Atta Mills Was A Caring President - Ex GPHA Workers
A group of about 4,000 ex-workers of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) who were retrenched in 2002 without any severance benefits are eulogizing late former President John Evans Atta Mills for what they say is a kind touch that he gave their fight for justice in 2012.
On the occasion of the eleventh anniversary of the Professor’s passing, they have fondly remembered him as a kind and gentle soul.
“Professor Mills was a caring president,” said Mr. Stephen Ashitey Adjei, leader of the group.
Mr. Ashitey Adjei, popularly known as Moshake, said this on the sidelines of the wreath laying ceremony that was held to mark the 11th anniversary of the death of the ‘Asomdwee hene.’
“Of the lineage of presidents that have dealt with our issue, he was the only one who granted us full audience and topped it with a fiat that instructed the Ministry of Transport to pay us the severance benefits due us,” Moshake said adding that, “the man really cared about the plight of the people he was governing, more than any president I have known.”
President Mills had suddenly died in office on July 24th, 2012, after battling ill health for some time. That tragedy is one that will never leave the memory of the over, 4,000 ex-workers of the GPHA who were retrenched in 2002 and left to go empty-handed. The Kufuor government which had superintended their mistreatment refused to pay them their due.
“Professor Mills was the exact opposite of Kufuor; he received and read our petitions to him,” Moshake said.
In early July 2012, the ex-workers’ leader had petitioned President Mills about the injustice done them, detailing the toll it has had on their finances, their health and sanity.
President Mills was informed of the fact that some of the ex-workers had become homeless, sick and bed-ridden while others had died from melancholy.
Professor Mills, in response, issued a fiat directing the Ministry of Transport to resolve the issue and pay the ex-workers what is due them.
“Unfortunately, just about two weeks after he issued the fiat, President Mills suddenly died in office,” Moshake laments.
The sudden passing of Mills naturally left the ex-workers issue to then Vice President John Mahama, who later became president. However, unlike Mills, Mahama never replied even a single letter from the ex-workers let alone see through the execution of the fiat that Mills issued.
“We are eternally grateful to Professor Mills because even though his death robbed us of justice, I can tell you that most of us still find courage to pursue our money because of the fiat that he issued for us to be paid. Otherwise, none of us would probably have the will to go on,” Moshake said.
He added, “And wherever he is, we want him to know that we will never stop until the injustice that he set out to correct is corrected. We will continue to fight until our money is paid us,” Moshake said.
High profile personalities in attendance include the hardworking and brilliant Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, Former President John Mahama, National Chairman of NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia and some government officials.
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