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Opinions of Tuesday, 28 August 2012

Columnist: Damptey, Daniel Danquah

President Mahama stands accused in Mills death.

David was a man of God and King of Israel. He took Uriah’s wife and had him killed. But the Prophet Nathan found him out.
I have been very vehement in my demand for an investigation into the demise of late President Mills not because I have any mischief in mind. Rather it stems from my concern that human life has been ‘wasted’. We are an evolving democracy and must be seen to be doing things the right way. The gargantuan amount of lies, distortions, inaccuracies and conflicting statements emanating from the stable of the dramatis personae makes it imperative for an inquest into the death. A great majority of Ghanaians believe there has been some form of “chukwuhukwu” in the whole saga. A public enquiry will erode any such sentiments in the minds of people.
This has to do with various accounts of events as narrated by President John Mahama, the late President’s brother(Cadman Mills), his sister and other top members of the NDC administration.
Now you follow me as we go through the circus being enacted by the President and his appointees.
The Chief of Staff, Henry Martey Newman issued a statement that the President was suddenly taken ill and was rushed to 37 Military Hospital at 2:00pm and tried as the doctors did, the late President passed on “to sit at the right hand side of God” at exactly 2:15pm.
Now, the newly sworn-in President who prefers to be called a 54 year agile and dynamic young man echoed what the Chief of Staff had said in the statement announcing the death of the President. But he went a step further to state that on the morning of Tuesday, 24th July, 2004, the day the late President was alleged to have died, he and the Chief of Staff had been given an assignment by his former boss to represent him at a public function. They had discharged the assignment satisfactorily and returned to the Castle where he found the late President in good health. They had gone to their respective offices, from where the Chief of Staff called him to the Residency. There, he found out that his former boss not in the best of health, and so they rushed him to 37 Military Hospital, where he later died. This was aired by various radio and TV stations nation wide.
But after some commentators and I have punched holes in his assertion, President John Mahama now decided to shift the goal post. In an interview with Shaka Sassli of VOA Straight Talk Africa, the President sang a new tune altogether. He said the late President did not come to the office on Monday, 23rd July, 2012. He found a memo from the President directing him and the Chief of Staff to represent him at a public function holding at the International Conference Centre the next day.
Now, some contradictions: You get to your office and realize you boss had not been to the office. What do you do? And you did not bother to find out what was wrong with your boss? You did not call him on the phone; neither did you visit him. And it was not as if your boss was staying in a place far away from where you were. He was staying at the Residency which is located right inside the Castle, where you have your office! If the late President did not come to the office as President John Mahama would have us believe, how did the memo get to his office?
Again, I ask the same question I asked Cadman Mills. What sort of relationship existed between the late President and his brother, Cadman Atta Mills, who preferred to stay in the comfort of his office as his late brother was being rushed to 37 Military Hospital for treatment. Which person will stay aloof when his blood brother takes suddenly ill and is being rushed to the hospital for treatment? Which Vice President will choose to be unconcerned not to visit his boss to find out why the later had not been to the office that day?
If anything at all, one can rightly conclude that that the relationship that existed between John Mahama and the late President Mills was anything but cordial. The same conclusion could be drawn from that which existed between the late President, John Atta Mills and Cadman Atta Mills. So, you have a situation where two people (President John Mahama and the late President’s brother (Cadman Atta Mills) were united in a common crusade against a common enemy, the late President John Ata Mills. That’s the way I see things ooo.
But that is not all. President John Dramani Mahama went on to state that after their return to the Castle, he and the Chief of Staff, Henry Martey Newman returned to their respective offices, from where he was called to go to the Residency where he found the late President was not in the best of health. Here he omitted his earlier assertion that they had intimate the late President about the successful completion of the assignment.
But why, President John Mahama? Did you hate your former boss so much so that you turned a blind when he was writhing in pain? Or were you so much obsessed with the prospect of being President and so did not put in place immediate measures to help him get some reprieve from his deteriorating health condition? No doubt your First Coup d’état was staged against your former boss, John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills. No wonder you did not launch the coup d’état (book) in Ghana, but in the United States where the late President had gone for medical treatment before his demise.
There is the need to question President John Dramani Mahama about the discrepancies in his two accounts as they relate to the death of the former President.
Then Communications Minister, Iddrissu Haruna added another twist to the saga. He said he was part of the team mandated by the late President to represent him at the function being spoken off by President John Mahama at the “Arts Centre”. He said while they were there, the Chief of Staff was asked to put together a team of 7 people to accompany the late President on his trip to Nigeria that very afternoon. He also stated that an Aide to the then Vice President, John Mahama, drew his attention to a lecture to be delivered by former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the following day in the Northern part of the country and asked that he Iddrissu Haruna attend the lecture. He gave the Aide the assurance that he would be there at 3:00 pm the next day to grace the occasion. He said they had left the venue after 2.40pm on the very day President John Evans Atta Mills was alleged to have died. He went to his office. Later, he heard that President Mills had died.
