The founder of the Atta Mills Institute, Koku Anyidoho, has described as ridiculous and untrue the claims that he exhumed the body of the late President John Evans Atta Mills.
He wondered “how” such a thing is possible when Asomdwee Park, where the late president was buried, is a security zone guarded 24 hours by national security operatives.
“Do we not make tombstones to commemorate the dead, and when we do, do we not exhume the bodies, even in our own small ways as families, as groups, as organizations? Do we or don't we? All we've done is build a nice resting place for the president. Nobody touched anybody,” Mr Anyidoho said.
“This place is owned by national security and it's here 24 hours, so I came with a pickaxe and a shovel, I came to exhume the body, I carried it on my back and carried it away? It is ridiculous, it is not possible, it is not true,” he added in an interview with Accra-based Metro TV.
Mr Samuel Atta Mills, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo Abir and brother of the late President Atta Mills, has accused the Coastal Development Authority and Mr Anyidoh-led Atta Mills Institute of desecrating the tomb of the former president. President.
"A group calling themselves the Atta Mills Institute, which the family does not even recognize, and the Coastal Development Authority, went to smash the grave of President John Evans Atta Mills."
"They removed the tomb and claim they are rebuilding it," the late president's brother told the parliamentary press corps.
The late president's brother called the group's action culturally offensive.
He also complained that the group was ignoring the late president's family.
"My question is: why are you going to touch someone's grave without the family's permission?"
"We have traditions. Now that they touch someone's grave, is there still a body? What did you put in that grave? What rituals did you perform there? Why would you go and touch a grave without informing us?" Who has the body now? Coastal Development Authority under whose authority did you do this? Why do you make us experience sadness every time?” he asked.
"And you allow that Koku Anyido, that fool working with Atta Mills Institute, so called, to go and touch this grave without informing the head of our family. This is a former president. Why does the government allow this to happen?"
"This is an insult to the family. This is an insult to [us] the Akans. It is an insult to the nation..." he added.
Asomdwee Park, where the late president was buried, was in poor condition due to lack of maintenance.
The Coastal Development Authority (CODA) and the Atta Mills Institute have renovated the park and it is scheduled to open on Sunday 24 July 2022 to mark 10 years since the death of Prof Mills.
John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills served as the President of Ghana from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was previously Vice President from 1997 to 2001 under President Jerry Rawlings.
He is the first Ghanaian head of state to die in office.
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