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14.08.2012 Editorial

After the President's death

By Ghanaian Chronicle
After the President's death
14.08.2012 LISTEN

After nearly three weeks of mourning, our departed Head of State has been put to eternal rest. Normally, this is the time to return to bread and butter issues, which are many.  Though such issues of our existence are many and varied, it looks like we would have to delve further into the circumstances leading to the departure of President John Evans Atta Mills, to satisfy ourselves that the late Head of State has a peaceful rest.

Many are those who have raised concerns about the outright lies served this nation in the name of managing the health of the departed Head of State. Ever since the fallen Head of State was sworn in, the controversy surrounding his health would not go away. There were strong suspicions that Prof. Mills was not enjoying the best of health. Somehow, the official version was that the President was as fit as a fiddle. At the weekend, as Ghanaians grieved after the burial of the late President, the Ghana Medical Association issued a statement inviting President John Dramani Mahama to delve into the circumstances leading to his death.

In a letter of condolence sent to President Mahama, and signed by Dr. Kwabena Opoku-Adusei, President of GMA, our doctors could not have sound sleep until a thorough inquiry had been ordered into the circumstances surrounding the death of President Mills on Black Tuesday, July 24.

Our medical officers believe that the cacophony of noise surrounding the President's death demanded that an inquest is constituted to establish 'the actual medical cause of death,' at the 37 Military Hospital.

The Chronicle cannot agree more with our medical officers. The various accounts given of events leading to the official announcement by the Chief of Staff that the President had died at 2:15 pm on Tuesday, July 24, 2012, does not add up.

So far, the only information that has been authenticated about what happened that day is that the President is actually dead. There are so many versions of the circumstances leading to the event that only an enquiry could establish the truth.

Dr. Bishop Dag Herward-Mills, Head Pastor of the Lighthouse Chapel, is ill at ease with the various versions of his death being sold to Ghanaians. 'I think there is no need to deceive the public. We are all human beings, and illness is not anybody's fault, and there is no need to lead us astray and create the context of such a shock.'

The Chronicle believes it is in the interest of this administration to create the enabling atmosphere for Ghanaians to know for themselves the circumstances leading to the death of the President of the Republic.

Since independence on March 6, 1957, when this country became independent of British colonial rule, no leader of this country has ever passed away in office. That is one reason why all aspects of the President's death ought to be laid bare. President Mills could not die in vain!

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