Atta Mills at the Carter Center, Atlanta
NDC Presidential Candidate, John Evans Atta Mills, apart from brainstorming with the prestigious Morehouse School of Medicine on his vision for healthcare delivery for Ghana, and speaking on the concept of “Leadership” to Students at the Bauder College in Atlanta, met with Ghanaians, and was the Guest of the renowned Carter Center.
As has become the norm when the former Vice President and Presidential Candidate meets with Ghanaians across the United States, the issue of ROPAL and Atta Mills' vision for Ghana are the questions that seem dearest to their hearts.
On the issue of ROPAL, the NDC Presidential Candidate, as he has said time without number, made it clear that the NDC has never, and would never, underestimate the contribution of Ghanaians in the Diaspora towards the development of the country and that the NDC was not against the law in principle except that considering the way the NPP government is employing its unacceptable “let the opposition have their say but we would have our way” line of thinking to stampede the process, it portends danger for the country.
According to the NDC Presidential Candidate, even back at home, the electoral system has not been perfected and so his party’s position is that the nation must tread cautiously with ROPAL so that “we don’t wake up one morning to a nonexistent country because we are killing each other over questionable election results”.
John Evans Atta Mills cited the case of the Pru Constituency, where in the last elections, per the first count, the Electoral Officer declared Kufuor the winner in the presidential race by 1,000 votes but upon the insistence of the constituents that there is no way Kufuor can win in that constituency, a second count proved the people right as he (Atta Mills) was declared winner by a whooping 10,000 votes.
“Can you imagine the number of Prus that happened and how such happenings can lead to serious disputes?” the NDC Presidential Candidate asked.
“That is why we need to be extremely careful and make sure that all the ground rules have been agreed upon by all before implementing the law because we all know how electoral disputes have been the cause of raging conflicts all over the world and I am very convinced that those of you here want to have a home called Ghana and not wake up to find that you have lost your kith and kin back home because of conflict arising from the votes that you cast here” the NDC Presidential Candidate added.
To do with his vision, John Evans Atta Mills said that what would be foremost on his mind, would be to build a new and united Ghana that would give equal opportunities to all and not skew opportunities in favour of only a selected few.
“Our motherland is very much polarized as I speak to you and I am sure even from a distance, you are aware of what I am talking about” he said.
“An Atta Mills government would bring all shades of opinion on board and would not ask for one’s ethnic origin or one’s political affiliation before deciding whether to give the person a hearing or not. Once you are a Ghanaian and have the ability and potential, the doors would be opened for you to put your shoulders to wheel for us to develop our nation. Ghana’s agenda would be first; and not any political or ethnic agenda” Atta Mills said further.
John Evans Atta Mills also reiterated the point that as president with a four year mandate, he would spend the time affecting the lives of Ghanaians positively rather than wasting it on calling the predecessor government and his political opponents names.
“The laws of the land would work and it would not take Atta Mills to decide how the laws should work so my job would be to focus on giving Ghanaians a meaningful change and restoring hope and confidence in them rather than abusing the mandate I would have been given, by chasing imaginary enemies” the Presidential Candidate said.
John Atta Mills also added that he would not engage in vindictive and divisive politics that would see him asking all top civil servants who have served under the Kufuor administration to “proceed on leave and for seven years, keep them at home”.
“The country invests a lot in training our civil servants and so if we keep sacking them for no apparent reason, we would not only be causing huge financial loss to the state, but it would get to a point where we would not get competent people to work for the nation because they would be afraid of not having a secured tenure” was how Atta Mills made the point.
Prior to John Evans Atta Mills meeting his countrymen, he was the guest of the Carter Center, where together with his team and those on the Cater Center, side, a wide spectrum of issues were discussed.
The discussions centered mainly on how the Carter Center, well-known for its role in democratic governance, could continue to “keep and eye” on Ghana and continue to have a stake in the growth of Ghana’s democracy.
John Evans Atta Mills also thanked the Center for the very vital role it played in helping in the eradication of the guinea worm disease years ago and hoped that even though since 2001 the disease has resurfaced in unacceptable proportions, the Center would once again lend its needed support to help eliminate the diseases in Ghana.
The Cater Center, represented by the Vice President, John Stremlau and David Carrol, Director of the Democracy Programme, lauded the former Vice President of Ghana for his leadership style and promised to keep Ghana on its “tracking system” both in the area of its democratic progression as well as guinea worm eradication.
John Evans Atta Mills had as members of his team, Professor Kwaku Danso Boafo of the Morehouse School of Medicine, Dr. Cadman Atta Mills, formerly of the UN and World Bank and brother of the Presidential Candidate, as well as Koku Anyidoho, who is in charge of the communications outfit of Atta Mills.