Another bit of inconsistency here. If we were to go by Haruna Iddrissu’s account, it means at the time the President died, John Mahama, Henry Martey Newman and he Haruna Iddrissu had not left the Arts or International Conference Centre not to talk of being at the Residency when the late President allegedly fell ill. Another gargantuan lie being told by supposedly “men of integrity”
Does it not surprise you that all along, President John Mahama had given us the impression that it was the only Chief of Staff and himself who were the ‘big fishes’ at the ceremony?
And just from the blues, Haruna Iddrissu comes to tell us that they had left the venue of the function at 2:40pm. President John Mahama never for once gave us the idea that the Communications Minister was also present. Why? Is it selective amnesia? The then Vice President John Mahama never told us the exact time of their arrival at the Castle but was emphatic that he was in his office at 2:00pm. And the Minister of Communications is telling right thinking Ghanaians that they had left the venue of the function after 2:40pm, well past the official time given as time of death of the late President.
Who is telling the truth and who is feeding us with lies? Remember when David slept with Uriah’s wife and had he (Uriah) “killed” in battle, the Prophet Nathan found him out!
Now the inconsistencies”
The sister says she had left the Castle a little after 1:00pm. Fifteen Minutes later (1:15pm) she received a call that the brother had been rushed to 37 Military Hospital. The Chief of Staff, Henry Martey Newman and President John Mahama said the President fell ill at 2:00pm and was rushed to 37 Military Hospital where he died at 2:15pm. Kwabena Agyei, NDC Chairman said the President had died in the early hours of Tuesday, 24th July, 2012. Haruna Iddrissu said they had left the Arts Centre or was it the International Conference Centre at 2:40pm, past the official time given as time of death of the late President. Are they re-enacting the script of the death of Yar Adua who was brought to Nigeria dead but was said to be alive?
Again the sister said they had sung hymns and praises with the late President before her departure at 1:00pm. She concedes however that the late President was not well in health. The Chaplain at the Residency had admitted that the President had not been well and that he could not even attend the Sunday Church Service. But President John Dramani Mahama and the Chief of Staff, Henry Martey Newman vehemently disagreed. They say the President “suddenly fell ill’. What did they hope to gain by this gargantuan lie? What are they attempting to hide?
Water everywhere but none to drink. Different accounts by different people all with their own agenda. Which is which?
And if it may interest you, was there any correspondence between the National Security Adviser, Brigadier Nunoo Mensah and a certain Ghanaian Medical Doctor resident in Germany as it relates to the health of the late President? Answers to what transpired between the two will reveal a lot as to whether or not there was a deliberate plot to ensure that the late President never recovered from his illness. Brigadier Nunoo Mensah is the only person who can give us an answer to this question.
Now some posers about the cause of death. The brother of the late President attributes his brother’s death to massive stroke. Former President Rawlings says it was Cancer. The late President’s sister says they had eaten and even sang hymns and songs of praises with their beloved brother, even though she concedes the late President was a bit ill. The Abusua Panyin says the late President bled from both the nose and the mouth. But President John Mahama and the Chief of Staff say the President was suddenly taken ill. But the Chaplain at the Castle was emphatic in his assertion that the President was not in the best frame of health and could not take part in the Sunday Church Service.
So, why is President John Mahama, together with his Chief of Staff denying the already known fact that the late President had not been well for some time prior to his death. Why is it that anytime someone talks of the death of the late President, the NDC becomes jittery? What do they have to hide? One thing which makes an investigation a necessity stems from the statement made by Anita de Souza, NDC Women’s Organizer. She said it loud and clear that “the death of President John Atta Mills was ‘God sent’ because if he had died later than the time he died, the political fortunes of the NDC would have been affected” What do you make of such a statement and what is the IGP waiting for? Why has she not had a date with the Police? Is she a sacred cow?
The late President, before his death gave us the green light to investigate any issue that affected his health. A week or so before his death, in an interactive session with some journalists at the Castle, a Daily Guide Reporter, Charles Takyi Boadu had asked the late President to declare openly if he was suffering from Cancer. Late President Mills did not answer the question directly but announced his willingness to avail himself to doctors to examine him. What then are we waiting for?
It will interest readers to know that the new President of Malawi has instituted a probe into the death of her predecessor. Earlier on during his life time, late President Mills had asked late President Yar Adua of Nigeria to make public his health status.
Above all, we should not forget that the late President was a public figure. We should also acknowledge the fact that all expenses relating to treatment of his ailment was borne not by his family, but the State. It was the State that funded the numerous trips abroad for his medical “check ups” and treatment. The State therefore has a larger stake in determining whether or not an inquest is conducted into his death.
