Confusion, has erupted over the burial site of ex-President John Evans Atta Mills in Accra, popularly called the Asomdwee Park, with two groups emerging and each plans to hold an event at the grounds to commemorate the 10th-anniversary of his passing.
While, the first group is led by the late President’s former Director of Communications, Koku Anyidoho, who runs the Atta Mills Institute, the second group is called the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage led by Dr Alex Segbefia, as its Board Chairman.
Interestingly, while Dr Segbefia’s Heritage, has the backing of the both Atta Mills family, as well as the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Anyidoho, appears to be on a frolic of his own, with financial muscle and state support from the Akufo-Addo government through the Coastal Development Authority (CODA).
While flying on government’s wings, Mr Anyidoho, has matched workmen to the burial site and changed the look of the place, including the crypt. This has since incurred the fury and insult from the Atta Mills family which insists it was not informed about tampering with the grave, removal and relocation of the remains of the late President, who died from cancer while in office.
Samuel Atta Mills, a younger brother of the late President, chastised Mr Anyidoho’s institute and CODA tempering with the tomb under the claim of “rebuilding it”.
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It is not clear if the mandate of the CODA led by Jerry Ahmed Shaib, including reshaping the burial grounds along the coastal lines of the country. It is also not clear how much money the state is spending on the project and who the contractors are.
Samuel, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Constituency of the Central Region, angrily questioned the locus of the two bodies in going to the burial site and touching the grave, without informing the family of the deceased.
He spoke to the Parliamentary Press Corps in the company of some MPs from the Minority NDC.
“Now the question that I want to ask is this, now that you have gone to touch it, is the body still in that grave? What did you put in that grave? What kinds of rituals did you perform there? Why would you go and touch the grave without informing us? Who has the body now? And what is a question I want to ask Ghanaians”.
“Coastal Development Authority, under whose authority did you do this? Why do you want us to go through grief every time?
“You allow somebody like Koku Anyidoho that…..working with Atta Mills Institute, so-called to go and touch this grave without informing our family head. This is a former president, why would the government allow this to happen? This is an insult to the family. This is an insult to we the Akans. This is an insult to the nation.
Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, who worked with the late President, also described what he witnessed at the site when HE and other MPs visited the site, saying renovating the place should not have witnessed the level of desecration that had gone on at the place.
The MP for Odododiodoo in the Accra Metropolitan Area of the Greater Accra Region, reiterated that the family should have been notified before any such work will be carried out insisting that Ghanaian customs and traditions demand that such things must always have the presence of a family member.
According to him several members of the Atta Mills family, have been questioned and it has emerged that no one was informed about “the level of desecration and disrespect to the grave of the man who made all of us”.
He later wrote somewhere saying, “We visited the Asomdwee Park this morning as part of our preparation towards the 10th anniversary commemoration and wreath laying and we were shocked at the level of desecration and dishonour done to the tomb of our Late President, J.E.A Mills.
“Renovation by government through CODA and a so-called Atta Mills Institute has led to the opening and vandalising the tomb that holds the remains of our illustrious late leader without the consent, notice and authority of any member of the family. We were struck with utter awe that the government could allow Koku to mislead them to commit such a sacrilegious act. Our Ghanaian culture and practices frowns on such desecration of graves of our departed without the knowledge, authority and presence of close family members. Is there no sensible person in the government to have at least reminded them of our cultural and traditional values regarding the respect and dignity of the dead? Ghana has indeed been killed by this unfortunate government”.
Meanwhile, the opposition NDC, has rejected an invitation from the CODA for it to participate in the proposed inauguration of the Asomdwee Park on Sunday, July 24, 2022.
The late President John Evans Atta Mills who died on July 24, 2012, was buried at the Asmodwee Park near the former seat of government, Osu Castle in the Greater Accra Region.
