Ekumfi Traditional Council has issued a response to President Akufo-Addo’s remarks regarding the alleged deliberate lack of development in the Ekumfi constituency following their opposition to the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) parliamentary candidate, Francis Kingsley Ato Cudjoe, in the 2020 general elections.
The chiefs are extremely shocked and struggle to believe that the president will treat the people of Ekumfi with such “dislike and disdain.”
“We the Nananom of Ekumfi and our people have become aware of highly disappointing and regrettable remarks made by H.E. the President when a family queen mother and others claiming to be members of the late Professor Atta Mills’ family visited him at the Jubilee House to demand an autopsy report of the late President.”
The Traditional Council also requested that the President provide detailed information on the accomplishments of the former MP, Ato Cudjoe, during his tenure serving the people of Ekumfi.
“If this is the reason the President has neglected and denied us developmental projects, then we demand scientific data to illustrate what the former MP did for the people of Ekumfi before he ceased to be the MP for the people of Ekumfi. We believe that accurate data would justify the President’s claim that Honourable Ato Cudjoe should have been retained by the people of Ekumfi.
“The people of Ekumfi only exercised their democratic right during the last election and this right must never be used as a tool for punishing the very president who is enjoined by the 1992 Constitution and his own Oath of Office to uphold the Constitution of the country,” they said.
The Council also called on the President to “ensure that all stalled developmental initiatives in Ekumfi start in earnest, so they can assume that the President regrets making those displeasing statements.”.
Read the full statement below:
PRESS RELEASE FROM EKUMFI TRADITIONAL COUNCIL ON LATE PROFESSOR JOHN EVANS ATTA MILLS AND MATTERS ARISING
In 2008, the late Professor John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, a proud Fantse, won the General Elections and became the President of Ghana. As we are all aware, Professor Mill’s victory made all Ghanaians proud, as his father’s mantra and leadership qualities united Ghanaians and was loved by all.
The good people of the Central Region became extremely happy that for the first time since the country’s independence through the inception of the 1992 Republican Constitution, the region, which is well noted for being the citadel of quality education, has been able to produce a full bright scholar to lead Ghana as President.
As a matter of fact, we, the people of Ekumfi, are exceptionally proud that our dear brother, father, uncle and son, who had always been selfless, humble, respectful, and duly respected by all and sundry regardless of how they voted in national elections, earned him the accolade “Asomdwee Hen.”
Like any other great leader in history, Professor Mills could not have ruled forever, but he definitely paid his dues to the country as a true statesman who had to sacrifice himself, and laid his dear life for the nation even when it became obvious that his health was failing.
We all remember vividly how the entire nation was plunged into sadness when his untimely demise occurred about twelve years ago, and the way Ghanaians across the world mourned him, could amply bear an indelible testimony that indeed Ghanaians truly loved and cherished this charismatic leader. This is why Ghanaians collectively held a befitting burial to honour his passing and prayed to God and our ancestors to continue to keep his dear soul at peace.
There has been an emergence of controversy surrounding the whereabouts of an Autopsy report on his death. Ordinarily, since Professor Mills died while still serving the country as President and also as a statesman, with immediate siblings and families still alive, we, the Nananom of Ekumfi would have loved to stay back and allow his family clan and particularly his siblings to effectively collaborate with the state to put the issue to rest, so our dear Professor could rest in peace. But it does appear that some narratives and aspersions do robe us in and often cast some innuendoes that directly and negatively affect us as Nananom and people of Ekumfi.
In view of this, we, the Nananom of Ekumfi, believe that if the extended family or any member of the family has issues with the report, they could jaw-jaw with the immediate family to have their disagreement settled once and for all, instead of the recurring media banter. Nananom wishes to state that the raging back-and-forth wrangling is not just appalling but also disgraceful and disgusting; projecting the family as a disintegrated one.
To set the records straight, the Paramount Chief Odeefo Akyin VIII has not elected nor delegated anybody nor any group of persons to His Excellency (H.E.) the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo or any other institution to demand an Autopsy on the late Professor Mills for us, or on behalf of the family.
We therefore want to state emphatically that any attempt to link the Chiefs of Ekumfi to any such action is malicious, untrue and mischievous, and must be treated with the contempt it deserves.
Ekumfi Nananom, led by the Paramount Chief Odeefo Akyin VIII also wishes to send a strong signal to anyone or group of persons purported to come from Ekumfi or elsewhere who allow themselves to be used to perpetuate such disgraceful and malicious acts. They may have to prepare to face the wrath of Nananom.
The late Professor Atta Mills must be allowed to rest in peace!