Anyidoho, Samuel Atta Mills engage in public spat over Mills tomb
Minority criticizes Mills bust, calls for late president name to be on it
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has criticised the bust erected in honour of late President John Evans Atta Mills at Asomdwee Park.
In his view, the bust does not look like the late former president.
Addressing the media, Ablakwa suggested that the monument instead of honouring the late head of state was rather dishonouring his memory.
He maintained that this could have been prevented if the state had collaborated with the family of John Evans Atta Mills and avoided pettiness and factionalism in the lead-up to the refurbishment of Asomdwee Park.
The legislator also raised concerns over the missing name of Atta Mills on the bust stressing that nothing showed it was meant for “the good old Professor Mills”.
“If you look at that statue…that bust, honestly, I don’t know who it depicts. It doesn’t look like Professor Mills. It doesn’t have his name. His family is not recognized. The is nothing about that bust that shows that it was intended to immortalize and honour the memory of the good old Professor Mills. Nothing shows.
“These are the things that happen when you say proceed on a factional, petty, opportunistic basis. I don’t think we would have had this outcome if we all came together as Ghanaians, as one people, respecting his family and everybody was allowed to contribute.
“I don’t think this would have been the outcome. That itself tells you the result of division, pettiness, of opportunism. That’s what happens. I am not surprised that now…you have heard the family say that they even want to take this whole memorial out of here. They want their brother’s body out in a private place because they have suffered enough. They can’t continue to take the pettiness any longer because here is under the auspices of the state,” he said.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on behalf of the state commissioned the refurbished Asomdwee Park on Sunday, July 24, 2022, to mark the 10th anniversary of the passing of John Evans Atta Mills.
Prior to this, the had been a public spat between Samuel Atta Mills, brother of the late President, and Koku Anyidoho over some works near the tomb of the late president.
Samuel Atta Mills contended that the permission of the family ought to have been sort before commencing works on the tomb.
The NDC subsequently held a separate event at Asomdwee Park to also observe the 10th-anniversary celebration.
Meanwhile, GhanaWeb is accepting nominations for the prestigious GhanaWeb Excellence Awards – Youth Edition. Click here to nominate.
DS/PEN
The bust of former President John Evans Atta Mills