President Mills’ Judases; the deepest cut

In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the greatest blow, Julius Caesar suffered, was at the hands of his bosom friend, Brutus, hence the popular saying: ET tu Brutus! Just like the Holy Bible, Jesus Christ was betrayed by a person close to him; Judas Iscariot! I believe these same words were often repeated by our late President, John Evans Atta Mills, each time his people from his own political party verbally abused his intelligence and personality. The very people, who held up his hands in acknowledgement, let him down in the end! It was perhaps the beginning of his end! For most of us, the issue of the passing of our late president is one that would forever make us uncomfortable or perhaps, hunt us, considering the fact that in our own various ways, we feel responsible, and perhaps, guilty of our individual contributions to the grief and pain he must have always experienced one way or the other!

Yes, this is a bitter truth that would forever hunt most people, especially in the NDC! The truth is bitter but I cannot say otherwise! A lot of people would prefer not to go into the issues of the last three-years and the death of this great man! They prefer not to revisit the past but as we all know, the past helps in shaping our future! If the NDC would indeed attain greater heights, they need to work on the assignment of accepting their various roles and contributions in the discrediting of the governance of the late President Mills! If perhaps this man was indeed unable to perform as has been publicly and widely proclaimed and acclaimed by his own people; the Judases, I believe the channels used in addressing these were far from pleasant! Valuable lessons ought to be learnt by all!

From the very onset, President Mills never had the full support and cooperation of his party, to even consider sympathizers or opposition! For their own personal interest perhaps, most of his own people saw him as weak and incapable! I never really saw any weakness in this man but others did! What is the measure of weakness? Clemency and perhaps being humane is no substitute for a weakness! Clearly, this man had his priorities and saw nothing else! Whatever choices this man made, was usually met with a pandemonium! The picture usually painted by the NDC was as though this man had no clue as to whatever he was doing! Ironically though, these were the same people who gave him the node in becoming a flag bearer for the party, and yet in the end, these same people saw him spent each day in making his tenure a living hell! The same people! Each day, it was one attack after the other! From the propagandas to the death calls! The painful aspect of this whole ordeal was the fact that this man was dragged into the dirty game of politics by these Judases, and yet in the end, he was brutally assaulted and betrayed by these same Judases! As humans, we have our own various unpleasant experiences and encounters with the Judases. What was the story? What was the feeling?

As has been biblically stated; the stone that the builders rejected became the corner stone! Yes, President Mills was always the source and object of ridicule in our political stream within the past decade. For a fact, he was the underdog for most people! Even during the campaigns, his manner of campaigning was always an issue of ridicule; the one-on-one campaign strategy. However slow the tortoise walks, it eventually reaches its destination. In the end President Mills proved himself beyond all doubt and much to the surprise of all, including his own political party when he won the race for the presidential elections against all odds! Does that not represent greatness achieved? I am sure that for several months after the elections, this man could not have believed his luck. I am sure a lot of us still cannot believe the fact that this seemingly timid personality, emerged winner above all the other seemingly more vibrant competitors. That is the spice of life! Rather sadly however, this was the beginning of his predicaments!

Any political party that emerges as winner in any elections should indeed celebrate this. For the NDC however, it was the exact opposite. A selected number, well-wishers, friends, and sympathizers, perhaps of the late president celebrated his victory! For the others however, it was a moment of mourning and cursing! This was his political party! Right from the word go, the late President Mills was discredited by the NDC! This man received no peace, for every single day that he sat on his presidential seat, from some so-called high ranked members of his own sect! Comparatively, the actual opposition party comported themselves better! It was usually confusing when members of his own party criticized him to the advantage of his opponents! Anyone would have easily identified these Judases as being a part of the opposition. His own party was doing the job of the opposition better than the actual opposition! If some members of NDC were in themselves unsure of the competence of their flag bearer, did we expect others to do otherwise? Of course not!

Constructive criticism is always lauded but what some members of the NDC exhibited was sheer jealousy! Dirty linen should not be washed in public! Indeed, I sometimes wondered how this man must have felt! Julius Caesar felt the deepest pain when his own closest friend stabbed him in the novel, Julius Caesar. Each day that the late President Mills lived, I am very sure that he must have felt that pain repeatedly, anytime he had to listen to all the insults he had to bear from his own political family! A house divided among itself will definitely not stand and yet, this great man tried in his own way to keep this house together. As his trademark, he never responded! He never retaliated! He kept his silence, even when he was insulted! Even when he was battling his illness, he still labored hard, in his own little way to keep the sinking ship afloat!

No man would definitely love to be in the situation that the late President found himself. To have been surrounded by people, who were only looking forward to his downfall! The few true friends he had, I believe, served him well in their own ways! This is an experience we must all fight to change! Politics is based on ideologies! It is only about the difference in ideologies and for this, we have varied political parties. For the good of this nation, our various political parties must learn to work together for a greater good, other than themselves! The breakups in most political parties, in recent past have usually been as a result of a little conflict of ideas as a result of the conflict of interests! We must learn to look beyond our differences! The politics of selfishness should in no way be condoned! Politics does not give anyone the leverage to say insulting and hurtful things to others, in the name of freedom of speech and democracy! For a fact in this country, most people would be found wanting should they be called upon by any law court to defend at any time statements made and certain utterances!

The people we vote into power require and deserve our cooperation and goodwill and not just our endorsement or thumbprint! In the end, their success or failure affects us all! We should be mindful of our utterances! No matter the difference in political ideologies, we need to stand united and pray for the successes of each government, elected into power! Right from the onset, most people saw the late president as incapable of leading this nation. These emotions were reflected in our utterances! On the radio, television, on our streets, in our homes and work places, the comments were made! And yet in the end, we expected more from this man! No man is capable of leading this nation unless they have our full cooperation and prayers or perhaps, goodwill!

A lot of things have gone wrong within the past years in our political domain and within our various political parties! For most of us, hard lessons have been learnt! The sudden demise of the late President Mills left us all in shock, and still does! Our deepest regrets can be attributed to the fact that this man in truth, never had our full support and blessings! Most people only got to appreciate this great personality after his demise. The country has been blessed with a new president who needs our well-wishes. We owe it to him, and most importantly, to our beloved nation to give him our full support!

Elections are around the corner and for a fact, a winner would be declared. How far this person goes whether successfully or disappointingly depends on us all! As a people, let us learn to put aside our difference in opinions and most importantly, our difference in political ideologies for the good of this nation. We indeed need a positive attitude in order to succeed. Although there might be differences, let us learn to convey our ideas in a more positive and constructive way rather than the carelessness and callousness that have been exhibited in recent past. Let the lessons we have learnt in the past weeks influence our thoughts and actions. In the end, all that we do should be in the interest of our beloved nation. Ghana! Above all, let us be mindful of the fact that our children are watching and learning! No one knows tomorrow!