Monday, November 12, 2012

I LOVED MY STEP-MUM – MILLS SON


Samuel Kofi Atta Mills

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Accra, Saturday November 19, 2012.
Samuel Kofi Atta Mills, the only son of the late President John Evans Atta Mills has told the BBC that he would not rule out entering into politics in Ghana in the near future.

He also revealed that he had a great relationship with both his father and step-mother, Ernestina Naadu Mills.

He said his deceased father once told him that he (Mills) had paved a “very big way” for him (in politics) and he could “continue” if he (Samuel) wanted.

Asked by Matthew Bannister on BBC Outlook if he had any Presidential ambitions, Samuel laughed and said “I once asked him (Mills) like what does he think of me going into politics and he said ‘if you want to go it is up to you. It is your own determination. I have paved a very big way and you can continue if you want’.”

He added: “But if it comes….if the Lord says ‘this is your time and this is what I want you to do’ then yes I will go for it but for now I think I will just focus on my studies and leave it to the best of my own abilities.”

He recounted how he heard about the death of his father saying “It was a bit terrible because I was just talking to the man in the morning.”

“I was actually in the house. I had gone upstairs to wake him up and he was like ‘Not today…I just want to rest’… I went back to my room.

 “The ambulance came, I just thought he just needed to go because whenever he was leaving there was a set of convoy and an ambulance and so I thought it was just normal and stuff. So I was quiet shocked to have got a phone call and then I was told to go and meet a certain individual so I went there and he said to me that he is gone... he passed away, I said how,” he said.

He said even though it was difficult for him, he did not find it difficult to deal with the situation because “I was very happy about the way Ghanaians mourned.”

“The sympathy was there. The taxi drivers, all the vehicles had red bands. The way the other political parties came together….I was really happy to know that my father who was father of the whole country had actually brought this dawn of peace on Ghana and it was always something that I was really proud of.”

Asked if he had the kind of private moment to say good bye to his father, Samuel said “Oh yes, I did. I mean we went filing past the body and the day of the burial I was given opportunity to spend some time with him and say final greetings and stuff. I was given the opportunity and I really took advantage of it as well.”

On whether the late President neglected him as son he said “You see, this is what politics brings about. When I was there people were still writing articles that I was living in the UK and I am on the streets of London, I beg for money and I have dropped out of school. Meanwhile I was living and sleeping in the same place with him.”

He said it was not true that he was not in a good relationship with former First Lady Ernestina Naadu Mills, his step-mother.
“That is another one (untruth) I love my step-mum. She is a mother…..she was there for my father and I respect her greatly,” he said.

Samuel said “I am very very proud of my dad. He is my biggest inspiration. Even up till now sometimes I go to Google, type his name and listen to some of the things he says, how he says it and he is so incredible.

“We communicated regularly because obviously, he wanted to know how I was coping and I ring him up all the time to ask ‘how are you dad, how is your job, how is Ghana doing’ and stuff like that,” he explained.

He added: “I went to Ghana for a year and I had the privilege to live with him in the Castle [seat of government]. I was there for quite a while. It was a big experience.”

Samuel described his father as a man who believed in giving everyone equal opportunity “so just because he was the President, he wouldn’t allow people to treat me different. 5 am in the morning, we would wake up and go for a walk from the Castle to the Independence [Square] so that he could get some fresh air and exercise.”

“Everyone took their shower, we had morning devotion from six to seven and whatever problems I was facing, I could tell him and whatever he thought was good, he would talk about it.”

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