An activist of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dela Coffie, has petitioned the President, Nana Akufo-Addo to set up a presidential commission of inquiry to probe the death of late President John Evans Atta Mills.
Dela Coffie said the commission of inquiry is necessary so the country can arrive at a reasonable conclusion on the actual cause of death.
President John Mills died six months to the 2012 elections. The cause of death still remains unknown.
Several persons who are not in same political party as John Mahama who was then Vice President have made various allegations concerning the death.
Eight years after the death of President Mills, John Mahama who feels unhappy about the allegations that he might have a hand in the death has approached the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Police Service to investigate the death.
The petition to the CID which was delivered by Lawyer for the former President, Tony Lithur followed a repetition of the allegation by Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe, also known as Abronye DC.
The CID has subsequently invited Abronye DC to assist with investigations.
But Dela Coffie believes the CID’s probe into the death is not the best. Instead, he wants the President to establish a commission of inquiry to probe the death of President John Mills.
Below is his full petition:
Attention:
His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo
President- Republic of Ghana
Jubilee House
Kanda – Accra
PETITION: Request For Public Enquiry/Investigations Into the Death of President Mills.
Your Excellency,
Please accept my compliments.
I write on my own behalf as a citizen of Ghana to officially call for urgent action for a Public Inquiry/investigations to be carried out by an independent commission to clarify the cause of death of former president John Evans Atta Mills.
Respectfully sir, my call has come about as a result of the fact that former President John Mahama has petitioned the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service to investigate allegations made against him by the Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe popularly known as Abronye DC that, he Mahama is complicit in the death of president Mills.
In actual fact, Abronye DC is said to have accused Mahama of killing the late President John Evans Atta Mills, and his lawyers are now asking the police to look into the matter.
And rightly so, the police hierarchy, I am told has launched full scale investigations into Mahama’s complaints. Whereas I do not doubt the competence of our investigative authorities to get to the bottom of this worrying issue, I respectfully submit and appeal to you to use your Executive powers under Article 278 to take immediate action in instituting a Commission of inquiry to look into this long, unwinding and unending allegations of complicity of the state in the death of president Mills.
His excellency, section 2(3) of the Coroners Act, 1960 clearly states that “The person in charge of a hospital in which a person has died an unnatural death shall forthwith give notice of the death to the coroner for the district.
I am fully aware that there was no coroner’s inquest in the matter under scrutiny.
It is almost eight years since President Mills’ death but allegations of upper-level complicity won’t go away.
There have been dozens of claims as to the cause of death, and the conditions of systemic medical negligence, upper-level complicity and solitary confinement that President Mills was subjected to. Some have even accused Mahama directly of having a hand in president Mills’ death.
This fact is supported by many unanswered questions, and it is a national security matter.
While I appreciate the fact that Mills’s family may not be enthused about the probative issues being raised in this petition, a further investigative scrutiny and determination will ensure that the country become aware of the outcome of the Coroner’s Inquest, and the circumstances surrounding the death.
The conjecture that these matters are better left to the family to deal with, and that the departed must be allowed to rest peacefully underscores the shield of vagueness and the normative concealment of probative facts which gloss over the depth of rot in such a national security matter.
I, therefore, request your immediate intervention to ensure a bipartisan inquisitorial process is activated in a prompt and impartial manner just so we can all allow the soul of President Mills to rest peacefully.
I am also fortified by the knowledge that your good office would not adopt a nonchalant attitude and allow this matter die a natural dead.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours.
CC:
Council of State
Former President Rawlings
Former President Kufuor
Former President John Mahama
National Peace Council
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com
