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Hard Questions to ask even as we mourn President Mills
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- Created on Sunday, 05 August 2012 00:00
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Hard Questions to ask even as we mourn President Mills
{sidebar id=11 align=right}It is culturally a taboo to discuss the dead, more so when the death has only just occurred. It is with such caution that I dare to ask the reflective questions in this article. In the same manner that the Constitution recognises the need to swear in a new President in the immediate aftermath, the country should also begin to raise certain pertinent questions that need asking even amidst the mourning.
The President’s illness was shrouded in a lot of secrecy to the extent that, even after his death, we were being told it was as a result of a sudden illness. Thus, in a bizarre manner, whilst the BBC was reporting that he was battling throat cancer, the government rather preferred to inform Ghanaians differently.
Any keen observer would have noticed the deteriorating health of President Mills in recent months with his changed features; his considerable loss in weight; his failing voice; his deafening silence on pressing national issues; and of late, the increasing urgency with which he was travelling to the USA.
In the face of these overwhelming pieces of evidence, President Mills and his handlers (I will not say advisors) would let Ghanaians believe all was well with him. With the benefit of hindsight, the advice he was given to jog and brisk-walk at the Kotoka International Airport to demonstrate his good health was cruel. At a time when he might have been in great pains, he was being ‘carted’ to inspect road projects and to cut the tape to open a school building.
Due to this lack of candour, a man who many accept was a great teacher and a humble person, died with loud criticisms of his non-performance ringing in his ears. At a time when he needed the love, sympathy and prayers of an entire nation, his handlers were rather inviting for him harsh criticism because they sought, in a very juvenile manner, to rationalise why he would not be campaigning even though he was seeking re-election.
But as an Akan proverb says: “if your mother is dead and you claim she is asleep, you reap the eventual consequences”.
So we must ask a lot of questions at the same time that we mourn our President, for the nation must not go through such an orchestrated deception again. The first question to ask is: was the late President a willing accomplice in this grand deception?
Not only did he manage to hide his illness from Ghanaians to win the Presidency, but he was also bent on securing a second term when all indications point to the fact that he had had a handicapped first term.
{sidebar id=10 align=right}If he was a willing accomplice, was it due to an overwhelming ambition to be President or was it because he wanted to serve his nation so badly, even at the peril of losing his life? Could he really, as someone who was reputed to be an honest man, be comfortable in looking his doctors in the face whilst telling Ghanaians this untruth? Perhaps we will never know the answers; only posterity will judge.
The incoherency with which he spoke could be detected in the last few months (evident when he met the IMF team and when he spoke to the press before he left for the ‘routine’ medical check up). There is a Latin saying: ‘mens sana in corpore sano’ translated as: ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’.
If he was suffering in the body, one is tempted to ask whether his faculties were about him in the last few months. If perchance they were not, who was taking major decisions on his behalf? In short, who was taking decisions affecting Ghana? Can the nation trust every treaty, accord and deal signed by the President or is there a case for calling for a review?
In this modern era of the internet and 24-hour radio and television broadcast, a President represents both the face and aspirations of a nation. He is required to marshal and direct the resources, ambition, energy and drive of a nation towards the betterment of all. This job brief requires the President to have vigour and to be mentally and physically alert. Can the nation continue to place the fate of 25 million people in the hands of one individual without knowing if he or she has the capacity to discharge this onerous responsibility?
Do we from hereon adopt the American practice where the President undergoes annual medical checks with the results disclosed? Our Constitution alludes to the requirement for the President not to be physically and mentally incapacitated, yet the prescribed procedure for ascertaining so is very cumbersome. Do we need to simplify the relevant constitutional provisions?
When we are done with the mourning, we should reflect on the dearth of national leadership of the last three and a half years. The country laboured during this period. For over three and half years, the country drifted and lacked direction.
For over three and half years, the country was polarised. This was all because the nation had an ailing President. Never should this gargantuan deception happen again.
God bless Ghana!
Long Live Ghana!