Those who hide under the cloak of privacy should be told in plain language that the issue is not tenable here. The proponents of that idea must refund all the monies spent on the numerous trips of the late president abroad for his ‘medical examination’ if they still insist that it is the prerogative of the late President’s family to decide whether or not an inquest should be conducted into his death.
In the coming days and weeks, there will be gargantuan revelations concerning the death of President Mills. At best we might charge the culprits who looked the other way as the late President ‘wallowed’ in his own blood with ‘manslaughter’ instead of murder. These gargantuan lies by our current President as they relate to Mills death make him culpable and accessory to the crime of “murder” or “manslaughter” whichever way you look at the issue.
You must not forget the fact that the Chairman of the Nefarious Destructive Cancer, Kwabena Agyei has stated that current President, John Mahama is the source of leakage of rumour pertaining to the earlier “death” of the late President. Again Koku Anyidoho’s paper, “The Finder” had stated that a high profile official at the Presidency who stood to gain by the death of the late President was the source of the rumour about the late President’s death. This occurred a few weeks to the actual death of President Mills.
So, why should we exonerate President Mahama? He is guilty as charged. Is it ‘presidential’ for the President to lie through his heart and mind so as to continue to enjoy the trappings that go with the office of president? And is it Godly to superintend over all these gargantuan lies by people at the corridors of power just to ensure that the Presidency remains in his grasps?
It is alleged that the Former President confided in some close aides that “they want to kill me”. It is also alleged that when the late President went for his treatment in the United States, you President John Dramani Mahama retorted to the hearing of some close aides of the former “let him die so that I take over the seat” and that when he returned to Ghana, he confronted you on the allegations, but you denied any knowledge of it and attributed it to the work of evil persons in the party.
Well the former President is dead and buried. You might be innocent of all the allegations, but I strongly believe that if you claim to be a Christian, then you must be Christ like. You have to say all that you know about the death of our Former President. Let no one talk of being disrespectful to the President. No, I am not. But the onus lies on the President to initiate the necessary action to clear his name. When Dr Anane was accused of abuse of office, he went to CHIRAJ and got his name cleared. Now people are accusing President John Dramani Mahama of complicity and cover-up in the death of the President. What does he have to do? There is only one logical thing left for him to do. Order an inquest into the death. The bizarre circumstances leading to the death of the former President demand immediate inquest. And as I have always said, if our President, John Dramani Mahama has any virtue and Christian trait left in him, he should do what the masses are asking of him. Failure to do that will leave most Ghanaians including my humble self with no other choice but to conclude that our President knows something about the death of his predecessor. You can use executive fiat and coercion to hush up agitations by the masses, but you cannot hide if from God, who ultimately will reward every individual according to his/her work/actions on earth.
The time has come to spill the beans as they relate to the untimely demise of the late President. Any attempts to stifle the truth or engage in any cover up will invite the wrath of God not only upon the President, but equally on the people as well. Remember, when David displeased God by ordering the enumeration of the soldiers in both Israel and Judah, the anger of God did not visit David alone, but the people as well. And this is the more reason why I am calling on well meaning Ghanaians, including, “Our Lords, both Spiritual and Temporal” to prevail on President John Mahama to accede to the wishes of the masses and do the proper thing.
If President Mahama and those apostles who are clutching strongly to the issue of privacy are Godly and have any moral turpitude in them, they should listen to what the spirit tells the church and order an inquest into the death of our late President. The masses are demanding a public enquiry. What does the President say to that?
But President John Dramani Mahama, you have been implicated in a cover-up operation in the death of your predecessor. A public investigation into the sudden death will be in your own interest and possibly absolve you from any blame. Former US President, Richard Milhous Nixon clung tenaciously to his “executive privilege” until the Watergate Tsunami swept him and the Republican Party from power. What have you got to lose if you order a public enquiry into the death of your predecessor whom you claimed to have loved so dearly? A denial of the masses wishes will confine you into the archives as the greatest demagogue that bestrode the political landscape of this dear nation. It will surely confine you into the history books as one of such unscrupulous politicians like the late Sanni Abacha of Nigeria, Ibrahim Babangida of Nigeria, the late Presidents Ahidjo of Cameroon, Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo, Haile Mengistu of Ethiopia, Jean Bedel Bokassa of Central African Republic, Idi Amin of Uganda, Samuel Kanyon Doe of Liberia, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, John Voster of Apartheid South Africa and many other unpatriotic and rudderless leaders of Africa.
And so, our ‘young and agile’ President at 54: Would you give in to the demands of your own people?
I pause for an answer!!! Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Daniel Danquah Damptey (damptey_daniel@yahoo.com) (danieldanquah_damptey@yahoo.com) 0243715297