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General News of Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Source: Joy Online

Calls for inquiry into Mills' death are needless - Alex Segbefia

Mr. Alex Segbefia, former Deputy Chief of Staff in the John Evans Atta Mills' administration says calls for an investigation into events leading to the death of the former president are needless.

According to Mr. Segbefia, the late president who died while in office inevitably had his immediate family very close to him, who, have not raised any "major" question suggesting a foul play in his death.

Exactly a year today (July 24, 2013), the sun went dim on a Tuesday afternoon, when the news broke on Joy FM that the president, "Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, had passed on". This was confirmed minutes later by the Presidency.

According to the statement, Prof. Mills died at the 37 Military Hospital where he had been rushed for treatment, shortly after he became ill at the Osu Castle, then Office of the President.

Several groups including key figures in the opposition New Patriotic Party, demanded a full disclosure of what led to the president's demise, with some giving different accounts of events leading to this sad occurrence.

But speaking on the Joy FM Super Morning Show Wednesday, Mr. Segbefia said: "President Mills had his two brothers [Dr. Cadman Atta Mills and Samuel Atta Mills] very close to him, he was not an isolated president...Cadman was with him, he knows a lot of confidential things that happened to his brother and he has not said anywhere that he is not satisfied," with information available to the family.

He, however, called for national debate on how to better handle information on the health of the country's leaders.

In a related development, Dr. Evans Aggrey Darko, a lecturer at Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Legon, has stated that the nation deserves to know the critical decisions that had been taken prior to the death of the former president.

Although Dr. Aggrey Darko agreed that not all information can be made public due to security reasons, "government has to explain to Ghanaians what happened, and what steps have been put in place to check" his health.

Meanwhile, Kofi Bentil, Vice President of IMANI, Ghana has urged young politicians to emulate the life of Prof. Atta Mills, whom, he described as a true servant of the nation. "Prof. Mills did not seek to be president before he served.

"... he served with humility and dignity at every level of his life - a sportsman and teacher at the university, church, a vice president and president of Ghana... he is the fulfillment of what the Bible says that 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," Mr. Bentil said.