Despite the threat from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that it would have nothing to do with the commissioning of the renovated Asomdwee Park, which is housing the mortal remains of the late President John Evans Atta Mills, some of the party gurus, who revered the ‘Asomdweehene’, defied the orders and attended the ceremony.
Not only did Messrs Enoch Teye Mensah, four term Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Baba Kamara, former adviser on National Security, the ‘bad boy’ Samuel Koku Anyidoho and loquacious Allotey Jacobs accompanied President Akufo-Addo and his vice, Dr Bawumia to the park yesterday, but also fully participated in the programme to officially commission the final resting place for the former president.
All the aforementioned members of the opposition wore white apparel to the ceremony, with Koku ‘the Bull’ dramatically kneeling to thank the Almighty God and President Akufo-Addo for honouring the memory of the late president, who died whilst still serving as Head of State in 2012.
Though Koku Anyidoho, who is being roasted on social media by NDC followers, had allegedly complained about the poor state of Asomdwee Park when the party the late president belonged to was in power, nothing was done about it.
Mr Anyidoho, who was the Press Secretary to President Mills, then requested President Akufo-Addo, when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) came to power in 2017, to renovate the place. President Akufo-Addo accepted Koku’s plea and directed the Coastal Development Authority to bring the park to appreciable standard.
The development did not, however, go down well with the brother of the late president, Samuel Atta Mills, who described the former Deputy General Secretary of the NDC as a ‘buffoon’, who has arrogated to himself powers he does not have.
The General Secretary of the party of NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, also gave the order that the party would stay away from the state ceremony to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the passing of President Mills and the commissioning of the renovated Park.
But despite all these frustrations, President Akufo-Addo yesterday successfully commissioned the renovated Park.
SOLEMN CEREMONY
Addressing the gathering yesterday, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the commissioning of an infrastructural project by the government should elicit the display of pomp and pageantry, but today’s event is not one of those normal occasions.
According to him, news of his death brought up “many emotions—grief, sadness, reflections on the past, reminiscences on a generation, the stark reality of mortality, the prospects of eternity, the presence of the Living God.”
CONTROVERSY
It is no secret that a lot of controversies have surrounded the new Asomdwe Park, involving some family members of the late Prof. Atta-Mills and his Director of Communications, Samuel Koku Anyidoho.
Government has received its fair share of the backlash for choosing to work with Koku, who is not a family member on the renovation work.
However, in his address yesterday, President Akufo-Addo explained how the government got involved in the whole renovation.
He said that sometime after becoming President, he became aware of the sad state of Asomdwee Park, and in 2020, he received a request from Koku Anyidoho.
In his capacity as the founder and CEO of the institute, named after President Atta-Mills, the Atta-Mills Institute, Koku sent the request for the assistance from government to rehabilitate the facility.
“I agreed, and subsequently, I instructed the Coastal Development Authority to undertake a thorough rehabilitation of the park with the close cooperation of the Institute,” Nana added.
Explaining further, President Akufo-Addo remarked that it was not right that the park had been allowed to deteriorate considerably over the years, since his burial in 2012.
He was, however, happy that it was under his tenure that the place had a facelift. “I did so with that objective solely in mind, and not to exploit or take advantage of any so-called divisions in the political party to which he belonged. Those alleged divisions are not of my making, and do not, in any way, inure to my benefit.
“There have also been unfortunate accusations levelled by some against Government about the supposed desecration of the tomb of the late President in the process of rehabilitating the Park.
Nothing could be further from the truth, and it is good to note that these false, malicious statements have been firmly dispelled and debunked by the Coastal Development Authority, through the agency of its CEO, Mr. Jerry Ahmed Schaib, in a public statement under his hand,” the President asserted.
REMINISCING
President Akufo-Addo and Prof. Mills were contemporaries at the University of Ghana; members of the same hall, played in the same university football team and ended up belonging to and leading different political organisations.
The President recalled that they contested the presidency in 2008 and even though some will say it does not count, he won the first round and Prof. Mills won the second round.
President Akufo-Addo said he was looking forward to a third round contest in 2012 when the Almighty called him home on 24th July, 2012.
