‘Atta Mills is not a judge’

President Atta Mills

THE NATIONAL Organiser of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has mounted a strong defense for President John Evans Atta Mills, over allegations that he (President Mills) made a promise to jail the perpetrators of the murderers of the late Ya Na and 40 others.

According to Mr. Yaw Boateng Gyan, President Mills’ statement was misconstrued.

He said even though the ruling which freed the suspects by the court was unfortunate, President Mills could not re-empanel the court to overturn a ruling in favour of the government of the day.

Speaking in an interview with this paper, following the hue and cry in the NDC, to the extent that some party gurus had threatened resigning, accusing President Mills of failure to deliver on his campaign promise, the NDC organiser said: “It is unfortunate that people are misconstruing Prof. Mills’ statement.”

The NDC guru said that during the campaign, the then presidential candidate Mills said he would ensure that the perpetrators of the heinous crime were brought to book. “He has done just that by putting suspects before court. He cannot cajole the judiciary in his favour, because he believes in the rule of law.

“President Mills cannot behave like Mr. Kufuor, who ordered his ministers to re-empanel the court to overturn a Supreme Court ruling in his favour. No, he cannot do it. He actually believes that at the end of the day, justice would prevail,” he said.

Mr. Yaw Gyan was of the view that the doors were not closed, and hinted of an appeal. “President Mills has gone through the due process. We are appealing to our supporters to remain calm.”

He contended that a lot of people had given different interpretations to the rulings. “I am not a lawyer, but I believe we have another process of appeal to ensure that we seek justice for the people. We shall continue to pursue that until we finally seek justice for the people of Dagbon,” he said.

Short URL: http://thechronicle.com.gh/?p=20905