MILLS POSTERS POP UP

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu & Sarah Afful, Cape Coast

Monday, August 15, 2016

The debate over the circumstances surrounding the death of President John Evans Atta Mills appears to have been rekindled in Cape Coast where the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) launched its campaign at the weekend.

Residents of the Central Regional capital woke up on Sunday to see strange posters questioning who killed the president – whom President Mahama succeeded.

President Mills brought the NDC to power in 2009 but died suddenly on July 24, 2012 before he could even complete his first term in office; but the circumstances surrounding the death are still shrouded in mystery.

The posters, designed in red and black colours, with the picture of the late president, have the inscription: “Who Killed Atta Mills?” ostensibly in a bid to get answers about the death of the former law professor.

The posters had been displayed at many strategic locations in Cape Coast, including Pedu Junction, Abura, Adisadel, Moree Barrier, Aggrey Memorial SHS, Cape Coast/Takoradi Highway and even around the new Cape Coast Stadium - which was the venue for the NDC campaign launch.

 Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicated that some indigenes from the region, who were still annoyed at how the late president was treated, were behind the posting of the posters to coincide with the party’s campaign launch.

According to a resident, Kwamena Nkrumah, the incident revived the call for the government and the NDC to come clean on what actually led to the death of Prof. Mills. 

He indicated that that was time for the NDC to come out and tell the people of the region who killed Atta Mills.

“Many of us want to know how the head of state died after staring at the posters for a few minutes,” he added.

NDC Reaction

NDC communication officer, Solomon Nkansah, immediately pointed fingers at the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) as the architects behind the ‘distasteful’ “Who killed Atta Mills?” posters.

He claimed that the NPP knew there would be massive NDC presence in Cape Coast and therefore wanted to use the occasion to cause disaffection for the ruling party.

Solomon Nkansah told Adom FM that he could not fathom why the NPP was crying more than the bereaved, saying, “We in the NDC are still affected at the sudden demise of Prof Mills so the NPP cannot cry more than the bereaved.”

More Agitations

Even before the campaign launch, a group calling itself Central Regional Youth Friends of Atta Mills (CRYFAM) had questioned the wisdom behind the selection of NDC National Organizer, Kofi Adams, as the party’s campaign coordinator, saying “It is a  spite on Prof. Mills’ memory.”

 According to the group, which has one Adams Seidu as the PRO, Kofi Adams has what it claimed to be a “track record of perpetually fomenting schisms and factions in the NDC.”

CRYFAM pointed out, “Kofi Adams is bad news, a liability! Indeed, it is not for nothing that he was suspended from the party. He was caught on tape saying he will do everything in his power to prevent Professor John Atta Mills from contesting 2012 elections. It was Mills’ death that granted Kofi Adams’ wish. To bestow on Kofi Adams the position of campaign coordinator is to spite on the grave of the late president. It is also to reward his arch enemy.”

According to the group, President Mahama had said on countless occasions that President Mills gave him a freehand to operate but said that the sitting president had rather appointed someone like Kofi Adams whom they claimed is a ‘sworn’ enemy of the late president.

The group said, “At a time when party unity is of paramount importance, this Kofi Adams’ appointment as campaign coordinator for the upcoming presidential elections is completely wrong. President Mahama’s decision to do this shall forever remain a blot on his political career and also a painful experience in the minds of the millions of NDC members and supporters who have always been loyal to the cause of the NDC and have placed the supreme interest of the NDC over and above all other interests.

“In our view, the worst anybody could do to a benefactor is to elevate and promote their sworn enemy. And that is exactly what President Mahama has done. He has done so by elevating and promoting Kofi Adams who swore and indeed followed it through with action, to ensure that the late president whilst alive would not succeed in his desire to have a second term as president.”

It continued, “He campaigned against President Mills and told the whole world that he and his government were corrupt and incompetent. In fact, he gave the late president what in our view could pass as President Mills’ Achilles’ heel in his whole political life. A good observer may not be far from right in concluding that this may have hastened the good old professor’s demise.”