Attn: What Killed Mills?

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you once again accepting an invitation by the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG). AFAG wishes to extend our deepest condolence to the immediate family of the late president John Evans Atta-Mills, the NDC and the people of this country. AFAG wishes to thank the people of Ghana for the massive show of love to the late President and the wonderful work done by the funeral committee and all agencies that were involved in the organization.

AFAG as you know has a deep commitment to establishing transparency and accountability in our body-politic. In this direction, AFAG has taken up several causes over the past few years, all of which are intended to advance the cause of better and transparent governance for the people of Ghana.

On 24th of June this year, the Chief of Staff, Mr. Henry Martey Newman, announced the demise of President John Evans Atta Mills, until recently the President of Ghana.

The announcement caused great shock to the majority of the people of this country, for several reasons.

These are;

1. The President had only returned from the United States of America claiming that he is in great health for the ‘past, present and future’,
2. His attendants and himself had insisted that he was in great health right up to the minute when it was announced that he was dead, and,
3. He had even announced to parliament an intended trip to the Republic of Nigeria on the day he died and the least Ghanaians were expecting was the announcement of his death.

For these and several other reasons, many Ghanaians were in total disbelief when it was announced that he was dead. Many Ghanaians were also in deep shock because the late President Atta Mills was the Commander in-Chief, President of Ghana and the man who controlled the vast resources of this country. Indeed as President he was supposed to be a personification of our nationhood, and his death could only be the most unpleasant of news to Ghanaians.

The circumstances surrounding his death, and how he came to end up dead in the morgue at 37 Military Hospital, raise many doubts and anxieties in the minds of Ghanaians; doubts and anxieties which, if not addressed, would continue to create great distress among the body-politic. It is these doubts and anxieties which are the subject matter of this press conference.

First and foremost, there have been several descriptions and recitations on how the President died, when he died and how he was transported to the 37 Military Hospital. There are also several reasons assigned as cause of his death. All these have raised a rather murky atmosphere around the death of the late Commander in Chief which has left many Ghanaians wondering what went on. Worse of all, some of the President's closest associates have suggested that his death was fortuitous to the fortunes of the NDC. For instance, his immediate Deputy and current President of Ghana John Dramani Mahama (His Excellency), has stated that the death of President Mills represented a change of the baton to a 'younger generation' led by himself, when he has ironically assumed the mantle after the death of the late president, and Anita De Souza, National Women's Organizer of the NDC has been reported by the media as stating that the death of President Mills was 'God-sent' because if he had died later than the time he died, the political fortunes of the NDC would have been affected. This raises questions as to whether the death of President Mills (May his soul rest in peace), was an act of nature, or some people in positions of power and with access to the late President, who have opinions similar to that of Anita De Souza, 'saw the light' earlier than the rest of us and decided to 'hurry' President Atta Mills along to a predictable end as Anita De Suoza suggests, protect the political fortunes of the ruling party?

All these speculations and suggestions become relevant because many, many questions remain unanswered about the death of President Atta Mills, and we would proceed to put these questions which are already in the public domain now.

1. What was the actual state of health of President Atta Mills before his death? Is it true, as former President Rawlings suggests, that he was suffering from cancer of the throat and had been receiving treatment to this effect even before he became President?
2. Which doctors, and which hospitals, did the ex-President visit in the few years before his death, and what was the level of treatment? We ask this question because associates and friends of the late President vehemently opposed and attacked any suggestion that he was even receiving any treatment for any affliction. Could it be that he was not even receiving any treatment for any ailment, which would be the only reason why people like Mr. Kwesi Pratt Junior and Felix Kwakye-Ofosu would mount vitriolic attacks on anybody who dared to employ the word ‘treatment’ with regard to the late President when he was alive?
3. Which hospital did President Mills visit on his last trip to the Unite States of America, and what was the diagnoses and recommended treatment? We state this because, some associates of the late President have stated that the late President was advised to rest for six weeks on his trip to the United States, but he returned to work much earlier than his recommended rest period.
4. Was the President sick at all, and if he was sick, and afflicted, why was this information kept away from the majority of Ghanaians, who would have agreed that their Head of State take a rest to cure himself?

These and many more general questions are being posed and we hope that the government would have the courage, since it claims to be new and youthful leadership, to engage us on these questions and issues.

But we are not done. With specific regard to the death of President Mills, Ghanaians want to know;

1. Did the President fall down and start bleeding on 24th June, 20012? Before he fell down, did he complain of any pain, and if he complained, what, exactly, were the modes of treatment meted out to him?
2. Is it true that a relative of the President, who is a civilian with no medical background, was allowed to give treatment to the late President by procuring a medical neck aide for the President?
3. Where was the Aide de Camp of the late President during his last hours?
4. Where was his Personal Assistants and Aides at all times of his last hours?
5. Were there installed procedures in place to get medical and other assistance to him in times of distress?
6. What exact medical assistance was given to the late President when he collapsed at the Castle? Were doctors present? Did doctors or anybody with medical knowledge see him before he was transported to the 37 Military Hospital?
7. When, exactly, was the President taken to the 37 Military Hospital and what was his condition when he arrived at the hospital?
8. What was the mode of transportation for the late President to the 37 Military Hospital?
9. Was the transportation under the guidance of a police escort, which would help get the President to the hospital that much faster?
10. What role, if any, did the medical staff at the Castle Clinic play in the entire tragedy?
11. Why was the President not taken to health facilities closer to the Castle, the seat of government?
12. Was the 37 Military Hospital informed that the Commander in-Chief was in distress and was being rushed to the hospital before the President was taken there?
13. If the hospital was informed, what was the response to the President’s arrival, and what was the treatment?
14. When was the President reported to the hospital, and when was he declared dead?
15. What was the cause for the President falling down? Was it because of stroke, as advanced by the President’s brother Dr. Cadman Atta Mills or it was because he had a burst blood vessel in the throat, which caused him to bleed from the mouth and nose, and which subsequently choked him to death?
16. Was the President resuscitated at all, which would enable him to make a comment to the hearing of his brother Dr. Cadman Mills, and if he was resuscitated to the point of lucidity and able to talk, why he regressed so rapidly and died?
17. If the President fell down from a massive stroke, how come he was able to lift his arms and to talk clearly to the hearing of his brother, a medical miracle that many medical experts are disputing?

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, fellow Ghanaians, AFAG calls for a full scale enquiry about the circumstances surrounding the death of the late president.

We do so for a number of reasons. These are;

1. The former and late President deserves to have the facts around his death clarified in the minds of the majority of Ghanaians, and
2. When we clarify these facts, we can now assure ourselves the current and future Presidents are receiving the bets of care as leaders of this country.

Ladies and gentlemen, we pause here, but we assure you that this is not the full and exhaustive measure of our interest in this matter. We shall surely be back again on this matter

Signed:
Alliance for Accountable Governance
(AFAG)