Mills’ “anger” booms in the media

The expression of “anger” by an otherwise quiet, gentle and diplomatic President John Evans Atta Mills of Ghana caught many by surprise and justifiably occupied the front pages of newspapers this week.

Speaking during a meeting with executive members of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and some senior journalists, the President minced no words when he told the country that there is only one president in the country and that is him.

President Mills and his party, who do not enjoy any favours from a huge segment the media, which loudly shouts for the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), have expressed concern about the continuing slants in the media against them.

“No room for detractors- Prez Mills warns,” was the headline of the Daily Graphic.

It said President Mills directed the law enforcement agencies to apply the laws to the letter and ensure that there was no violence in the country.

“Certain people think (President) Atta Mills is quiet so he will not apply the laws when there are threats and killings. I will apply the legal process to ensure that peace and stability prevail in the country,” he said.

The president’s spokesmen say his anger was triggered by a press conference by NPP parliamentarians who threatened to “advice” themselves if alleged threats against their supporters are not halted.

President Mills warned that the government would not allow people who intended to cause mischief to make the country ungovernable.

*The Graphic said the president urged such people to wake up to the reality that there was only one president and one government in power, which was the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The Ghanaian Times’ headline on the story was “Mills shows teeth”.

It wrote: “President Mills showed his other side when he angrily reacted to allegations of intimidation against former officials and criticisms of political opponents that he was not fully in charge of the affairs of the country, warning that his administration will not tolerate divisive tendencies.”

“Any group that wants to divide the country and cause confusion will be stopped in its tracks,” he warned.

The Times said “in a manner described by many as uncharacteristic of his style, the president speaking with a firm voice, said he was prepared to accept healthy criticisms since they promoted development and growth”.

Speaking during the swearing-in of members of the Council of State on the same day, the president told them to “Be critical of my Administration”, the Graphic wrote.

It quoted President Mills as saying he expected the Council “to be critical of his administration, not sycophantic”.

“I plead with you to be critical, impartial and objective to my administration. It is only by this that we can derive maximum benefit from you,” he said.

The Times, under the headline “Council of State sworn in” said the President asked members “to offer his administration ‘wise counsel’ in a transparent, frank and objective manner to enable the government to carry out its mandate successfully.”

A horrific accident on the Accra-Winneba road, just outside Accra, which has registered several bloody road crashes of late, also occupied the front pages during the week.

*“Horrific” was how the Graphic described it. Various figures have been given as the number of casualties ranging from 11 to 16, but the Graphic reported on Saturday that the death toll had reached 18.*

The paper said the President went to visit some of the survivors at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra under the headline “President consoles accident victims”.

The Graphic said the minister of health, Dr George Sipa Yankey, who accompanied the President, said the government would put emergency measures in place to save the lives of those who survived.

He said recent accidents on the Accra-Winneba road had revealed the inadequacy in the health sector and mentioned the lack of ambulances to deal with emergency cases on the roads and medical equipment in the hospitals.

The Times highlighted the president’s meeting with various stakeholders to halt the carnage on Ghanaian roads. “President meets IGP, others over road accidents” it said in its headline.

It wrote: “The president (yesterday) summoned the leadership of all stakeholder institutions in the road sector to an emergency meeting over the increasing spate of road accidents in the country and charged them to find immediate solutions to the menace.

“He also charged the minister of roads and highways, Joe Gidisu, to, as a matter of urgency, coordinate the activities of the stakeholder institutions to prevent or minimise road accidents.”

The Times said President Mills expressed grave concern about the road accident menace saying the carnage shall not be allowed to constitute further burden on Ghanaians who were already overburdened with socio-economic problems.

“We are not going to allow this situation to continue,” he said, and directed that viable solutions be found to the problem since too many innocent people had become victims of road accidents largely caused by human error.