MILLS’ DEATH: MATILDA’S TRIBUTE

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The month of July will forever remain in the minds of  Ghanaians. It has invariably left an indelible mark on our history. Ghana was thrown into a sudden turbulence on July 24, 2012, when for the first time we lost a sitting president.  As usual, when the inevitability of death caught up with His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills, it was shocking to everyone because even though we never see death coming, this was totally unexpected and very much a big blow to the country. The whole of Ghana mourned like we never had and never will again. As the custom of Ghana demands, we don’t speak ill of the dead and so all manner of people from all walks of life said all kinds of good and sober words about the former president.

   The Late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills

Per the demands of the 1992 constitution of Ghana, the then Vice President of the land was sworn in as president. After His Excellency John Dramani Mahama was sworn in as president, he chose the then governor of the Bank of Ghana, Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur as his vice president. The man whom all are saying he distinguished himself as a vice president and even as a person after his death was bastardized left, right, centre while he was alive.

The Late Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur and his wife, Matilda

I watched as many people as those who criticized President Mills unconstructively during his tenure of office and even before he was president shower praises on him on his deathbed. Little did I know that it was going to be the same for Amissah-Arthur. You see, Amissah-Arthur came into Ghana’s political landscape a gentleman but we didn’t see that until he died. And so I raise this question, did we actually know him to be a gentle politician but swept it under the carpet or we thought him a rough politician and yet pretended at his funeral with sweet words?

Ghanaians, can we be honest with ourselves for once? At least, let's cherish people while they are alive. We shouldn’t wait until after they are dead before we sugar coat words behind them. As the wife of the former vice president, Mrs. Matilda Amissah-Arthur puts it, “Did people really know my husband? The lies, the accusations, the maligning?” It's very sad and discouraging how we don’t take our time to get to know people before vilifying them. We backbite each other all in the name of power. We shouldn’t lose sight of the significant contributions of people to this country all because we also want the chance to contribute or do otherwise as it were.

Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur who was born on April 29, 1951, and died on June 29, 2018, rose from being a lecturer to be the fifth vice president of the fourth republic of Ghana. In the very words of former president Rawlings, Amissah-Arthur played vital roles in the economic management of this country during his, Rawlings’  tenure of office as president.

We can take lessons from how we treated both the late Prof Mills and Amissah-Arthur and how we responded to their deaths respectively and change our attitudes in terms of vilifying the living and praising the dead or continue to do that because of hypocrisy. Acknowledging the good deeds and achievements of people inspires them to do more but we prefer to focus on their mistakes instead of the good and it breeds the opposite of the former. #Acknowledgetheliving.   #Praisetheliving.
   
                                                  YUSSIF SCRIBES

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 31, 2018 at 9:44 AM

    This a wonderful piece ,I should say. Ten more similar articles of this category will undoubtedly change our Politicians..Good piece

    ReplyDelete

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