In the afternoon of Tuesday, July 24, 2012, the news broke that Ghana had lost its sitting President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills.
Yesterday was exactly a decade when that tragic event occurred and for family members and others who loved and still cherish Prof. Mills, the pain of his loss seems so fresh as if his passing took place just yesterday.
Prof. Mills was not a saint but he was one personality you could not hate even if you did not love him.
This is because even if you thought you did not like him, he would put you in emotional ambivalence when you interacted with him.
His infectious smile, tolerance and soft-spoken nature alone were enough to cause you to have a second opinion.
The Ghanaian Times cannot be faulted if it says that the whole nation have sorely missed him.
If the whole nation should suggest a sentence in memory of Prof. Mills, his description as Asomdweehen, a Fanti, and for that matter, an Akan expression, meaning a man who prioritised peace and so would not countenance anything that would undermine the unity of the family, the community and the larger society.
He did not ask for that title to be bestowed on him; rather the
whole nation subscribed to it when it was bestowed on him by source(s) now difficult to point to.
No wonder where his remains lie in Accra is named Asomdwee Park.
Prof. Mills is, so far, the country’s only head of state who has died in office, and five months before his first term would end, but he has a lot of achievements to celebrate.
His moderating personality and achievements as a university teacher, a lawyer and tax administrator, and a political colossus are undisputed.
Various events have been organised annually by his loved ones since his passing 10 years ago in his honour.
Unfortunately the lead-up to his remembrance this year has not been as peaceful as the previous ones, all because of controversies about the renovation of his resting place by the government and some people without involving family members.
The family sees the action as total violation of their cultural norms and also as desecration of the remains and resting place of Prof. Mills.
However, members of the public are testifying that the Asomdwee Park has been given a facelift befitting the regard or honour given to Prof. Mills.
The Ghanaian Times, therefore, wishes to appeal to the late President’s family and his cherished National Democratic Congress party to forget whatever they perceive as having gone wrong and let the 10th anniversary of the passing of Prof. Mills remain without any serious blemish that would take the shine out of the splendour of events organised to mark his remembrance.
Whatever the case is, let the whole nation continue to remember Prof. Mills as the Asomdweehen who would always want peace and unity to reign in all situations no matter their gravity.
Once we do that, no doubt, he would have a peaceful and blissful rest.
