Kwamena Ahwoi Narrates how Rawlings ‘Nearly’ Forced Atta Mills to Resign as President with a Speech

Former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Professor Kwamena Ahwoi has revealed that late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills nearly resigned as Ghana’s president due to constant criticisms and ‘harassment’ from founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Jerry John Rawlings.

According to Kwamena Ahoi, the late President actually resigned, but he convinced him to rescind the decision.

KWAMENA AHWOI

Prof. Ahwoi disclosed this in an interview on Citi TV's Footprints today [ August 1, 2020] following the launch of his book titled, “Working with Rawlings.”

The NDC stalwart narrated that, “There was one incident which nearly caused President Mills to resign. In fact, he resigned. The only thing that saved this country was that he called to tell me that he was resigning.”

"Atta Mills called me and said he has vacated his position as President. He said have you heard what Rawlings said about me in Tamale?. He told me to get the audio and listen because he has resigned. I also asked if he thinks this was the best decision. I then called Tsatsu Tsikata and we went to his place, he had already packed his things but we managed to convince him to rescind his decision. He wanted out due to the harassment from Rawlings calling him all sorts of names "Atta Mortuaryman", "Konongo Kaya", he told me clearly he was tired and could no longer tolerate that."

During the administration of late President Atta Mills, in 2010, Mr Rawlings - being the founder of the NDC - was known to have wielded strong influence over the NDC government.

His criticisms had the tendency to set the tone for political conversations in the country.

Amongst other things Mr Rawlings accused the Mills led administration of losing the high moral ground to fight corruption.

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Rawlings recently during the 8th anniversary since the passing of President Mills again reiterated the supposed ‘decadence’ in the Atta Mills administration.

He took to Twitter and wrote: “This morning, I visited the resting place of the late President Atta Mills to pay my respects. I had differences and misgivings over his Presidency on matters related to serious cases of corruption and killings in the administration before his…”

The late John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills was Vice-President from 1997 to 2001 under President Jerry Rawlings, and he stood unsuccessfully in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections as the candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He won the 2008 elections but lasted in office for three and half years as he passed away on July 24, 2012.