Mills Surprised Me Pursuing Frontline Politics - Nyaho-Tamakloe

A leading member of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, has said he was surprised to see the Late President J. E. A. Mills pursuing the rough and tumble high-visibility world of mainstream politics in 1996.

Even more surprising, he told graphic.com.gh, was the fact that the late President stayed on to pursue the presidency and ultimately won elections in the year 2008 to become the third president under the Fourth Republican Constitution.

Sharing some encounters he had with the Late President, Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe recalled, “Like most observers, I noted the fact that he preferred to operate behind the scenes rather than assume highly prominent positions. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when Prof Mills took to the rough road of frontline politics, he stated.

Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, who joined hundreds of people mourning the passing away of the late president over the past few days, said he was reminded at the one-week commemoration of the unifying force of football in Ghana.

“Ghanaians were united in grief”, he told graphic.com.gh.

He also said though he was one of the late President’s political critics, “we shared a common ground in Accra Hearts of Oak. In fact, I worked closely with the Late President in the 1980s when we both occupied various administrative position in Accra Hearts of Oak, under the mentorship of club veterans like Mr HP Nyemetei, Tommy Thompson, Alhaji Tijani, Mr Quainoo, Kwesi Asante Sakyi and Mr Adjei Osekere”.

Like most observers, he said he noted the fact that the late President preferred to operate behind the scenes rather than assume highly prominent positions.

“However, I noted that the Late President was an avid hockey player and like politics, hockey is a rough and tumble contact sports,” Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe concluded of his impressions about the late President.