Dr Yaw Ohemeng Manchester, UK
No commentsPrez Mahama Must Institute An Independent Investigation Into The Death Of Mills
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Prez Mahama Must Institute An Independent Investigation Into The Death Of Mills
{sidebar id=10 align=right}Movement for Equal Rights and Justice wish to send its message of condolence to the bereaved family of our late President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, who died at the 37 Military Hospital on Tuesday, 24th July, 2012.
We also wish to call on the President, H.E. John Dramani Mahama to immediately institute an independent investigation into the strange and unprecedented death of our late President Mills.
There have been several insinuations regarding the president’s death. Rumors roaming around have it that, at the time the President collapsed at the Castle, the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) had stopped working. Also when he was being taken to the 37 Military Hospital, no dispatch rider was available at the Castle.
What is exasperating in this tragic death is that, at the time they got to the Hospital, the handlers told the Hospital officials that it was a Senior Government official who had been involved in an accident. According to the report, the late President was also taken to the maternity ward.
This would be unfortunate if it is ascertained to be true. Ghanaians must know the truth and it should be fast without any shred of delay. Until the demise of the late president, many Ghanaians knew of his ill-health but did not expect his death at around this time. Many concerned Ghanaians were asking of the condition of the President. But some elements within the Castle would not spare anyone who dared to know the truth.
No less a person than Nana Akufo Addo, was vilified and maligned for wishing his former class mate well, when he decided to visit the United States of America for a routine check- up.
We believe that there are many questions to be answered, and some people must be held responsible, if the rumor roaming about it the truth! Thank you.
Signed: Hon. Adongo: 0278068718 Joseph Otoo: 0231197250
Source: MOVEMENT FOR EQUAL RIGHTS AND JUSTICE / Joseph Otoo This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Coroner’s report is mandatory when one dies within 24 hours in hospital- Akosa
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Coroner’s report is mandatory when one dies within 24 hours in hospital- Akosa
A former Director General of the Ghana Health Service Prof Agyemang Badu Akosa has stated emphatically that a coroner’s report is mandatory when a person dies within 24 hours in any institution including a hospital.
His comments follow controversy over whether a coroner’s report is necessary to find out the exact cause of the death of late President John Mills.
Chairman of the Funeral Planning Committee Mr. Kofi Totobi Quakyi had hinted during a press conference that a coroner’s report may not be necessary in the case of the death of the ex-president because he died at the 37 Military Hospital and in the competent hands of doctors.
{sidebar id=11 align=right}If anything, he averred it is the responsibility of the doctors to make a comment on the circumstances leading to the death of the president.
It is his understanding, that a coroner’s report is only necessary when a person dies outside the jurisdiction of a hospital.
But some critics have disagreed.
Traditional leader and lawyer, Nana Asante Bediatuo has however dismissed that assertion insisting a coroner’s report is necessary.
{sidebar id=10 align=right}On Joy FM and MultiTV news analysis programme on Saturday, Prof Badu Akosa gave his professional opinion on when a coroner’s report is needed.
He stated when a person dies in an institution- school, hospital; prison etc- a coroner’s report is needed and it is mandatory.
He added even when a person is brought into a hospital and dies within 24 hours a coroner’s report is still mandatory.
President John Mills according to official government statement died 2:15, Tuesday July 24, 2012, shortly after being sent to the 37 Military Hospital.
The cause of death is yet to be made public even though international news sources have cited throat cancer.
Prof Agyemang Badu Akosa insisted the coroner’s report is to ascertain whether the death of a person was natural or unnatural.
He explained a coroner in Ghana is the same as the magistrate whose duty it is to request for the autopsy report on the circumstances surrounding the death of any person under the circumstances he had early on recounted.
He said when the report is done, the cause of death is immediately known and the report issued to the coroner or the magistrate in the case of Ghana who will then take action depending on what the content of the report says.
From:Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com
Unpopular Amidu is behaving like a foreigner- Adu Asare
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Unpopular Amidu is behaving like a foreigner- Adu Asare
{sidebar id=11 align=right}Member of Parliament for Adenta has rebuked former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Martin Amidu for his continued pursuit of judgement debt scandal at a time the nation is grieving.
Kojo Adu Asare said the former AG is fast making himself unpopular especially by pursing the Isofoton case when everybody is mourning the loss of ex-president John Mills.
