DEATH COULD BE A TEACHER.

Nigeria has a lot to learn from the death of Ghana President John Mills (1944-2012) and its aftermath


Chinua Achebe, in his book, A Man of the People, dismissed Nigerian politicians of that era as charlatans claiming to be genuine men of the people. The Economist of London also always dismisses irresponsible but power-crazed African rulers as “African Big men”.

GHANIAN JOHN MILLS.

John Evans Atta Mills, President of the Republic of Ghana, who died at 2.30 pm on July 24, was a glorious departure from these unflattering power archetypes. For one, he died at his own country’s prime military hospital, the 37 Military Hospital, in Accra, Ghana; after he fell ill and was rushed there about noon on July 24. He was not crated in dead, after shunning the neglected and undeveloped facilities in his own country. That was a good one for patriotism that is by no means routine elsewhere. 
For another, he wore his humility, modesty and restrained wielding of power like a cloak, so much so that when his demise was announced, his compatriots, friends and foe, were united in grief. On the streets of Accra, and from reports that streamed in from other principal cities all over the West African country, every Ghanaian, with heads bowed in grief and eyes streaming with tears, was unanimous in affection, perhaps rare elsewhere: the father of the nation was gone! Many even broke down in the midst of broadcast or televised interview-tributes! That is the level of affection with which Ghanaians hold the late President Mills.
Yet, the President was no angel. Neither were Ghanaians fools. Like Nigeria’s Umaru Musa Yar’Adua before him, the media was always rife with President Mills’ ill health; and on a few occasions, it was indeed rumoured that he had passed on. So, when the news of his death started filtering out some 45 minutes after his passage, Ghanaians were not completely surprised. Yet, the shock and palpable wish that it was yet another rumour, which the authorities would come out to dispel, hung thick in the air. But it was not to be.
Nevertheless like President Yar’Adua, if President Mills knew he had a terminal illness (though a full disclosure of the cause of his death has not been officially disclosed, he was known to have cancer), why did he contest an office that required booming health? After serving as vice-president to President Jerry John Rawlings and, for eight years, head of his National Democratic Congress (NDC) and leader of opposition during President John Kuffour’s tenure, was the President, despite his frail health determined, at all cost, to have a shot at the presidency? Or was it the all-too-familiar power cabal that hemmed him in, for which he had to pay a fatal price? 
Whatever the reason, Africa must strive to build a political system that would avert the avoidable tragedy of a president giving up the ghost just because his health could not cope with the harsh and demanding rigours of office. Perhaps President Mills and President Yar’Adua would still have been alive today, had they not combined presidential rigour with their suspect health.
But despite everything, the exceptional personal conduct of the late Ghana president shone all through the institutional rot, that often shrouds in secrecy such crucial matters as the health of the president, as part of the campaign mix. Still, the seamless transition that led to the sombre swearing-in of new President John Dramani Mahama was impressive. 
It was open, transparent and sombre; and the Ghana Parliament did not have to resort to legal gerrymandering like ‘doctrine of necessity’ to do the constitutionally needful, faced with such presidential tragedy which, by the way, was novel in the history of Ghana. No previous president had died in office.
The open affection Ghanaians showed President Mills and the Ghana Parliament’s fidelity to constitutional provisions are areas Nigeria can learn from. President Mills respected his office and honoured his people by working hard for them. Little wonder, the people reciprocated by treating him as a rare hero in death. The Parliament has also been admirable in total obedience to the law.