Indeed, if ever there has been a person who is a source of divisiveness in our body politic, that person is John Evans Atta Mills, and I would demonstrate why I think so.
Do you remember a certain Member of Parliament called Michael Teye Nyaunu, who told Ghanaians that he had been punished by President Professor Mills and turned into an outcast in the party because he had criticized President Mills as being a sick man when they were in opposition and vying for power?
If you remember, Nyaunu raised the issue of the health status of Professor Atta Mills in the media in the run-up to election 2008 and called upon him to resign as flag bearer of the NDC because according to him Prof. Mills was unwell and unfit for the presidential campaign.
According to Nyaunu, he has never been forgiven for expressing a genuine concern, and the evidence is available in the fact that since the NDC won power, he has been sidelined from all appointments, even though as an MP there are many places he could have served.
I am also certain that you remember Dr. Ekwow Spio Garbrah, who is currently a Vice Chairperson of the NDC and at one time an aspirant for the position of flag bearer of the NDC.
In the run-up to the flagbearership congress of the NDC, it was Spio Garbrah who sent round text messages suggesting that Atta Mills was sick and that it was unlikely that he would be able to lead the NDC into the presidential contest.
In spite of his concerns, Mills went on to win the race, and Spio, as the runner-up to Atta Mills, legitimately expected that he would be given a ministerial position in the NDC.
This expectation never materialized, and in bitterness, Spio penned and published his famous ‘pissing-in and pissing out’ article, which led to huge controversy in this nation, and is indeed still simmering.
It was as a direct consequence of President Atta Mills’ inability to unite with Spio that he eventually decided to vie for the position of Vice Chair of the NDC.
I cannot also dilate on whether or not President Atta Mills is a unifier without spending a little time on the statement that was made by his former Spokesperson, Mahama Ayariga to the effect that the President had ordered all his appointees to ensure that they create space to address the concerns of members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
By that statement, President Atta Mills created two classes of Ghanaians in Ghana, which are the NDC Ghanaian, and the rest of us.
Indeed, nothing can be more divisive than for a president to tell his functionaries to give preferential treatment to his own people to the disadvantage of the rest.
In any proper democracy, such talk would have led to impeachment, and demonstrates clearly that Atta Mills is unfit to be president by temperament.
I also cannot expand on whether or not the President is a unifier, without bringing to mind the decision that was taken by the son of the glutton, Koku Anyidoho, the Director of Communications at the Presidency, to keep out certain journalists because according to him, he cannot deal with them.
Personally, I find Anyidoho and his boss to be a pair of chargeable characters.
The Presidency is for all of us, and personal feelings do no come into it. It is in this direction that Anyidoho’s attempts to create divisions on the media front should be seen as totally unacceptable and the President’s acceptance of same as reprehensible and conflict-ridden.
But why am I complaining? Was it not Mills who said that people in the public services who do not share in the vision and ideology of his party ought not to be in public services? It was Mills himself, the President. With such utterances, how can anybody claim that Mills stands for unity?
Once again I say that when you see Atta Mills, remember one clear fact; he is a man who endorses evil for his own political ends and a source of divisiveness.
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