It is tough without Mills – Koku Anyidoho

Former Presidential Spokesperson, Koku Anyidoho, has finally broken his long silence, with an open admission that life has not been easy in the absence of the late President John Evans Atta Mills.

“It has been tough. Excuse me to say, it is not a laughing matter having to walk with a man for several years during his university days as a lecturer, through politics for more than 12 years going up and down,” he said in an interview on Oman FM’s morning show, hosted by Fiifi Boafo, yesterday.

This, he said, was because the late president had virtually become like a father to him; and that their relationship was not like a master and servant.

In view of this, the once tough-talking Koku, who used to call the shots at the presidency during the reign of President Mills said: “It has not been easy.”

That notwithstanding, he noted that as a man, he was doing whatever it takes to let go the past and move on.

On the question of what he had been doing for the past year, since he had kept some kind of a low profile, Koku said, “I’m still part of the government. I’m working with President Mahama, of course, in a different capacity.”

He, however, admitted that his role had changed, saying, “Sometime past, I was playing a certain role; times have changed, but I am still an integral part of the government.”

Justifying his absence in frontline politics, he said, “After 7th January some ministers were reshuffled and some were maintained.”

Not too long ago, there was a directive for Koku Anyidoho to report at the National Security Secretariat for reassignment.

This was believed to be part of the reasons he told host of the show, “You cannot be doing the same thing forever, so I’ve moved on. I’m doing something else.”

It was not yet clear whether he had reported to the outfit since he wanted the position of deputy National Security Coordinator, which was not vacant.

Glimmer of Hope

As to where he had moved to, he declined to tell, except to say that: “let us finish the court case; let the governance process go and then if we have to come back and do what we were doing, we will come back and do what we were doing”.

He insisted it was early days yet and that: “at the right time we will bounce back on the frontline”, assuring the host that “no fears at all.”

For him, “the important thing is that the ‘Better Ghana Agenda’ is still on, and we must all support President Mahama to succeed.”

Wednesday July 24, 2013 would be exactly a year since President Mills died at the then seat of Government, Osu Castle.

He was reported to have died at exactly 2:15pm that day at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.

A year down the line, there is still uncertainty surrounding what exactly killed the late president though one of his siblings, Cadman Mills, had told Ghanaians his brother died of a stroke. It is, however, speculated that the late President died of cancer.

Although Koku has been made a member of the committee that is organizing the one-year anniversary celebration, the former presidential spokesperson could not tell the amount being used in putting up the event – a major concern for some Ghanaians since the actual funeral was said to have cost GHc3.6 million (c36billion).

The committee has also refused to make public how much it would spend in staging the week-long celebration.