The chiefs and elders of Ekumfi in the Central Region have called out the former president John Dramani Mahama for failing to honour any of the promises he made to them after taking over as president following the death of John Evans Atta Mills on 24 July 2012.
According to the chiefs and elders of Ekumfi, the home town of the late former president Atta Mills, the Mahama administration – which entered office on 24 July 2012 and remained in power through to 7 January 2017 – made several promises to the people of Ekumfi.
However, the chiefs argue, the Mahama governments reneged on all these promises.
Failed promises
They made this known when they paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo at Jubilee House on Friday 12 January to express their appreciation to him and his government for the honour done the late former president by renovating Mills’s final resting place, “Asomdwee Park” in Accra.
“We wish to take advantage of this opportunity given to us to meet the president to establish that the late former president John Evans Atta Mills is not from Cape Coast.
“Some of our family members have painted the picture that he hailed from Cape Coast but that cannot be true.
“Before the family agreement to allow the mortal remains of the late former president to be buried in Accra, the Mahama administration made several promises to the family of the late Atta Mills and the people of Ekumfi.
“However, they failed to fulfil any of those promises. Not a single one of those promises they made was fulfilled. The Atta-Mills family is displeased with these failed promises made by the John Mahama administration,” Kobina Biney, Ebusuapanyin of the Odomaa clan of Ekumfi, told President Akufo-Addo on behalf of the delegation.
“We went to see ‘Asomdwee Park’, the final resting place of the late Professor Evans Atta Mills. We laid our wreath and performed all the necessary rites. We are indeed pleased with what you have done to honour our son and beloved late former president.
“We wish to say a big thank you and request that your government look at our direction and take steps to fulfil at least one of the promises the previous government made to us. If just one is done for us, we will use it to remember you after you have left office as President of the Republic,” Ebusuapanyin Biney said.
Challenge accepted
The family made a request for President Akufo-Addo to do something significant in the Ekumfi Traditional Area to help fulfil the failed promises made to them by the Mahama government.
This, they said, will also serve as a monument in remembrance of President Akufo-Addo after he leaves office on 7 January 2025.
The president accepted the challenge and said he would do everything in his power to meet the expectations of the chiefs and elders of Ekumfi in his last year in office.
Asomdwee Park
Responding to the family’s thank you gesture for the redevelopment of the final resting place of the late Professor Atta Mills, President Akufo-Addo said Mills was his good friend back at the University of Ghana.
Even though they had different ideological beliefs, he said, it is only right that the man who was his contemporary be given a befitting resting place, especially because he lost his life in the line of duty, serving his country in the highest office of the land.
Autopsy report
During the visit, the family of the late former president also appealed to President Akufo-Addo to use his office to assist them to retrieve the report from the autopsy carried out on their beloved son in 2012.
Nana Enyimfua III, Kyedomhemea of Ekumfi Asaman, was among the delegation members. Speaking on behalf of the family, she said 12 years after the death of President Atta Mills, it is unacceptable that the family has not been given an autopsy report.
“Since I was enstooled as the queenmother, I have not seen any autopsy report in the hands of the family. It is a very difficult situation that the family and I have,” she said. “We are unable to explain to anyone the actual cause of death of the former president because we do not have the official autopsy report.
“It is only right that we know exactly what the doctor found as the cause of his death. To this end, I wish to plead with your government, for and on behalf of my entire family, to assist us in securing the autopsy report,” Nana Enyimfua III said.
“If the autopsy report is obtained, it will go a long way to put the family’s continued confusion on the cause of death of the late Atta Mills to rest and the future generations of our family will have a source document to use in explaining to their children of the real cause of death of the former president,” the queenmother added.
Was there an autopsy?
Responding to the family’s request, President Akufo-Addo sought clarity on whether or not an autopsy was indeed carried out on the body of the late former president after he died on 24 July 2012.
He said it comes to him as a surprise that a basic document such as an autopsy report, after the death of such an important personality as the former president, should be a subject of doubt and controversy.
Claims of KEEA MP
Koku Anyidoho, the chief executive officer of the Atta Mills Institute, was also in the delegation.
He said that but for the inquiry by the queenmother, he would have loved to stay away from the issue of the autopsy report on his former boss.
Anyidoho further said he is personally not aware of any official autopsy report on the cause of death of the former president.
However, he said, he is aware that Samuel Atta-Mills – the brother of the late former president and current National Democratic Congress MP for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) in the Central Region – is on record as having said he has an autopsy report and that he knows the cause of his brother’s death.
Assurance to act
After the submission by Koku Anyidoho, President Akufo-Addo told the delegation that he will give the request by the Atta Mills family all the attention it deserves because he considers it to be legitimate.
He added that since Professor Atta Mills died a sitting president, his autopsy report should be a matter of public record and not a secret.
Source; Asaaseradio
