Prof Mills Memorial Heritage lectures to take Place Nationwide -Board of Directors
The 10th memorial anniversary and lectures of late former President John Evans Atta Mills will take place in all the regions of Ghana, but have been clustered into six zones on the general theme, “Ten years on The Man John Evans Atta Mills”.
Though a social democrat, the organizers said the ultimate purpose is to educate the Ghanaian populace about the singular and personal visions, beliefs, aspirations and principles of the late former President.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage, Alex Segbefia announced this at a press briefing on Monday, May 16, 2022, in Accra.
According to him, the Atta Memorial lectures would take place at six clusters of regions including the Northern Cluster comprising Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East and Upper West Regions to be held in Tamale on May 28, while the Middle Belt cluster comprises of the Western North, Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions and the lecture would be held at Sunyani, the capital of Bono region.
The Central and Western Cluster also comprises the Western and Central Regions and is to be held in June in Cape Coast, while South-East Cluster also comprises the Volta and Oti Regions and is to be held in September at Ho.
The Ashanti and Eastern Cluster is comprised of Ashanti and Eastern Regions and the Lecture will end the 10th-anniversary activities to be held in Kumasi in December.
The John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage was incorporated and launched on the 1st of February 2022 at the Cedi Conference Centre, University of Ghana, Legon as a Company Limited by Guarantee.
“It is a not-for-profit, non-partisan, independent, charitable organization. It exists to promote President John Evans Atta Mills’ unique view of society to cause positive actions in strengthening democratic values and human development. Its vision is to inspire humanity for a better society,” Mr Segbefia explained during the press briefing.
Notable personalities at the press conference were Kwabena and Kwesi Ahwoi, Kobby Acheampong, former Deputy Minister of Interior, Hon Eric Osei Owusu, former MP for Afram Plains South, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, Secretary to the Board of Directors of Atta Memorial Heritage and former Gender Minister and host of other high profile persons of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Below is the Full Statement
THE JOHN EVANS ATTA MILLS MEMORIAL HERITAGE
PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE COMMEMORATION OF THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT JOHN EVANS ATTA MILLS INTERNATIONAL PRESS CENTRE MONDAY 16TH MAY 2022
Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media.
Thank you for honouring our invitation to this Press Conference on the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the death of His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills. You are all welcome.
We also welcome the invited guests, friends of the media and volunteers of the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media,At the 9th-anniversary commemoration of the death of His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills, it was decided by his family members, his professional and academic colleagues, former Government appointees, and his former students, that an organisation be established in his memory to preserve his heritage and legacy.
The John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage was birthed and duly incorporated on 14th October 2021 as a Company Limited by Guarantee. It is a not-for-profit, non-partisan, independent, charitable organization. It exists to promote President John Evans Atta Mills’ unique view of society to cause positive actions in strengthening democratic values and human development. Its vision is to inspire humanity for a better society.
After its incorporation, the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage was launched on the 1st of February 2022 at the Cedi Conference Centre, University of Ghana, Legon.
The Memorial Heritage’s Advisory Council is made up of fifteen eminent personalities. It is chaired by Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State of the Volta Region.
The Vice Chairperson is Dr. Esther Ofei Aboagye, former Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies. The other Advisory Council members are:
1. Dr. Cadman Atta Mills- Brother of President John Evans Atta Mills and former World Bank Official
2. Mr. Kwame Pianim- Development Economist and Elder Statesman
3. Honourable Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni- Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
4. Mr. John Henry Martey Newman- Chief of Staff to President John Evans Atta Mills
5. Naa Alhassan Andani- Former Chief Executive of Stanbic Bank
6. E.M Commodore-Mensah- Businessman and former CEO of Accra Hearts of Oak
7. H.E James Bebaako-Mensah- Secretary to President John Evans Atta Mills and former Ambassador to The Vatican
8. Mr. Kwaku Bram-Larbi- Private Legal Practitioner and Personal Lawyer of President John Evans Atta Mills
9. Prof. Agnes Attia Apusigah- Associate Professor/Dean, Faculty of Education, UDS
10. Alhaji Ahmed Vanderpuie- Businessman
11. Dr. Abena Oye Gyampo- Managing Partner, Talentia Africa Ltd
12. Mrs. Kate Quartey-Papafio- Entrepreneur and Co Founder/Managing Director of Reroy Cables Company Limited
13. Mrs. Marufatu Abiola Bawuah- Regional Chief Executive Officer (West Africa) of United Bank for Africa (UBA)
The John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage Board of Directors is chaired by Alex Percival Segbefia, former Minister of Health and former Deputy Minister of Defence in the Government of President John Dramani Mahama, and former Deputy Chief of Staff in the Government of President John Evans Atta Mills.
