By Danielle Lobito
Late President John Evans Fifii Atta Mills got a befitting burial in Ghana last Friday. Some Ghanaians continued to visit the Peace Park burial site days after he was buried. They still held Mills in high esteem although the new President is John Dramani Mahama.
Mills, 68, died on 24 July 2012. 'The circumstances' that led to Mills’ death became controversial because of different statements, including the time that he allegedly became ill. It is not common for the masses to mourn an African leader or president the way Ghanaians mourned Mills because some African leaders were known to be inhumane, selfish, and incompetent in office. Mills was called a man of peace.
The way Mills contested elections literally encouraged the masses not to give up on their problems until they took their last breath e.g., he contested the presidential election thrice until he won an election. Professor Mills lived an exemplary life. The masses did not stone his grave. Instead, some of them trooped to see his final resting place while mourning their beloved former president.
On page 2 of the ‘Tributes’ booklet distributed at his final funeral last Friday at the Independence Square in Accra, captioned ‘Everlasting message,’ the late President Mills was quoted to have written ,“I came to serve; I have finished my time here on earth and have moved on to everlasting rest and celestial duties with my heavenly Father.
“As you leaf through these pages of my life’s story, I pray to God that it touches you in many positive ways.”
“Weep not; for I am not dead. I am alive and awake in the Lord. Ghana will not die; Ghana will live to declare the works of the Lord,” he was quoted to have written.
“As I rest in the perfect peace in the celestial realms with my Maker, I pledge to always uphold and defend the good name of Ghana. Remember the Lord in all your ways, and He will protect you. Stay well, my brothers and sisters, for I will always be with you.”
—GhanaWeb
