Opinions of Tuesday, 14 August 2012

Columnist: Sarpong, Nana Yaw

Our Politics Can Only Survive With Truth And Honesty

I welcome the frank comments made by the Head Pastor of the Lighthouse Chapel Bishop Dag Heward Mills that handlers of President Mills and Ministers lied to the Ghanaian people. I have echoed this position since our President passed away that the handlers , senior NDC party executives, aides and advisers to the president especially the National Security council had betrayed the country and did not put the future and security of the country first.

I have gone further to call for an independent public enquiry into the circumstances ,especially the last days and hours leading to the death of President Mills. I may not support the NDC and neither did I always agree with the late President the way and manner he ran our country but together with millions of Ghanaians I queued in the hot blazing sun to cast my votes in the last elections ,which he won and became President. Our taxes and levies paid his salary and sustained his office, including his health trips to the USA and other places. Surely we deserve some respect to know the truth and learn lessons for the future. The President died in extreme pain and in agony in the back of a van and his aides and handlers were nowhere to be found! and we are expected to keep quiet. Not even an elaborate funeral could hide this glaring fact! Statements made by Brigadier Nunoo Mensah National Security Adviser under Mills, Dr Cadman Mills brother of the late President, Fritz Baffour the minister for information ,the submissions by the Daily Guide Newspaper and comments by the current President John Mahama, the fact that individuals were lobbying to be Vice President 4 days before his death coupled with countless rumours of a cover up all call for an independent public enquiry. I sincerely believe certain individuals and institutions failed the President. They must account for their actions before the people of Ghana.

Our politics and our democracy can only have a bright future if there is complete truth and honesty and at the moment I don’t think the current NDC government under John Mahama is ready and willing to bring transparency into our politics. I believe a future NPP government will look into this matter so that this level of neglect and crass politics is removed from our democratic dispensation .

Nana Yaw Sarpong, UK

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