The health of public officials
Accra, Feb. 4, Ghanadot.com
The health of public
officials especially Presidents, Presidential
Candidates, judges are matters of huge public interest.
In many instances it was and still is grounds for
resignations and impeachment as the case may be.
More often than not, the argument has been that they (
public officials) are kept high up there in the “sky” on
the hard earned cash of the poor tax payers! And why
not, guess they are right, yeah? They are right!
But it is quite different when it is that of an
opposition political figure. That makes it not only
interesting but intriguing making one
to ask why the interest.
The fact is that once more, the health of Professor John
Evans Atta Mills, presidential
candidate of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) has hit the headlines. It is
just like before the NDC National Congress at which
Professor Mills won an overwhelming majority over Dr
Spio Garbrah (who first brought news of his ailment up),
Alhaji Mahama Iddrissu and Mr Eddie Annan.
News from the NDC headquarters,
on the Ring
Road, over the past
week said the former Vice President had been flown out
by the party for an overdue medical review in South
Africa, confirming several
stories and claims by opposition newspapers that the NDC
flag bearer may not be too well.
The deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Baba Jamal in a
statement, said the party’s flag bearer was off to South
Africa for what he described as “routine medical
check-up”.
Consequently, insiders are however, raising eyebrows
about the trip, saying if it was a mere sinus problem as
the Professor and his party is arguing, the man could
have been attended to locally.
Indeed Professor Mills’ jetting to South Africa last
Thursday night comes on the heels of a well- thought out
media rebuttal about his infirmity.
Prof Mills, whose search for medication for what he says
is a sinus ailment first took him to China, from where
he moved to South Africa.
He reportedly told a local radio station when he
returned to Ghana after the South African treatment that
he had to be transferred from China because he could not
understand Mandarin, a Chinese language in use there.
Nosy news sources learnt Last week that, “Prof Mills’
review was due about the time the party’s congress was
to take place. But he, was pressed upon to put off the
trip because of the possible interpretation that his
competitors could put on it.”
He obliged and stayed on to slug it out with his
competitors during the electoral duel which saw him beat
his competitors.
His recent press conference at the NDC headquarters,
during which he rubbished President John Agyekum
Kufuor, is thought to be one of the “shows” intended to
flex some political muscles and send the desired
signal to those worried about the failing health of the
flag bearer.
Prof Mills was really mad at the editor of The Vanguard
who said the NDC flag bearer’s heart beat had gone down:
“I will invite the editor to come with his doctors to
examine me. I’m prepared to do that in public to see
whether my heart beat has gone down or not. I think it
is too much,” he fumed.
Sitting where I sit, I make a few observations. Perhaps,
chances are that the Prof. could become
the next president and
therefore many are interested in his health. They want
to be sure that whoever is our
next president is fit and his
health would not become a burden on the national purse!
Additionally, there are those who have vowed publicly
that they would not allow the Professor to take office
and would do everything and anything to ensure that
his dream for the high office doesn't
come to pass.
Be whatever it may be, it is
important that the political struggle towards the 2008
general elections are fought clean without recourse to
falsehoods.
Kweku Asare, Ghanadot.com,
February 4, 2007
