Clinton, World Leaders Mourn Ex-Ghana Prez Mills

Leaders across the world came to pay their last tribute to Ex-Ghana president Mills.

United States of America Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other world leaders have paid their last respects to late Ghanaian President John Evans Atta Mills.

Other dignitaries who attended the final funeral rites included Political Advisor to the Commonwealth Secretariat, Mr. Amitav Banerji, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia, Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, Mahamadou Issifou of Niger, Ali Bongo of Gabon, Yayi Boni of Benin, the Vice President of South Africa, Kgalema Motlan, Alhasan Quattara of Cote d'ivoire, Faure Gnassingbe of Togo, Macky Sall of Senegal, Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia, Mohamed Abdelaziz of the Saharawi Republic, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, Yaya Jammeh of Gambia, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania among others.

In all, some 67 foreign delegations including 15 heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States were present at the ceremony.

Hours before the main funeral and burial ceremony, the world leaders visited the Banquet Hall of the State House to file past the body of their late friend, who was lying in state. It was an emotional experience for some, especially for Ivorian President Alhasan Quattara, Mills’ “personal friend”.

“President Mills’ death is a big loss not only to Ghana but to the whole world,” he told a gathering of journalists after taking his turn.

The mortal remains of the late Ghanaian President was finally laid to rest in the afternoon of Friday August 10^th, marking the end of three days of funeral and burial rites.

A touching and moving ceremony that saw the West African country colourfully adorned with a sea of red and black traditional funeral paraphernalia, thousands of well wishers thronged to the country’s Independence Square, venue for the ceremony, to witness an historic and odd occasion, happening for the first time in their history.

Tens and thousands of Ghanaians filed across some principal streets of the Capital, Accra, to pay their last respects to their ex-president, when he was taken through those routes by a military cortege ahead of the burial.

On a day when he finally went home, Ghana came to a complete standstill as all roads led to the funeral grounds. For most Ghanaians it was a fine opportunity to give their one-time leader, a befitting final rite.

And true to prediction, Mills’ funeral and burial rites lived up to its billing, as thousands more who couldn’t make it to the grounds, kept standing for hours to watch the ceremony on giant screens mounted all over the country.

Carried live on all major television and radio stations in Ghana, Friday the 10^th of August, 2012, will for a very long time to come, go down as an important date on the calendar of most Ghanaians.

“Today, a dark cloud hangs over Ghana, over Africa and indeed over the entire world,” said John Dramani Mahama, the West African country’s current president, who took office shortly Mills’ demise, in what has been hailed as a smooth and civil transition.

“President Mills was the very embodiment of what has been missing from our politics – civility, humility in service, honesty.

“He entered politics not to amass wealth but to serve people, which he did until his death,” Mahama said of his former boss.

Mills became the first Ghanaian Head of State to have died while in office, a situation that caught the whole country off guard, leading to two weeks of continuous mourning.

Although government officials are yet to confirm rumours about what could have possibly led to his untimely death, he is said to have died of a “massive stroke”. His brother and a key member of the current government Cadman Atta Mills confirmed this, in a tribute.

A distinguished lawyer and tax expert of local and international repute, Mills became head of state on January 7, 2009 on the ticket of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), who contested and won national elections in December 2008, clinching power from the then New Patriotic Party (NPP).

This was after he (Mills) had served as Vice President of the Republic of Ghana from 1997 to 2000 in the administration of former Ghanaian leader and Special AU Envoy to Somalia Jerry John Rawlings.

“Though Prof, as I preferred to call him, served in several institutional capacities during my tenure as Head of State, close contact was renewed when he was nominated and subsequently confirmed as Vice President when the NDC won the December 1996 Presidential elections,” Jerry Rawlings said in a special tribute.

“A lot has passed under the bridge since the hard fought electoral victory of 2008. While many may perceive my criticism of the Prof as ill conceived, I was not going to look away while a man with such great potential was led astray from the ideals that we fought for; from the ideals that the NDC stood for.

“We waged a stout political campaign in 2008 and those who really cared for the Prof deserved to speak the truth to help him succeed as President. My final meeting with Prof before he passed away was on Thursday 5th July at the Castle.

“During our meeting we expressed our mutual respect for each other as was always the case and news of his departure on July 24 came with cold pain”.

A soft-spoken leader who foresaw a Ghana where its people can embrace each other, Mills is the first Fulbright Scholar to become president of a country, and was set to be honoured at a special ceremony in New York in September for achieving that milestone.

 “My Brothers and sisters if we want development we all must be determined to live in peace. I have always preached peace, because I believe in peace. I am happy that the leaders of other political parties have headed my clarion call for peace,” Mills once said.

“Throughout my political life I have pledged that I want to make a change, different from our politics of vilification”. Unfortunately he couldn’t live few more hours to see this happen.

He died at the country’s premier military hospital, the 37 Military Hospital, Accra, on the afternoon of July 24, 2012, officials said in a statement released shortly after his demise.

His death also came three days after he had celebrated his 68^th birthday.

He was 68, and was survived by his wife and former First Lady Ernestina Naadu Mills, as well as his son Fiifi Atta Mills.