In a letter dated July 15, 2022 and addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of CODA, the General Secretary of the NDC, said the party will not be participating in the event, because the invitation is at the instance of CODA and the Atta Mills Institute; the latter being a private divisive organization, well known for its fabrications and abusive language and which appears to have been formed to serve as a vehicle for the NDC’s political opponents to sow seeds of confusion in the minds of Ghanaians and obliterate the enviable legacy of late President Atta Mills.
The party said it is ready to review its stance if CODA is ready to meet it and members of the late President’s immediate family to review the arrangements for the commissioning of the park to give it the national character its deserved and to ensure it reflects the true purpose and outlook of the Asmodwee Park.
Below is the full text of the NDC’s response to CODA signed by Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the NDC General Secretary and copied Minister for National Security and the National Security Coordinator.
The Chief Executive
Coastal Development Authority (CODA)
Accra.
Attention: Mr. Jerry Shaib
Dear Sir,
RE: INVITATION TO COMMISSIONING OF ASOMDWEE PARK
We have sighted invitations to a ceremony to commission the Asomdwee Park, the burial place of President John Evans Atta Mills who died in office on July 24, 2012.
The invitations are in the name of an Atta Mills Institute and the Coastal Development Authority (CODA) “under the distinguished patronage of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo”.
We presume CODA to be the funding agency for the refurbishment of the Park whose said commissioning is slated for July 24, 2022, and is separate from the 10th anniversary commemorative events being organized by the NDC.
2. We wish to state that the Asomdwee Park was conceived as a possible final resting place for deceased Presidents and Vice Presidents.
The fact that late President Atta Mills is so far the only dignitary buried there does not change its non-political purpose.
Indeed, the facility was developed by the National Security Office during the tenure of H.E John Dramani Mahama and remains a National Monument as well as a place of pilgrimage to honour the memory of dignitaries buried there.
It was designed to be managed by the national security office with access authorized only by that office. While it is in order for the Government of Ghana to organize functions at the facility and invite persons to same, it is, in our candid view, wholly inappropriate for any private entity to be given an office at the location, directly or indirectly conferring on it a role as overseer even to the extent of issuing invitations in the name of the state.
3. It is our position that no privately owned NGO should be clothed with such powers as to issue invitations bearing the National Coat of Arms.
4. We are concerned about the posture and activities of an Institute that has assumed for itself some form of mythical ownership of the name John Evans Atta Mills, three times NDC flag bearer and President of Ghanaians 2009- 2012.
That Institute appears to be serving as a vehicle for our political opponents to sow seeds of confusion in the minds of Ghanaians and obliterate the enviable legacy of late President Atta Mills, a man of peace who was elected unto office on the ticket of the NDC.
It would be a shame, as the invitation purports, for President Akufo Addo to be associated with a divisive organization, well-known for its fabrications and abusive language, Let us be clear, the Institute in question has been on a collision course with the NDC party on whose ticket Prof. Atta Mills contested and won the 2008 election and became President.
For your information, its founder has been dismissed from the NDC. An unfortunate impression should not be created that the Institute is being used by the Presidency and the enviable Coastal Development Authority (CODA) to spite the Atta Mills family, former President John Mahama and the entire NDC for that matter.
5. Any commissioning of the refurbished Asomdwee Park should in all sincerity, be a truly national affair befitting the stature and character of Prof JEA Mills, a man of peace who devoted his Presidency to the cause of national unity.
The commissioning should be a national affair not just by invitation, but by the participation of key stakeholders, not usurpers, in the planning process.
6. Given the above, we kindly request that you withdraw the invitations to the advertised function and meet with the NDC of which Prof. Atta Mills was leader up to the time of his untimely death, and alongside his immediate family, review arrangements for the commissioning event which will reflect the true purpose and outlook of the Asondwee Park.
Until that is done, the NDC will not participate in the proposed Commissioning event on the strength of invitations issued by the Institute.
All persons associated with the NDC have been duly notified of this binding decision.
Please accept our warmest compliments.
Sincerely yours
Johnson Asiedu Nketia
General Secretary
CC Hon. Minister for National Security
National Security Coordinator
