Lessons from the death of Ghana’s President
Jul 30th, 2012 by admin
When the President died…. On Tuesday, July 24, 2012 the President of Ghana, Professor Atta Mills died, three days after his birthday. He was 68 years old. He was the first Ghanaian head of state to die in office. John Atta Mills became president in 2009. He was Vice-President from 1997-2001 under President Jerry Rawlings and stood unsuccessfully in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections. Reports are he had been suffering from throat cancer.
Death is an inevitable end for everyone, when it will come is not known but the death of a sitting head of state is important particularly in Africa where succession is always an issue. In less than 24 hours after the passing of Atta mills, Mr. John Dramani Mahama became the President in line with the constitution of Ghana. A lesson for Nigeria. Anyway let us look at countries who have lost sitting Presidents.
First, Nasser of Egypt died in 1970. Then, Jomo Kenyatta considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation. He suffered a heart attack in 1966, in April 1977, well into his 80s; he suffered a massive heart attack. He finally died August 22, 1978 in Mombasa of natural causes attributed to old age. Then came Angola, Antonio Agostinho Neto was the first President of Angola between (1975-1979) after having led the popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the war of Independence(1961-1974). He died before his 57th birthday. Today, his birthday is celebrated as a national hero’s day, a public holiday in Angola.
Felix Houphouet-Boigny was the first president of Cote d’Ivoire. He was originally a village chief, worked as a doctor, an administrator of a plantation and a union leader before he was elected to the French Parliament. From the 1940’s until his death, he played a key role in the decolonization of Africa. In 1993, Houphouet-Boigny who was terminally ill with prostate cancer was urgently flown back to Cote d’Ivoire to die.
In Zambia, it was Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, the third President of the country. He ruled the country from January 2002 until his death in August 2008. He died in Paris after battling a protracted illness. He has being credited with initiating a campaign to rid the country of corruption. Gabon, El Hadj Omar Bongo was President of Gabon for 42 years from 1967 until his death in office in 2009; He rose through the ranks after promotion to key positions as a young official under Gabon’s first President, Leon M’ba. After the death of M’ba in 1967, he became the country’s second President. El Hadj was the world’s longest-serving non-monarch ruler, still one of the longest serving rulers in history.
Back to Nigeria, it has been two sitting Presidents. It was first Sanni Abacha who died in office in 1998, of natural causes, then Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who died in 2010 before completing his first term in office. He died of Pericarditis. The death of Yar’Adua affected all Nigerians as he had left Nigeria for Saudi Arabia in November 2009 for Medical treatment. At his absence, the government was in limbo, as the vice-president was not allowed to function in any capacity. A cabal took over the country and refused to allow the Vice president to assume office in line with the constitution of the country. I remember the lies, the intrigues and obvious disregard for the constitution of Nigeria. It was unfortunate that 150 million people were held spell bound.
Anyway, Yar’Adua never returned and was not seen in public again. His absence created a huge a vacuum in Nigeria but for the intervention of well meaning Nigerians.
Nigeria is a work in progress and Ghana is a lesson in leadership and democracy. Taking notes is just not enough so our final lesson, integrity and commitment to values.