Renowned cardiothoracic surgeon and former Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has stated that the late President John Evans Atta Mills did not run a “family and friends and concubines” government.

Speaking as guest speaker at the 14th Anniversary Commemorative Lecture of Prof. Atta Mills held at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said the battle for Ghana’s soul is not fought at press conferences or party conventions.

“It is fought in the decisions of public servants who choose honesty over convenience. In the offices of engineers and scientists who stay in Ghana and build here. In the workshops of entrepreneurs who manufacture rather than import,” he said.

He added that the fight is also “in the hands of citizens who demand accountability from those who govern them.”

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng noted that the late president understood that the poverty gap is a technology gap, and bridging it requires sustained national commitment across generations and administrations, not just one presidential initiative.

“A constitution is only as strong as the character of those who swear by it,” he said.

According to him, Atta Mills understood that leadership is not about power but about service.

“It’s about the worker who needs to get home in one hour. It’s about the child who needs heart surgery regardless of whose name is invoked,” he stated.

“Professor Mills gave Ghana three and a half years. Fourteen years on, Ghana has a chance to give him something warmer than any monument,” Prof. Frimpong-Boateng stressed.

Report by Bernard K Dadzie Greater Accra Region