NPP-USA finds the notoriously lying NDC’s official explanation for President Mills’ sudden trip to the United States on Christmas Eve to be puerile and insulting to the intelligence of Ghanaians. Exactly a week after he returned* *from a month’s trip to North America, including a two-week holiday in the United States, the president made a quick dash to the United States on a nine-day official visit on December 24 for a supposed investment meeting when the investors he purports to meet were on holidays.

On Thursday December 15, 2011 between the hours of 8:30 and noon, President John Evans Atta Mills was seen in the company of four Caucasian security operatives on the 4th floor of the world famous Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital, “the world's oldest and largest private cancer center” located in New York.

NPP-USA upon receiving this information elected to respect the president’s privacy due to the sensitivity of a cancer treatment. But in light of what appears to be a persistent practice of the NDC administration to not only lie to the Ghanaian people, but also to insult our intelligence with such impunity, we feel compelled to publish what we know.

It may be recalled that President Mills took a two-week leave, but ended up staying for 31 days. The Ghanaian public began to raise questions as to why the extended stay abroad by their president. To these questions, the president’s communications team gave a variety of reasons. These reasons included meeting with investors in Canada, visits to Wall Street in New York, meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and a justification that the president deserved the rest.

On December 17, 2011, the president returned from his month-long “working vacation” and boldly stated during his comments on arrival that his trip to the United States “was not to seek medical attention,” and that he worked on the quiet “brokering catalytic deals to accelerate the national development agenda.” Exactly one week after his return to Ghana, the president rushed back to the United States under the pretext that he is meeting investors. Evidently the President rushed to the USA to attend to a very highly prioritized personal issue of which he tries to conceal from Ghanaians.

In their desperate attempt to cover up President Mills’ cancer treatment in the USA, his handlers have spun lies that border on the ridiculous. On his arrival in Ghana on December, 31 the President is reported to have stated as follows “In the US the 26th is not a holiday; it is rather the 25th, so I used those days ………to accomplish all the assignments that I had in mind” Ghanaweb, December 31, 2011

The NPP-USA would like to point out to the President’s handlers that in the USA if a Christmas falls on a weekend, as it was the case in 2011, the following Monday, i.e. December 26 is treated as a holiday and most offices are closed. In addition, the US investors are family oriented people who travel to the various parts of the country to spend time with their families during the holiday season - Hanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa respectively.

There are many questions on the minds of Ghanaians that need answers. First, if these so-called “catalytic deals” were so important and obviously not completed, why burn airplane fuel to return home for one week after staying away for 31 days? This brief trip home is especially inexplicable considering that the only significant activity the president engaged in while in Ghana was issuing a statement in defense of the thievery of the national treasury by Alfred Woyome and Betty Moulds Iddrisu.

Second, what Christian president would abscond from his country on the eve of Christmas to meet with investors who themselves have left their offices for holidays? What “catalytic deals” are so time sensitive that they cannot wait for at least one week until after the holidays especially if they took 31 days to manifest?

Third, could President Mills’ visit to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on Thursday December 15, 2011 have been for tests, which showed tumors that need immediate attention hence his rushed return to New York? Or is the president adhering to a chemotherapy treatment, which cycles are supposed to have weekly intervals?

Fourth, although it is tempting for presidents to cover up their medical conditions, is President Mills not being hypocritical given that he was reported by Wikileaks to have implored the late Nigerian President Y’araDua to “come clean” on his health conditions when the latter was in a similar mysterious situation of missing in action? And if the Castle’s objective is to hide the president’s health issues, can the communications team not be a little more intelligent about it rather than insulting Ghanaians’ intelligence with less than thoughtful excuses?

Fifth, upon arrival on December 30th, 2011, the lying Mills communication team alluded to the fact that President Mills met with Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs to secure the $18 million SADA loan. Here again the facts indicate otherwise. The same SADA loan was supposedly secured by this same administration back in September 2011 when they announced it. In addition, our research indicates that Detroit, Michigan native Dr. Jeffrey Sachs’ schedule of activities broke off on December 22, 2011 and resumes on January 19, 2012.

Cancer is a serious ailment, and NPP-USA is obviously concerned about our president’s health. It is for this reasons that we elected not to sound the alarm when we first obtained information about his visit to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York on Thursday December 15, 2011 between 830hrs and 1200 hrs. But if the president and his communications team feel compelled to lie to Ghanaians about his abnormal forays into the United States, we feel compelled as well to share what we know with the Ghanaian people.

This is a delicate issue that requires matured rather than derisive response from the dysfunctional NDC communication team. President Mills should stop toying with the intelligence of Ghanaians and tell us the truth; especially at the time when Ghanaians have become suspicious of his health condition.