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Opinions of Wednesday, 25 July 2018

Columnist: Kwaku Badu

Six years on: Anyidoho and cohort must show their true love for Mills!

Koku Anyidoho, Deputy General Secretary, NDC Koku Anyidoho, Deputy General Secretary, NDC

I was indeed downhearted upon listening to the family of the late Mills describing the appalling state of the late President Mills’s Mausoleum, popularly known as Asomdwee Park.

It is beyond comprehension to know that the tomb of the late President Professor John Evans Atta Mills is in a deplorable state six years after he was buried at the Asomdwe Park in Accra.

Somewhere last year, Citi News reported that the well-crafted metallic cover of the tomb had developed grim cracks detaching itself from the rest of the artefact.

The report further revealed that portions of the tomb were also falling apart, and managers of the park had had to support it with blocks.

Well, all that we could say is: the late Mills has been disappointed by the authorities (especially the NDC government) and the people who claim to love him so much.

If we stroll down memory lane, the late President Mills contested the presidency on three consecutive elections on the ticket of the NDC before clasping the ultimate power in the 2008 second round election.

Despite the fierce resistance from the echelon of the NDC, the unwearied President Mills stood his ground and selected John Dramani Mahama as his running mate for 2008 election.

Suffice it to state that the late President Mills did his utmost best until his sudden and inexplicable death on 24th July 2012.

Of course, the late Mills was not without infelicities. He had excellences and imperfections. Nonetheless his light shone among the voracious NDC apparatchiks.

Apparently, the late Mills was not on the side of corruption. Consequently, he earned himself more enemies than friends in the NDC.

It is however on record that prior to the scandalous Wayome’s judgement debt payment, the late Mills warned the ‘create, loot and share’ cabals not to effect payment, yet the conspiratorial plotters defied the good old Mills orders and doled out the staggering amount to Wayome, who had no contract with the government of Ghana.

It would therefore appear that there was a bad blood between the late Mills and some of the NDC officials.

For if that was not the case, how on earth would NDC government leave the tomb of one of their own in such an abhorrent state?

The alleged enmity between the late Mills and the echelon of the party may explain why they obtrusively failed to recognise his achievements in their much publicised green book.

Shockingly, however, it took the NPP government to begin refurbishment works on the late Mills’s decrepit tomb somewhere last year.

Shamefully, the NDC government was in power for more than four years following the demise and burial of the late President Mills and could not bother to take care of our former president’s tomb.

It was reported last year that following Citi FM's report on the deteriorating state of the tomb of the late President John Evans Atta Mills, the NPP Government commenced some repair work on the tomb at Asomdwee Park.

“I can confirm on authority that I have been there and I must say that we are pleased with the quick response of government. We saw workers on site.

“The tombstone was being worked on. It also looks like the lawn itself is being manicured”, said Koku Anyidoho (modernghana.com, 01/03/2017).

The all-important question however is: so Koku Anyidoho, the darling boy of the late Mills also wants to tell us that he failed to visit the Mausoleum all those years?

Well, it would appear that the NDC apparatchiks are ungrateful towards the men and women who have worked strenuously to put the party on the map.

In fact, some NDC apparatchiks are unappreciative. Take, for example, the party General Secretary Asiedu Nketia once called Rawlings a barking dog, who is too old and fragile to contribute meaningfully to the cause of the party he (Rawlings) founded and autographed with his blood.

Moreover, the NDC’s boisterous brats (the babies with sharp teeth) who are not privy to their party’s history have been scolding former President Rawlings all the time for expressing his grievances over the rot in his party.

NDC apparatchiks: get a grip and put your acts together because your actions and inactions do not speak well of you.