Together with a committed team of Board members comprising Dr. Sherry Ayittey, Honourable Sammy Atta Mills, Mr. Siisi Quainoo and Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, Chief Executive Officer and Board Secretary, the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage is working to inculcate the values and principles that President John Evans Atta Mills stood for in the Ghanaian society.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media,
At the launch of the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage, we announced that we would organize a year-long programme of activities to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of President John Evans Atta Mills, the only Ghanaian Head of State to have died in office.
Consequently, following the Launch on 1st February 2022, the March event saw the inauguration of the Advisory Council of the Memorial Heritage on 15th March 2022 at the GIMPA Executive Conference Centre.
This was followed by the April event on 15th April 2022, which was the participation of the Memorial Heritage in the John Evans Atta Mills Sixth Leadership Lecture Series of the University of Health and Allied Sciences at Ho in memory of President John Evans Atta Mills.
At the University of Health and Allied Sciences 2022 Graduation Ceremony the next day, the Memorial Heritage announced the “President John Evans Atta Mills Prize for the Best Sandwich Student” of the graduating class which it was establishing. The first of the prizes was presented by Alex Segbefia, Board Chairman of the Memorial Heritage, to Mr. Bright Numado of the School of Nursing and Midwifery Bachelor of Nursing Programme and Valedictorian for the 2021 graduating class.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media,
Today’s Press Conference represents the first of two major activities being organized in May 2022. The second will be the first of our planned series of Regional John Evans Atta Mills Commemorative Lectures about which I will be speaking presently. The purpose of this Press Conference is to announce the Memorial Heritage’s planned yearlong activities for the rest of the year.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media,
This10th year commemoration is a national affair for the people of Ghana. As stated by Nana Kobina Nketsia IV, Chief of Essikado who was Chairman of the Launch of the Memorial Heritage, the era of President John Evans Atta Mills as President of Ghana was “an era of inclusiveness, an era when we had a man of character as President and a man of morality and sincerity, and to him Ghana mattered, and because of that, he cut across many political divisions”.
Within this context, therefore, and to celebrate a national icon in the person of the man John Evans Atta Mills, the Memorial Heritage is organizing Regional Lectures throughout Ghana.
Regional Teams called “Local Organizing Committees” have been and are being established to plan and implement the Regional Lectures.
The 16 regions of Ghana have been clustered into five groups for purposes of the Regional Commemorative Lectures as follows:
· Northern Cluster: This comprises the five (5) regions in Northern Ghana namely Northern, Savannah, Upper West, Upper East and North-East Regions. The Local Organising Committee for this cluster is chaired by Naa Alhassan Andani, former Executive Director of Stanbic Bank and member of the Advisory Council of the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage. The Northern Sector Lecture will be held on 28th May 2022 in Tamale.
· Central and Western Cluster: This comprises the Western and Central Regions. The Chairman of the Local Organising Committee for this cluster is Nana Brew-Butler, former Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Cape Coast. The Central/Western Cluster Lecture will be held in June in Cape Coast. The exact date will be announced by the Local Organising Committee sometime after the Tamale Lecture.
· South-East Cluster: This comprises the Volta and Oti Regions. The South-East Cluster Lecture will be held in September at Ho.
· Middle Belt Cluster: This comprises four (4) regions namely Bono, Bono East, Ahafo and Western North Regions. The Middle Belt Cluster Lecture will be held in November at Sunyani.
