He was an honourable and dignified statesman – Mahama recounts moment before Prof Mills’ death

• Posted on July 25, 2022July 25, 2022
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Former President John Dramani Mahama has described late President John Evans Atta-Mills as an “honourable and dignified statesman whose love for his country and his people was without question.”

For him, Prof. Atta-Mills was a “phenomenon best felt than described,” he posted on Facebook on Sunday, July 24, 2022. 

“Professor Mills was an honourable and dignified statesman whose love for his country and his people was without question. He was a phenomenon best felt than described.

His entry into the pressure cooker and high-octane environment that is Ghanaian politics, was a most opportune development. To many, he was a breath of fresh air that enabled us to make a clean break from the monotonous past laden with acrimony and deep-seated divisions”.

He said, “Upon our return to the Castle, which at that time was still the seat of government; as I proceeded to my office, I asked Chief of Staff, Martey Newman to inform Prof. that I was going to cross over and see him to discuss a few important issues after meeting a former President who was waiting in my office…moments after our return, the Chief of Staff called me frantically and said that Prof had been rushed to the 37 Military Hospital in an emergency. I wrapped up my meeting with the former President and prepared my staff to rush to the hospital. It was then that Sir James Bebaako Mensah entered my office, [and] delivered the devastating news, Prof dead? How? How can Prof die? Were the questions I asked. The world came to a standstill.” 

According to him, “Nothing in my political life and experience had prepared me for a moment like this. The shelter I have been working under Prof had been a wonderful experience. His death left me in trepidation of stepping up to the plate, realising the huge responsibility one was stepping into and that the back was going to stop with me, and no one else.”

He added, “The swearing-in ceremony was a blur and I struggled to complete my acceptance speech without breaking down in front of a sorrowful nation. When I left the podium, I missed my way back. I went and sat back in my Vice Presidential seat until the uproar from the MPs reminded me that I had sworn the Presidential oath and should move to the ceremonial Presidential seat. The rest is history to be narrated at another appropriate time.”