President John Dramani Mahama and his governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been challenged to make available the coroner’s report on the death of former President John Evans Atta Mills if they have nothing to hide.

On July 24, 2012, Prof Mills became the first Ghanaian leader to die in office, but with the exact cause of death withheld from the public, speculations have been rife that there may have been foul play in the former law professor’s passing which occurred only six months to the 2012 polls. Prof Mills’ health had deteriorated by then and he had been considered too weak to endure the physical demands of campaigning.

At the Progressive People’s Party’s (PPP) first national rally at the Kawukudi Park at Nima in Accra, the party’s General Secretary, Murtala Mohammed, made a fresh call to the NDC to release the autopsy report.

“If you didn’t kill Mills and if you are not happy Mills died, produce the autopsy report. We are challenging John Mahama to produce the autopsy report of [late] President Mills. The Central Region people here, I want you to listen to me: if John Mahama comes to your region, tell him to produce the autopsy report,” he urged.

Mr Mohammed’s comments come within the same week that PPP founder and flag bearer Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, at a rally in Cape Coast, had said some NDC officials put on a public show of sorrow with Prof Mills’ demise but privately rejoiced over his passing, saying it had paved the way for their electoral triumph in 2012.

He told the crowd at a rally held on Thursday September 15: “Mills was our kinsman and he became the president. Some people criticised and attacked him until he died. And some of the NDC people themselves thanked God that Mills died. Is that not strange? And after his death they came back here to tell us to replace him with another person from the Central Region.”

"After all that, they go about provoking us that if Mills had not died, the NDC wouldn’t be in government today. ... It appears as though they deliberately pushed him to the seat so they can commit the wrongs behind him.”