Mills’s family were grateful for Asomdwee park refurbishment — Asa B
The Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, has said the maternal family of late President John Evans Atta Mills were right to express appreciation to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for refurbishing the Asomdwee Park.
Advertisement
He explained that the family from Otuom, Ekumfi, in the Central Region also used the opportunity to urge President Akufo-Addo to ensure that unfulfilled promises made by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to develop the area, and also offer scholarships, among others, come to fruition.
Mr Asamoah-Boateng stated this at a press conference in Accra in reaction to claims that the family members who called on President Akufo-Addo were illegitimate and that their demand for the autopsy report on the death of the late President Mills was also appropriate.
In January 12, 2024, the Kyedomhemaa of Ekumfi Asaman, the head of the maternal family of the late President Mills, Nana Enyinfua III, paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House to thank him for refurbishing the Asomdwee Park.
She also used the opportunity to ask for state assistance to get a copy of the autopsy report regarding the death of President Mills, insisting that as the head of the maternal family, neither she nor the state of Ghana could tell what led to the death of their royal who was the President of Ghana at the time of his demise.
Since then there had been reactions from a sibling of the late Mills who said he was around when the autopsy was conducted and that a copy of the report was with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA).
Circumstances
Addressing the press, Mr Asamoah Boateng noted that those claiming to have the report must show it to the maternal family, because in the Akan Tradition setting that was how things were done, adding that closure has not been brought to the issue.
People have called for coroner’s inquest; I won’t go there but if that is what the people want so be it”.
He challenged those claiming that the late President died at the 37 Military Hospital, including then Vice-President John Dramani Mahama to show proof of those who visited the hospital.
“If the President died in your arms in the castle which was in the morning, how come the chief of staff then, issued a statement that he died at 1:30pm at the hospital?
Then he was taken to the hospital as a corpse.
So who is telling the truth? There is a lot.”
“We must understand that if a sitting President died in somebody’s arms, it means the time they took him to the hospital, he was dead.
For us as a nation it is important to set the records so that it does not happen again.
He was the Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces”.
“I will support a coroner’s inquest into the death of Mills for the records to be set straight and for us to have as a guide as to how we handle such incidents if they ever occur again.
Nobody will be tried, it is for us to know how the system works.
What do we do as a nation when a sitting President dies?
The inconsistencies must be dealt with,” he said.