He made these comments on Joy FM and MultiTV news analysis programme Newsfile on Saturday.
Martin Amidu has filed a suit at the Supreme Court seeking nine declarations on what he suspects are unlawful judgement debt claims being made by Spanish company Isofoton.
He posits Isofoton has no legitimate contract with the state to make that claim and expressed regrets the government has already paid part of the 1.3 million dollars the company is demanding.
He is praying the Supreme Court to make a declaration on the legality of the claims being made by Isofoton.
But Adu Asare has questioned the timing of Martin Amidu’s inquest.
Whilst he concedes some of the issues Amidu is raising are legitimate, he said the mood of the country should inform the former AG that the judgement debt saga must take a back burner.
{sidebar id=12 align=right}“It is not as if someone wants to put these matters under any wraps or carpet or whatsoever but for now we want to concentrate on giving our late president a befitting burial.
"If he is not sensitive to such an issue, I think a lot of Ghanaians are,” he stated.
“…I think he is gotten it all wrong. He doesn’t seem to fit into whatever is going on. He is behaving like a foreigner and I am not sure even foreigners would want to behave this way when they know the leader of the country live in is about to be buried.
“I think he is lost,” he added.
Director of Communications of the NPP Nana Akomea described the comments made by Adu Asare as hypocritical.
He found it rather interesting that Asare will brush aside what he (Akomea) believes was an “insensitive” “untidy”, “unwise” comments made by President John Mahama on the one week celebration of Mills’ death only to turn around accuse Martin Amidu of being insensitive.
Akomea said the issues being raised by Amidu are begging for answers and if he [Amidu] chooses to pursue it now nobody should question his conviction.
He said rather than accuse Amidu of being insensitive, Adu Asare should applaud the former AG for his patriotism.
The Editor of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Kweku Baako Jnr who was also on the show said the courts have not stopped sitting even as the country grieves for its leader.
He said only a week ago, he and the host of the Newsfile programme Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah were hauled before the courts on charges of contempt by a member of the NDC legal team David Annan on the controversial Woyome matter.
He also found it contradictory that Adu Asare will accuse Amidu of being insensitive merely because he has chosen to litigate the matter during this period when is own colleague David Annan is also in court over a similar matter.
Kweku Baako said Amidu must be treated fairly because even in his statement issued to the public he stated that he has had to withhold the statement for while in reverence to the death of the former Ghana leader.
From:Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com
Don't Bury Late President Mills - Ken Kurankye
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- Created on Saturday, 04 August 2012 00:00
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Don't Bury Late President Mills - Ken Kurankye
{sidebar id=10 align=right}There are growing calls among leading members of some of the nation’s political parties for an investigation into the death of the late President, John Mills.
Speaking on Citi FM’s weekend news analysis program, The Big Issue Saturday, editor of the Daily Searchlight newspaper and card bearing member of the NPP, Kenneth Kurankye insisted that the late president’s body should not be buried because it will serve as evidence for the post-mortem.
According to him, there are several questions arising from the president’s death that require investigation.
“The man at all material times told us that he was very healthy. His associates argued copiously that the President was very strong, he was very very healthy, he could run, he could jump, he could skip; he could do all manner of things right up to the day that he died."
He continued: "Now a person in that very robust health who suddenly keels over and dies, cannot be accepted. We must ask that how come that somebody who insisted on his health so much, somebody whose associates said he was very healthy suddenly falls over dies – he is sick for less than two or three hours and dies, we cannot accept that. We are unclear in our mind as to what exactly happened to the President."
"So am saying that anything is possible. So for God sake don’t bury the only piece of evidence we have", he added.
But speaking on the same platform, a member of the NDC Legal Team, Chris Akumey downplayed Mr. Kurankye’s assertions insisting that only members of the late president’s family can call for an inquest into his death.
“Are we saying that people who have a clean bill of health cannot die minutes after? Death will come. Any aspect of the body or any organ of the body can stop functioning at any other time. What is the essence of calling for a full scale investigation into the death of the President? The President had no problem with his health."
Source: citifmononline.com