Renowned football
commentator and owner of the Africa Sports newspaper, Kwabena Yeboah, has
revealed his devastation and inconsolable mood at the death of President John
Atta Mills.
Mr. Yeboah says the
just departed president was a close pal and a man he has known for ages, even
once sharing a bathroom with.
“I have always held
the belief that death is inevitable and that sooner or later, everybody will
die and that our continued existence is a just a postponement of the
inevitability of death.
“So when someone dies,
I normally don’t cry but yesterday I was devastated. I couldn’t take it, I
parked my car by the road side when I heard the news and cried so much,”
Kwabena Yeboah said as he burst into wild tears on live radio Wednesday
morning.
Kwabena Yeboah whose
father-in-law Harry Sawyer worked with Atta Mills, got to know the former
President through his father-in-law and he they shared a good rapport.
“I’ve known him for
over two decades and he always called me ‘Kotoko man’ and I also referred to
him as ‘Hearts man.’. He was an epitome of the saying ‘good name is better than
riches.’ He transcends all political affiliations,” Kwabena Yeboah said.
He continued: “Even if
you are a political opponent, you are very reluctant to criticize the man. I
don’t believe that people are shedding crocodile tears. People genuinely love
the man. He was extraordinary. This was a president who was most approachable,
very humble and honest.”
Kwabena Yeboah has no
doubt at all that if a human being appreciated democracy and it’s tenets in
every sphere of life, then one could not bypass the departed John Evans Atta
Mills. He recounted: “We all know he preferred Abedi Pele for the CAF position
instead of Kwesi Nyantakyi. And in Africa where presidents were totally in
control, I knew if it was other countries, there was no way he would back off.
But when the GFA met him and explained to him why they wanted Nyantakyi, he
just apologized and gave them his support. That is how humble and democratic the
man has always been.”
That’s a not all, the
celebrated Mr. Yeboah, a veteran of the Ghanaian sports industry also recalls
another instance from 1991 when Atta Mills was Chairman of the Management
Committee of the Black Stars.
Kwabena Yeboah said: “I remember when Burkhard Ziese took over and the Black Stars
were about to play Nigeria in the qualifiers to Senegal ’92. Eddie Ansah was
then playing in Nigeria and as we saw the coach wanted to use him, we were all
afraid that Eddie Ansah was going to play hanky-panky with us. But Atta Mills
told us at the camp in Winneba: ‘this is a new coach with his new strategies; let’s
leave him to do
his job.’ That’s how democratic he was.”