Knowing What Killed Atta Mills is as important as knowing what killed Rawlings and Amissah-Arthur: A suggestion to Koku Anyidoho

What suddenly killed Atta Mills, Amissah-Arthur and Rawlings?

On Tuesday, July 24, 2012, Professor Evans Atta Mills, Ghana’s third President of the Fourth Republic died and the whole nation was in shocks especially mindful of his peaceful personality and the fact that he was the first time sitting President of Ghana to have died during his tenure in office. His death was a huge blow to the nation. Much later at his funeral, the two opposing political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) came together as though they were one unified political party. There was a significant tranquility even though this dissipated few days after the late President was buried.

Over a decade after his death, the cause of President Mills’ death has still not been disclosed to the public. Even his close family members keep saying they do not know what caused his sudden death. In almost every election post his death, the issue of his autopsy report is brought to the front burners and same issue vanishes from public discourse after the elections. This smacks of a suspicion that someone or some people had a hand in his death hence demanding his autopsy report has become a political gimmicks and propaganda.

Said differently, the late President Mills’ medical cause of death has become controversy not only nationwide but even within his family circles. Two schools of thoughts have been availed. One is that he was a sitting President of Ghana prior to his death so we should all know the contents of his autopsy report. The second school of thought holds that even though he was the President of Ghana, he came from a family so matters relating to his cause of death should be a family concern. None of these views has won the unending debate regarding Mills’ cause of death.

Last week, Samuel Koku Anyidoho - a staunch adherent of late President Mills – in unison with some family members including but not limited to the Kyedomhemaa of Ekumfi Asaman, Nana Enyimfua III called on President Akufo Addo at the Jubilee House and demanded that Nana Addo should ensure that late President Mills’ autopsy report is disclosed to the family. President Akufo Addo indicated in the affirmative to Koku Anyidoho and Mills’ family that he (President Akufo Addo) would see how to approach the matter regarding the autopsy report of President Mills.

Koku Anyidoho worked closely with President Mills before the latter died. The NDC of which Koku was a stalwart was in power when President Mills died. Koku later became the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC yet he did nothing to unearth President Mills’ cause of death? Was he and others close to Mills hiding something? Was Koku not part of the managers of President Mills who made Mills jogtrot on tarmacs of Kotoka International Airport to pretentiously demonstrate that he (President Mills) was well when in fact it was speculated widely that he was sick at the time?

Much later, Mr. Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, Ghana’s fifth (5^th) Vice President of the Fourth Republic died suddenly at 37 Military Hospital after he allegedly collapsed at the Air Force Gym. He died on Friday, June 29, 2018. To date, we do not know what killed him because his autopsy report was not disclosed to the ogling public.

On Thursday, November 12, 2020, J.J. Rawlings, the first President of the Fourth Republic also died suddenly at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Even though many people speculated without confirmation that President Rawlings died of COVID-19, no autopsy report regarding his death has been revealed to the public. The Government virtually hijacked Rawlings’ funeral from his Anlo family and to our surprise, the domineering Anlo-Ewes of the Volta Region were visibly helpless under that painful circumstance. This was serious because in December 2018, the people of Anlo even enstooled Rawlings as a development chief and named him Togbuiga Nutifafa I yet one could only hear Akan ensembles like Adowa and Kete at his funeral. The Anlo Kotsioko ensembles were completely silenced.

It is imperative that if Koku Anyidoho and others are interested in knowing President Mills’ medical cause of death, then the public should equally be interested in knowing what killed Vice President Amissah-Arthur and President Jerry John Rawlings. Rawlings is a giant and an indelible figure in Ghana’s political history. That history would be incomplete if his cause of death was not added to it. We need to know the circumstances that led to his death.

It is good that President Akuffo Addo has been the sitting President when Amissah-Arthur and Rawlings died. As such, once he is going to help Koku to find out President Mills’ cause of death, he should equally help us know what killed Amissah-Arthur and Rawlings. Perhaps the families of these two deceased statesmen should equally join hands with Koku Anyidoho to find what caused these deaths too. After all, the three of them (Mills, Amissah-Arthur and Rawlings) were of the NDC and they served Ghana’s political system at its pinnacle, the presidency and there has been controversy regarding what killed them.

How far with the killers of Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu (MP), Ahmed Hussein-Suale and Prof. Emmanuel Yaw Benneh?

In February 2016, Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu, the then MP of Akyem Abuakwa North was assassinated at the age of 50 at his Shiashie Legon home. He was stabbed to death just as one of his forebears, Nana Akyea Mensah, the Odikro of Apedwa was stabbed in the royal palace of Abuakwa in 1944. During the trial of Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu’s alleged assassins, the Pathologist (Dr Lawrence Edusei) once reported that J. B. Danquah-Adu’s autopsy report was missing. Strange right?

On January 16, 2019, an investigative journalist by name Ahmed Hussein-Suale was equally killed and to date, it is not clear those who orchestrated his death.

In September 2020, Prof. Emmanuel Yaw Benneh, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Ghana School of Law was also murdered at his East Legon home that looked like a castle.

I think that matters pertaining to these gruesome killings of these important individuals should equally be of interest to Koku Anyidoho and many others who are interested in knowing what killed Prof. Mills.

Request for Atta Mills’ Autopsy Report in an election Year, a diversion of attention from our economic woes?

Many others have been asking whether, Koku Anyidoho, a dismissed and a former member of the opposition NDC is not just raising such matters that will just make the public divert its attention from the worrying economic woes in this election year. To many watchers of Ghana’s political scene, the setting of Koku’s request (the Jubilee House) and the 2024 being an election year in Ghana smack of political propaganda.

In any case, Koku is an Ewe from Tanyigbe near Ho so he is not a member of the Mills’ Family. Is Koku’s request not making him more Catholic than the Pope or is he not Ola Rotimi’s butterfly that thinks himself a bird? I ask so because members of the late Mills’ family have themselves been divided regarding getting access to the deceased President’s autopsy report.

I dare suggest to Samuel Koku Anyidoho that President Mills’ autopsy report should not be pursued to the neglect of those of President Rawlings and Vice President Amissah-Arthur. All these three individuals died suddenly and their causes of death have been receiving speculations and conspiracy theories to date. ~ Asante Sana ~

Philip Afeti Korto
Hospital Administrator
[email protected]