As a PhD holder, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom must show a bit of “common sense and intelligence” in the manner he speaks about the death of Prof John Evans Atta Mills, the late president’s family has said.
“You see, when you call yourself a Dr., it is assumed that you have a little bit of common sense and some intelligence, but for this man [Dr Nduom] to be going the way that he is going, I am just puzzled and marveled. What he should understand – from what my brother said – was: ‘dzi wu fie asem’ – mind your own business,” Mr Samuel Atta Mills, brother of Prof Mills told Naa Dedei Tettey on 12Live on Class91.5FM on Monday 19 September.
On July 24, 2012, Prof Mills became the first Ghanaian leader to die in office, but with the exact cause of death withheld from the public, speculations have been rife that there may have been foul play in the former law professor’s passing which occurred only six months to the 2012 polls. Prof Mills’ health had deteriorated by then and he had been considered too weak to endure the physical demands of campaigning.
At the PPP’s first national rally at the Kawukudi Park in Accra, the party’s General Secretary, Murtala Mohammed, made a fresh call to the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to release the autopsy report covering the late president’s death to prove their innocence.
“If you didn’t kill Mills and if you are not happy Mills died, produce the autopsy report. We are challenging John Mahama to produce the autopsy report of [late] President Mills. The Central Region people here, I want you to listen to me: if John Mahama comes to your region, tell him to produce the autopsy report,” he urged.
Mr Mohammed’s comments came within the same week that PPP founder and flag bearer Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, at a rally in Cape Coast, had said some NDC officials put on a public show of sorrow with Prof Mills’ demise but privately rejoiced over his passing, saying it had paved the way for their electoral triumph in 2012.
He told the crowd at a rally held on Thursday September 15: “Mills was our kinsman and he became the president. Some people criticised and attacked him until he died. And some of the NDC people themselves thanked God that Mills died. Is that not strange? And after his death they came back here to tell us to replace him with another person from the Central Region.”
"After all that, they go about provoking us that if Mills had not died, the NDC wouldn’t be in government today. ... It appears as though they deliberately pushed him to the seat so they can commit the wrongs behind him.”
However, Mr Mills, who is the NDC’s parliamentary candidate for Komenda Edina Equafo Abirem Constituency in the Central Region said his brother’s autopsy report is “nobody’s business.”
“The guy has passed on, whatever we put out, people are going to challenge us, why don’t we let him lie in peace, let’s move on. We know what killed him; we have the autopsy report, what is the big deal? How come Paa Kwesi Nduom didn’t raise it four years ago when he passed away? And he waits in an election time? Is this how we run our elections? Well, he calls himself a Doctor, so he needs to at least exhibit that he has a little bit of common sense and some intelligence. He needs to live above this fray. If someone else is saying it [fine]; I don’t expect it out of this man. He needs to be quiet, he needs to run his campaign.”
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