· Ashanti and Eastern Cluster: This comprises Ashanti and Eastern Regions. The Ashanti and Eastern Cluster Lecture will end the 10th anniversary activities and will be held in Kumasi in December.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media,
The general theme for the Regional Lectures is “Ten years on: The Man John Evans Atta Mills”. The Local Organising Committee for each cluster of regions is however free to choose a sub-theme for its Lecture which will be consistent with the national theme and which will fall within the broad national framework.
We expect all Ghanaians to participate fully in the Lectures when it gets to their turn in their clustered regions in memory of a unique, selfless, and distinguished President of Ghana, a man of character who stood tall and brought dignity, inclusiveness and character into Ghanaian politics.
Ladies, and gentlemen of the Media,
The John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage will commemorate 24th July 2022, the exact day on which President John Evans Atta Mills died, with a memorial service at the Asomdwee Park in Accra in the afternoon. Wreaths will also be laid on his grave at the Asomdwee Park at 1.40 p.m, the exact time that the doctors pronounced him dead at the 37 Military Hospital.
The highlight of the 10th anniversary celebrations will be the 10th Anniversary Commemorative Lecture that will be delivered in Accra on Tuesday 26th July, 2022 at 3 o’clock p.m. That Lecture will also double as the Greater Accra Regional Commemorative Lecture. Further details of the 10th Anniversary Commemorative Lecture will be provided by the Planning Committee of the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage in due course, but let me titillate your curiosity a bit. The speaker for the occasion is unique and the chairman is an outstanding personality. I will go no further than that.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Media,
Arrangements for the first Regional Lecture to be held in Tamale are on course. The Northern Cluster Local Organising Committee confirm that the Northern Sector Regional Lecture will be held at the Multipurpose Hall, University of Development Studies, Tamale, on 28th May 2022 at 3 o’clock p.m. The Lecture will be chaired by Naa Andani Alhassan, former Chief Executive Officer of the Stanbic Bank and a member of the Advisory Council of the John Evans Atta Mills
Memorial Heritage.
The Keynote Address will be delivered by the Most Reverend Phillip Naameh, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Tamale Catholic Diocese.
There will be five thematic speakers namely Professor Stephen B. Kendie on Governance; Dr Charles Abugri on Taxation; Dr Vida Yakong on Gender and Inclusion; Dr Doliwura Zakaria on Youth in Leadership, Networking and Social Capital in the 21st Century; and Dr Samuel Nkumbaan on Public Service, Human and Social Development. The five thematic speakers represent the five regions that constitute the Northern sector cluster of regions for purposes of these Regional Lectures.
Further information on the Northern cluster of regions Lecture will be communicated by the Northern Cluster Local Organising Committee who will be addressing the media from time to time in Tamale.
It is however important to mention that at the Tamale Lecture, “The Great Launch”, which is the title of the “Proceedings of the Launch of the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage” held on 1st February 2022, which has been published into a book, will be launched and put up for sale to the public.
In that book are contained all the memorable and thought-provoking addresses of Mr. Kwame Pianim, Development Economist and Elder Statesman who was the keynote speaker; Professor Kofi Abotsi of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), who spoke on Professor Mills and Legal Education; Professor Francis Dodoo, former Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, who spoke on Professor Mills and Sports Development; and Dr. Esther Ofei Aboagye, former Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies, who
spoke on Professor Mills and Good Governance. Also contained in the book are the enigmatic Acceptance and Closing Remarks of Nana Kobina Nketsiah IV, Paramount Chief of the Essikado Traditional Area and Chairman for the occasion.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media,
The details of the Central Region and Western Region cluster of regions programme will be announced sometime after the Tamale Lecture.
The Local Organising Committees and the Lecture programmes for the remaining Regional Lectures will be announced after the 10th Anniversary Commemorative Lecture in Accra on 26th July.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media,
Once again, we look forward to your full participation in all the activities planned for the President John Evans Atta Mills 10th Anniversary commemoration.
Thank you and good morning.
Source: expressnewsghana.com
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