlines in Ghana and many people could not
believe the first lady was capable of creating such public ridicule for herself
at such an international forum. I was one such blind fellow until my eyes got
opened.
A man said to me not to be naïve enough to think that the first lady is an angel
and incapable of what had been reported in the media about her. He was sure
because he had witnessed a similar drama created by Mrs. Mills in the year 2000
during a public durbar to commission a day care centre of the 31st DWM in Ada in
the greater Accra region. During the time of the incident, Joshua Alabi was then
the greater Accra regional minister and was also present and witnessed at this
durbar where Mrs. Naadu Mills first made a public ridicule of herself and can
corroborate this story—if he is a man of integrity. It was here at Ada that
Mrs. Mills decided to drive into a durbar ground—and this was a gathering of the
chiefs and people of the Ada traditional area—without regard to the dust that
her moving convoy would have put in the faces of the seated guests. She wanted
her convoy to drive to the dais where she would just alight and sit down
without having to walk—a practice that was avoided by the then regime and which
was widely known by the police men on duty at the durbar grounds. According to
the story, the police men on duty at the durbar ground tried to prevent the
driver of the vehicle carrying Mrs. Mills from driving to the podium in
accordance with the usual practice of the regime but this did not please Mrs.
Mills who stormed out of her vehicle and began publicly and in the full glare of
the gathering to castigate and threaten the policemen on duty and 31st December
women present. Not even the kneeling down publicly by these women could pacify
Mrs. Mills and calm her nerves down. She was also very rude and insulting to the
then police commander who tried to explain things to her. In her anger, she
shouted all the while and kept throwing tantrums to the hearing of the entire
crowd.
As if that was not enough, it is said that Mrs. Naadu Mills even refused to
greet the chiefs and people who had gathered to welcome her to the durbar just
because she was prevented by these experienced policemen from driving into the
durbar ground. One would think that this alone was enough public ridicule. But
no. The first lady still had more drama to unfold true to her nature.
She refused to smile throughout the durbar. Not only that. When it was time for
her to address the people—people she had invited to come and wait for her—she
was duly introduced but lo she was ready for further ignominy. She refused to
stand up let alone speak. Someone else had to quickly step in and speak for
her—immediately creating an excuse for her inability to address the gathering
even though she had been introduced as the next speaker. This spectacle left the
entire gathering of chiefs and people completely stupefied. At the end of the
durbar—the first of a series of durbars for that day—she even refused to
ceremonially commission the day care centre for which reason she was at Ada. And
the rest of the day’s itinerary had to be cancelled because of her refusal to
follow simple public etiquette.
Mrs. Naadu Mills got so bitter that she went as far as getting her husband, then
vice President Mills and chairman of the police council to immediately transfer
away from Accra the two police men on duty at the durbar ground who prevented
her as a matter of duty from driving into the durbar ground at Ada. She could
not forgive them for not allowing her put dust in the faces of the seated
guests.
After hearing this story, it became clear to me that Mrs. Naadu Mills is a wolf
in sheep clothing. Like her husband, she only appears humble and lovable but she
is neither sober nor kind. Indeed, she is repulsive. And the people who work
with her can testify that she is almost always angry with everyone around her.
Let truth be told.
SaCut Amenga-Etego
(NDC youth with conviction of principle)
rassacut@yahoo.com
