MILLS’ MAN GOES ON RAMPAGE!

… In Rampant Show Of Power!

For some people in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), power is so sweet that that they can even attack and defile the memory of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the man who led Ghana to Independence!

One of the key projects intended to honour the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah has come to a screeching halt, because the ego of one of President Atta Mills’ staffers has been bruised!

Because he was not informed, Dr. Don Arthur, a Presidential Staffer has ordered a stoppage to the reconstruction of a historic statue honouring Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, bringing the project to a dead stop since August last year!

So far, a sculptor employed by officials of the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park to mount the decapitated head of President Kwame Nkrumah’s statue at the park has not been working for months, because Don Arthur refuses to allow him to work! The statue was to be rehabilitated as part of the one year celebrations of Nkrumah’s birth, which comes to an end in September!

Don Arthur’s only reason for ordering the stoppage of the assignment was that officials of the Park did not seek his approval before commencing with the work. According to a letter intercepted by this paper dated August 31, 2009, the Director of the Park, Mr. K Manu-Asiamah, worried over this development, wrote to the Minister of Chieftaincy and Culture to seek clearance.

The letter titled “MOUNTING OF BROKEN HEAD OF DR NKRUMAH STATUE reads “My telephone conservation with you on Thursday, 27, 2009 in respect of the subject mentioned above refers, please.

The Sculptor Employed To Mount The Decapitated Head Of President Nkrumah’s Statute On The Park Was Stopped From His Assignment By Dr. Don Arthur When He Visited Here On The Date Mentioned Above; His Reason Was That We Did Not First Seek His Approval”.

“I wish to seek clearance from you if we should ask the sculptor to go ahead and complete the job. The head of the statue has already been fixed to a bronze pedestal ready to be fixed to the platform already erected on the Park”, the letter said.

The Chieftaincy and Culture Minister scared by the reprisals from the Presidential Staffer then ordered his Director of Administration, one Kwadwo Adu to fire a response to the officials of the Park to suspend the mounting.

The letter dated 24th September, 2009 titled Mounting of Broken Head of Dr. Nkrumah reads: “Please your KNMP/MCC.1/46 dated August 2009 refers. I am directed to write to inform you to suspend your programme since the Centenary Planning Committee has been mandated to undertake the rehabilitation and any other necessary works at the park”.

It would be recalled that the Ghanaian Times edition of Tuesday, May 26, 2009 on its front page carried a story captioned NKRUMAH’S HEAD, ARM WANTED.

The Information Services Department through its Acting Director, Mr. Samuel Amankwah wrote to the Director of the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in a letter dated 27th May, 2009 informing them that the ISD is in possession of the ‘Head’ of the bronze statue of Ghana’s Founding father, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and that it wished to formally hand it over to the park.

According to the ISD director, the bronze head has been with the Department for safe keeping since Ghana’s 40th Independence Anniversary (1997), when a good citizen brought it voluntarily to the Department.

It was subsequently handed over to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, but before it could be mounted on the bronze statue, Dr. Don Artyhur came in and stopped the project, and since August last year, the project has been at a stand still!