What Would The Dead Have Us Do?

I am thinking about death and the dead. Not that I can help it. The Story of late president Mills on the airwaves is a constant reminder. Either the man on the flute is playing dirges or a group is discussing the late president’s life’s history, character and good works interspersed with tribute songs by various musicians. The late president’s pictures are rolling in the background on TV all the time with a little insert that says Ghana mourns President Mills. All programs, radio and TV alike are almost always dedicated to the president’s memory or begin with some reminder that the country is in mourning. So I really can’t help it if I am still talking about the dead!

There are 3 strands to the storytelling; what kind of a man he was; how like someone we know, the late president literally laid down his life for country and underlying these two, the third; what the late president expects from us, the people of Ghana. The first 2 whether you agree with the substance or not, are relatively straight forward, as they are things about which the late president’s words and actions, and the unsurprisingly flattering memories of those that knew him provide insights and direction.

It is the question of what the late president expects from us that I find intriguing.  

On the question of the burial place which thankfully has been resolved, there were some very passionate cries against the Jubilee House as a possible location. “Please don’t’ bury him there, he (President Mills) will be unhappy. He never liked that place”! Yep I agree he would have if he was alive but he dead.

Then when some party bigwigs went to town complaining about President Mahama’s vice presidential nominee (who by the way has just been sworn in; Go Ghana!), the rank and file quickly bared their teeth on radio call-ins. Their message, “our big men should stop the in-fighting. This is the time to close our ranks and win the December polls for President Mills”. They also admonished their top politicians to stop haggling over positions in the party as “the late president would not like that”!

Many state officials, influential persons in society and indeed many on the streets also agree on one thing; that the country’s greatest honour to president Mills is to hold peaceful elections because “that is what he would want”.

And did I hear someone say that the Olympics team to London 2012 was going to do the best they can to bring back medals because that would please the late president? From the look of things I have a fair idea what sort of motivation this ... is not.

I know I am a bit of a skeptic so I am betting the dead seldom declare their wishes from whence they may be. Otherwise I am pretty certain all those weeping, wailing, pouring their hearts out and claiming some significance in the scheme of things (including me who is relentless in my mourning clothes) would be running helter- skelter at the sound of a ghost, even if it’s that of the humble, peaceful Asomdwehene.

So I take it, we really want to say it is in our interest to act in the ways we imagine will make the late president happy.  For the last time, he dead!

Can someone tell that boy’s uncle that his dead brother would be displeased if he continued whittling away the boy’s inheritance?

President Mills’ Death - Troubling Matters

So it’s been a week since the old man kicked the bucket. Messages of goodwill, solidarity, condolences have been pouring in from all over. Today I am in full mourning clothes to mark the 7^th day after the passing of Asomdwehene (the king of peace) as he was nicknamed. The 7^th day celebration of a person’s passing is an important event in many parts of Ghana and the president’s lineage is no different.

It struck me that the presidency of Professor Mills was always surrounded by many questions; not only in terms of doubts or uncertainties but also just straight questions about just what’s going on with one thing or the other.

So there were many questions: will the former charismatic leader of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) be in control? Is Mills sick or not? Did Mills know about the gargantuan money payment? Did the president sack the government official? Who is president of Ghana and who is in charge of affairs?

Answers to these questions were not easily available although I must be quick to say that to the last question the late president provided an answer so quick and direct, it disarmed everyone.

In the wake of the president’s death the questions linger on;

Who will be the vice president and running mate for president Mahama was one of the first ones? Hopefully the matter will be settled today as it seems president Mahama may be submitting his nomination to parliament today. Everyone is waiting, too anxiously I should say. I don’t know what difference that would make now but I hope it will not be that person I don’t want.

Where will he be buried? Indigents of the late president’s hometown are insisting they want the son of their land returned to be buried in Ekumfi Otuam from where he hails. Government officials had earlier and on different occasions announced or suggested the seat of government, Flagstaff House and the Nkrumah mausoleum. Later, a representative of the late president’s family insisted that the burial would be in Accra, not his hometown! A well known lawyer, chief and “traditionalist” argued it’s the family’s preserve to decide the burial place. The government is in close consultations with the family but there are two sides to the family issue and the Ekumfi Otuam side is unhappy. So where will the late president be buried? We wait on the funeral committee that’s been set up.

The call of the late president’s people carried with it another question that has been on the minds of many. What (or who) killed the president? Even though it’s general knowledge that the late president was managing a cancer and probably a few other complications, there is yet to be known the details of an autopsy, if there is to be one that is. The cry of the people of Otuam when they insisted, in their grief that the body of the president be brought home was that; first they wanted to see for themselves if he was dead, really. That’s easy the good Professor would have given them a call already if he was not. Second, they want to know if he died a natural death or there was a “hand” in his death.  The constant unpleasant remarks directed at the late president have been pointed to as having a possible “hand” in his death. In the meantime, I heard this morning someone intimating that actually the late president “got the cancer when he became president”. Mmm read more here.
 

A related question of how many funerals should be held popped up not quite 2 days ago. A group has suggested that all regions in Ghana hold simultaneous funerals for the late president. This surprised me but I know death has a way with my people. How many funerals? Like how many bodies do we have? Not sure, not sure at all.

   

Now what can be said about the dead and indeed about our president? Mr. Rawlings the former president; the challenging, exciting and often times mildly embarrassing subject in our politics provides a clue with what we would rather not hear. First he goes to say the “unwise” thing then as if to backtrack on his apology to the late president’s family subsequently, he writes the “spoilt brat’s” thing.  Mr. Rawlings seemed to be in deep thought as he sat to write his thoughts in the book of condolences, I have no doubt the outcome is a reflection of the highest consideration of things he has to say and must say!

Mr. Rawlings signing the book of condolences

Here are his first words on the death:

[“It was quite a shock to both me and my wife but IT WAS NOT UNEXPECDTED BECAUSE HE’S BEEN BATTLING WITH CANCER FOR QUITE A WHILE NOW, you know, but this is certainly the wrong time for him to go considering that WE HAVE ELECTIONS, you know, AROUND THE CORNER IN DECEMBER.  ....quite frankly I think HAD HE BEEN ADVISED AND DONE SOMETHING WISER, YOU KNOW, EARLIER ON, HE COULD PROBABLY HAVE SURVIVED, YOU KNOW, FOR, I DON’T KNOW, FOR ANOTHER SIX – SEVEN MONTH YES, ]

Mr. Rawlings’ words and that of a few other close confidants of the late president have also got others thinking; would/ could the president have lived a few more months, perhaps till after the elections, if .....? I guess there were some who were betting on that, if only for a politically tidier end. But I will never know will I?

Ghana's President Dies

 Ghana's president, John Atta Mills died July 24, 2012 and the vice, John Dramani Mahama was sworn in as president same day.

John Atta Mills

                          

                                            

John Dramani Mahama

                                                              
                                      








There's quite a bit in the media about the death and events surrounding, naturally. The new president was visibly distraught during the swearing in and for once the whole house of parliament was silent. The two Johns had worked well together; never seen a pair like that in my years of consciousness.
But days before the death it is said that the "hawks" were already encircling the vice presidential seat. I am so sad. Just so sad.