"GOD, I GIVE IT ALL TO YOU"

And so the controversy ranges on since the late President of the Republic of Ghana, Professor John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills reportedly died at the 37 Military Hospital, on Tuesday 24th July, 2012 after being rushed there. Many are those propounding their own conspiracy theories.

In rendition of the vote of thanks at Mills' burial on Friday August 10, 2012, Dr Cadman Atta Mills, the late President’s brother and also a member of the Mills-Mahama’s Economic Management Team said, 'President Mills’ final moments, were marked with a submission to his Maker'. He said President Mills raised his hand and said his last words: "God, I give it all to You."Dr. Cadman Atta Mills had earlier revealed that the late President suffered a stroke before he was pronounced dead at the 37 Military Hospital. Speaking at the grave side on behalf of the family, Dr. Mills said doctors together with some family members tried their very best to resuscitate the President without success. It is very instructive to note that a person who had suffered 'massive stroke' could lift his hands and open his lifts to utter his last words. The cause of Prof. Mills' death has generated lot of controversy with some sections of the public advocating a Coroner's Inquest to establish the cause of death of the late President. Dr. Cadman Mills' revelation of the cause of death on Friday August 10, 2012, was the first time the family of the late President was publicly speaking on the issue. The inconsistency in his account of events leading to the demise of the late President has rather rekindled the desire of the doubting Thomases to demand inquiry into the death.

Firstly, one fact that has been acknowledged by his image makers, is the tribute attributed to him as his last written autotribute as appeared on page two of his funeral 'Tribute' and 'Journey' booklets. People are questioning the authenticity of this claim. Some say the signature was forged. Others argued that if indeed the late president authored the suppose last message, then he knew he was about to die, contrary to his continuous denial about his ill-health. Was the late president evasive or lying to Ghanaians? The question is what was his reason for concealing his ill-health which in any case was something already in the public domain? Was he also the one who put together music video clip showing on TV indicating that he is sitting on the right hand side of God interceding on behalf of Ghana and Ghanaians?  On hindsight, sober reflection would show that it is getting absurd.

Secondly, the sheer coincidence of the launch of President John Dramani Mahamathen the veep's book called "My First Coup d'Etat: And Other True Stories from the Lost Decades of Africa." The book published on July 3, 2012, chronicles the coming-of-age of John Dramani Mahama in Ghana, who unbeknownst to him or anyone else, would grow up to be president of his nation. Was he a fortuneteller or was there 'a crystal ball' he was reading? I hope and pray this book was not a prelude to some palace coup d'etat in the offing. While not suggesting that the current president had a hand in the dispatch of the late president to the other side, this sort of premonition appears to be too real. Maybe as already written 'Mahama's is a rare literary voice from a political leader, and his personal stories work on many levels'- stories in this book "rise above their specific settings and transport the reader into a world all their own, one which evokes a time lost and explores the universal human emotions of love, fear, faith, despair, loss, longing, and hope despite all else." How does this premonition fit into the Informer newspaper's editorial of Monday, June 25, 2012, that exposed compelling signals of power game at the Castle of some apparent infighting between loyalists of President Mills and a faceless group purported to be aligned to Vice President John Mahama? The newspaper stated in its editorial that "an intel picked from the Osu-Castle pointed to the fact that the latest news of another death of President Mills emanated from the Castle itself. The NDC is, arguably, becoming escalated bits of self-destruct individuals with personal interests to safeguard than a political party with a common purpose, industry and destiny.”

Thirdly, people question what prompted his entire family from Cape Coast to visit on that fateful Tuesday July 24, 2012 considering that the President had earlier told Parliament he was travelling to Nigeria on the said day. Was there no communication between the President and his family in Cape Coast before the set off? Was it the President himself who wrote the notification and permission to travel letter to Parliament? How come it was one of the late President's sisters who had to go and procure a neck collar for the late President when according to the same sister doctors were treating the late President when they arrived? People are ill at ease with what prompted the letter written from the Castle to the House of Parliament seeking to inform the House on a purported trip to Nigeria, where fallen President Mills was to confer with Goodluck Jonathan, Head of State of the Federal Republic, on the very day that he died. 

Lastly but not the least, is it true that for well over 30 minutes, the key to the ambulance used in transporting President Mills to the 37 Military Hospital could not be found?Is the DAILY GUIDE report that "there are strong indications that former President John Evans Atta Mills choked on his own blood after suffering a rupture of a major blood vessel" true? Is it also true that "the late president died before reaching the military hospital some two hours earlier"?Why did the people around the late president like Brigadier-General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah his National Security Advisor refuse to let him resign as he and his wife Ernestina had wished? "He (Mills) told me General, 'my wife has advised me to step down', but I (General Nunoo-Mensah) told him that God is in control and has put him there...so he can't leave and abandon his people," Nunoo-Mensah said. Could he have lived longer like the first president of Caremoun, Ahidjo Ahmadou? In November 1982, President Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon who had ruled the country since independence in 1960, abruptly resigned and handed over power to the Prime Minister Paul Biya ostensibly with only few days left to live. Ahidjo Ahmadou however survived and lived on for seven more years till his death in 1989. Was ex president Jerry John Rawlings right when he asserted that “quite frankly, I think had he been advised and done something wiser earlier on, he could probably have survived for another six, seven months, I guess?”

Indeed death is the inevitable end of all mankind. For this reason, I cannot but trust in the Lord as the giver and taker of life, and that the late president was called by his maker. Nevertheless, like many other well meaning Ghanaians, groups like the Ghana medical Association and as is done in any civilised community of nation, I hold that the circumstances surrounding the death of President Mills call for fuller explanation than the piecemeal releases being offered by officialdom. The whole episode of the President’s death sounds like a comedy hence warrants proper investigation that will tie up all the loose ends. GOD, GHANAIANS GIVE IT ALL TO YOU. WEEP NOT, FOR MILLS IS NOT DEAD, HE IS ALIVE AND AWAKE IN THE LORD. MILLS CAME TO SERVE; HE HAS FINISHED HIS TIME HERE ON EARTH AND HAS MOVED ON TO EVERLASTING REST AND CELESTIAL DUTIES WITH HIS HEAVENLY FATHER. Everlasting beatification message!