We won’t leave it to God, no, not this time. The more we leave everything to God in this country, the less likely we will find answers to our numerous problems that are begging for solutions. In other words, as we continue to allow nature to take its course, the less likely we will extricate ourselves from ignorance and poverty. I think it is about time we questioned ourselves, and not nature, if we are to find answers to our countless challenges. If we don’t search, how will we discover; and if we don’t discover, how will we know; and if we don’t know, how will we make progress. Read on, buddy!

Oh President Mills (May your soul rest in perfect peace), why did you leave us so soon? I hear people from your government and party say you passed on because of people’s criticism of your leadership style and governance. I don’t believe you will acquiesce to their point of view since I am sure you believed that there can never be a true democracy without constructive criticism and evaluation of those entrusted with responsibility. I am not sure if you ever criticized President Kufour’s policies and programmes when you wanted to be the president of the country between 2000 and 2004; but I think you did. I heard somebody whispering to the good people of the country that in one of your interviews with the media, you accused President Kufour as a corrupt leader by citing his son’s purchase of a hotel without evidence. Is it true, your Excellency? In fact, it was said by Kweku Baako Jnr.—that great one. I like his great ideas; I wish one of our universities confer on him an honorary doctorate degree for his immense contribution in the political development of our dear country; he deserves it! In fact, the beauty and essence of democracy lie in questioning and challenging the programmes, policies, and direction of our elected leaders. Without these interventions, democracy then becomes useless, worthless, and meaningless!

I think those people who think they loved you more than every other Ghanaian, didn’t help you by making you work when they knew you were not very well. Sorry about that, your Excellency; but I pray that if there is life after death (I believe there is life beyond the grave), and in case we should meet again, you will know all those who genuinely loved you and the pretenders. I even saw on one of the television stations (crystal TV) to be precise that you are in heaven. Wow! I didn’t know that some mortal Homo sapiens have the power to know the final destination of our soul after our sojourn on God’s planet. They forget that the Bible has stated unequivocally that God does not see like men see, since we are guided by what we see on the periphery; but God sees what is hidden from our eyes. The judgment debt, sorry, the judgment day will expose all hypocritical religious people. We don’t gain access to heaven by words, but good deeds.

Some people in the NDC used your health to do politics whilst you were alive, and still doing politics about the destination of your never dying soul (I am speaking from the Christian point of view about the status and destination of the soul after death). I hope you are in heaven as it is being portrayed on television; we all long to be there some day after our assignments on earth is over; but per the approval of God, and not mortal souls. This is just by the way; sleep well. But, your Excellency, don’t you think that it will be appropriate for your successor to investigate the circumstances that led to your untimely demise? I think he has to; because some of the people, who were around you, for my money, didn’t help you at all. Once again, sleep thee well, Prof. Mills. We will surely miss you as we examine the ups and downs of your unfinished presidency.

I don’t remember when being sick or diseased became a crime. It is therefore surprising when a group of people desperately tried hard to conceal the health status of our late president. After all, who is not sick and who will not die? We will all pass on some day, isn’t it? Why then do we portray the picture that being infirm or infected with even an incurable disease makes one a lesser human being? Why should the health status of our president be handled in a manner that depicts infirmity as a taboo? Whether the president was sick or not was immaterial since human beings are weak and are subjected to the dictates of the environment. However, it becomes an issue when the sickness prevents him from functioning effectively as was witnessed during the reign of our departed president.

Even in developed nations where the environment is clean, people are infirm and pop off as a result, so why did some members of the NDC government deceive the populace and belittle the intelligence of others when it was obvious that our president was not very well in a deplorable environment such as ours. He was not, and won’t be the last person or leader who will have to contend with a medical condition; we all do have one condition or the other. Great leaders all over the world have battled diseases, some incurable, but they lived a bit longer because they took time to recover. My little knowledge in psychology tells me that one’s ill-health gets worse when confounded with stress; that is why I have the ardent conviction that President Mills’ death was hastened, especially by those who, because of their personal interests wanted him to hang onto his job at all cost, even at the expense of his health; what a shame, for a man who had achieved a lot of personal feat in life, and to some extent for the country to end up the way he did.

As a matter of fact, it is at times amusing to listen to the NDC. They persistently threw dust into the eyes of the average citizenry about the health status of our late president, and even after his death, are still vehemently opposing unraveling the truth about events that preceded his untimely death: information that could help improve the health status of our future presidents. The death of President Mills was hastened by people around him who pretended to love him more than everybody else in the country. Most of these so-called lovers of the late president, in my humble opinion contributed to his untimely death. At times I struggle to understand why despite his precarious health condition, they persuaded him to continue with the presidency when the man himself had preferred on several occasions to stand down.

What at all did they want to benefit from a man who knew he didn’t have the physical, mental, and psychological strength to continue on the job? President Mills shouldn’t have died, at least not now, had he been properly advised to take time off his job to take enough rest for him to recuperate from his ill-health. It therefore beats my imagination when our president was made to run, jog, stand, and dance at the airport just to prove that he was not sick, when in fact he was. President Mills did not need to prove to anybody that he was healthy; in fact, he, together with those around him was the only people who knew the real status of his health. Trying to understand all the puzzles that surrounded the health of our late president, it appears to some of us that some people around him did him a great disservice by making him look ordinary via some things he did to create the impression that he was well. You cannot handle the president of the United States of America in such a bizarre manner. Come on; let’s get serious for once, folks.

In the wake of all the contradictions and inconsistencies that have surrounded his demise, Ghanaians would like to know whether apart from the cause of his death as revealed by the autopsy report, events that preceded his sudden demise were to be blamed. For me, the latter is very significant, especially when the chaplain at the castle, Reverend Amo Darko has indicated that although President Mills’ aides knew about his deteriorating health status, “they arranged for him to make several public appearances to prove to Ghanaians that the president was hale and hearty” (www.peacefmonline.com, 28/7/12). Can you imagine? This observation by the Reverend Minister clearly suggests some form of negligence or carelessness on the part of those individuals who had been mandated to ensure that he didn’t do anything to injure his already precarious health.

As a result of the mountain of evidence about the poor health condition of our fallen president that have come to light after his demise, it is clear that some persons in the NDC government played politics with his health, and thus deceived the entire nation. For me, and other concerned Ghanaians both within and without the borders of the country, we strongly hold the conviction that the actions of some officials of government might have contributed to the death of President Mills, and thus calls for an investigation into his demise are justified, and without malice.

It will therefore be a grave mistake, and surprising should President Mahama fail to constitute an investigation into the events that preceded the untimely death of our departed president. This is not the time for us to “leave it to God;” we need to get to the bottom of the matter. All the weeping of President Mahama will be fruitless, if he fails to investigate the conundrum that surrounded the death of our late president. President Mills, y3ma wo damirifa due! Due, due ne amane hunu! God bless Ghana!

Source: Kingsley Nyarko, Psychologist, Accra (kingsleynyarko73@yahoo.com)