Why Prof. Atta Mills cannot be the President of Ghana -NPP-USA

Say what you want about the 2008 National Awards, when Jerry Rawlings declined his award everyone was waiting to see what Mills would do and he did not disappoint. True to his declaration to answer 24 hours to Rawlings, Atta Mills has also declined his. Mind you, until Rawlings said NO, Atta Mills was shouting his joy over the roof tops that Kufuor’s nomination was tantamount to an endorsement.

Now we all know that the whole brouhaha about the choice of John Mahama as Atta Mills running mate over the so called preference of the Rawlings was a show to throw off Ghanaians that Atta Mills has finally matured to be his own man. Now we all know better- he is not- and does and will do precisely what Rawlings wants 24 hours a day just as he promised. Now read further about how Atta Mills is not fit to be President of Ghana.

Atta Mills has stated at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), that he is not a good judge of people. Admitting to the mistakes of NDC when he was the vice president, Prof. Mills admitted that he was not a good judge of people. Why then should Ghanaians trust the destiny of the nation in the hands of a man who is a poor judge of people; and at the same time not his own man.

Atta Mills does not believe in the Rule of Law. His insinuation that Judge Henrietta Abban was biased in the case of Republic v Tsatsu Tsikata was most unfortunate and contrary to the record. Defendant Tsikata was arraigned before court in 2002 on charges of willfully causing financial loss to the State when he unlawfully and recklessly guaranteed a loan for Valley Corporation, a corporation owned by Mr. Wilson, to go into cocoa farming.

The corporation expectedly defaulted leaving the State to pay for the loan, which was over $5M based on the exchange rate at the time of the transaction. It was exactly for such economic crimes that the NDC controlled parliament passed the law in 1993. Unlike most defendants, Tsikata has had the luxury of the best legal representation and has been allowed to abuse the judiciary system by litigating on matters that were only tangential to his trial. For instance, he used his criminal case to challenge the authority of the Chief Justice to automate the high courts.

He also challenged the Attorney General’s power to represent the Chief Justice. In one bizarre appellate case, he asked that an appeal court set aside a Supreme Court decision. No doubt that defendant Tsikata is entitled to a fair trial, which he did get in this trial. But the State is also entitled to a fair trial, which it hardly got when the Justice system allowed the defendant to abuse the appellate process for the sole purpose of delaying his trial. Whatever else one thinks of this trial, it is unreasonable and unbecoming of a Presidential candidate to impute motives to a judge without any shred of evidence.

What is becoming apparent is a trend by the P/NDC to intimidate our judges. For instance, in the Quality Grains case, Judge Afreh was subjected to unreasonable and harsh attacks that had very little to do with the law and facts of the case. Quiet the contrary, judge Afreh laid down the contours of the law on willfully causing financial loss to the State and applied the law fairly to the defendants in the case, including acquitting some of the defendants.

Then in the TIP case, the P/NDC machinery descended on Judge Faakye for allegedly taking instructions from Judge Henrietta Abban over the phone, an assuredly phony charge. We remained concerned by these unwarranted attacks on our Judiciary and we are still mindful that it was under this same P/NDC machine that 3 of our judges were abducted and executed during curfew hours. The SIB report subsequently named Amartey Kwei, P/NDC member and Kodzo Tsikata, P/NDC Security Capo as the mastermind of the abduction and execution.

We have learnt with dismay that anonymous persons have been sending text messages to some of the judges and call on the police to investigate this crime, as a matter of urgency, and bring the perpetrators to book. It is disappointing that Professor Mills has not been able to lead his party on this matter, which is so fundamental to our democracy, but has once again followed the revolutionary and lunatic fringe of his party to assault the constitution, the judiciary, and the rule of law.

Atta Mills condones and has been advocating violence. As the vice president of Rawlings, he never condemned the atrocities perpetrated by his boss. In fact, he continues to celebrate gleefully, the unprecedented human rights violations against Ghanaians through his endorsement of June 4, celebrations. He has threatened to visit the events of Kenya on Ghana if he has his way, if the peace loving Ghanaians do not give him the mandate to misrule them, come December 2008.

Atta Mills is appealing to the parochial tribal sentiments of Fantes by asking his tribes people to vote for him because, ‘adze wo fi a oye”. One would have liked to see the Old/New NDC Presidential candidate asking the very discerning Fantes to vote for him on the strength of his message and not his tribal affiliation.

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