How Atta Mills rejected US$2m cash from foreigners – Segbefia recounts

2022 marks 10th anniversary of Atta Mills’ death

State-run CODA leading redevelopment of Asomdwee Park

Alex Segbefia, a former deputy Chief of Staff under President John Evans Atta Mills has recounted an incident where the late president was offered money by some foreigners and how he rejected it.

Segbefia, speaking on GTV’s Breakfast Show on Friday, July 22, said the unnamed investors arrived in the country and presented a bag filled with about US$2 million in cash.

President Mills, he said directed them to pass through legal means to ensure the money enters the Ghanaian economy while rejecting it outrightly for himself.

“He was in a room, they brought money, I was there, almost US$2 million in a bag. He said, ‘take it to the party headquarters. You are a foreign company. We don’t do with foreign money, so pass it through your local company and send it to the party headquarters and have it registered.’

“The people got into their plane and left with the money. So he was not moved by money,” Segbefia recounted.

The one-time Health Minister is the Chairman of the John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage Board, which was set up by the National Democratic Congress, NDC, to keep up the legacy of the late President.

Segbefia stressed that Mills unlike most politicians was driven more by service to the public than by money and had for good reason opted to become President instead of pursuing career paths that could have earned him lots of wealth.

“The one thing that disturbs most politicians and all of us in our lives when we are growing is about money, how to make money. This was a guy who was a Fulbright scholar.

“At 27, he got his doctorate, and became a professor. He could have gone into private industry and been a millionaire within two, three years. He decided that he was going to be a lecturer.”

Government is preparing to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Mills’ passing in the coming days. On July 24, the day he died, the state and NDC will host separate events at the Asomdwee Park, his final resting place.

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The NDC has also scheduled a public lecture on the late president and it is to be addressed by legal luminary and former Ghana National Petroleum Company boss, Tsatsu Tsikata.