“God be with you, President Atta Mills, till we meet again”

By His counsels’ guide, uphold you,

With His sheep securely fold you,

God be with you till we meet again, Mr President.

Chorus:

Till we meet, till we meet,

Till we meet at Jesus’ feet;

Till we meet, till we meet,

God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again,

’Neath His wings securely hide you,

Daily manna still provide you,

God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again,

When life’s perils thick confound you,

Put His arms unfailing round you,

God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again,

Keep love’s banners floating o’er you,

Smite death’s threatening wave before you,

God be with you till we meet again.

(Prof, we shall surely meet again but in a different dispensation. Till we meet again)

Ghanaians, take heart because Jesus assured the disciples that there was the need for him to go back to the father but he will not leave them desolate as if they had no comforter. He said, I will send the Holy Spirit who will be your comforter. Our president is gone but he knew that the comforter will come upon the nation and our present sorrows will turn to joy.

He tells us in Psalm 9:9 “The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble”.

In Isaiah 54:10 God assures us as thus:

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

In Psalm 23, the late President assures us that:

The LORD is my shepherd,

I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness

For his name’s sake.

Even though I walk

Through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

For you are with me;

Your rod and your staff,

They comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

In the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me

All the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD

Forever.

In his parting and comforting words to the nation before his death, like the true Christian that he was, I know he was very confident about the nation he was leaving behind so would say just as David said in, Psalm 27:4-5:

“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock”.

The president also knew us very well, because of the way we love funerals and the sending off those who have been called by death, so would have echoed what David said in Psalm 30:5 “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning”

According to Psalm 46:1-2, as a nation mourning the death of our sitting president, we need to come to terms with this Psalm. We have gone through a lot in our short 55 years as a nation. We were once traded as commodities in the open markets of Europe and North America (Slave Trade), we fought tribal wars prior to our independence until 1902 and as if that was not enough we had endured imperialist rule until 1952-57. Then post-independence, the same invisible hand of the imperialist would not allow us peace. Military junta upon military junta: (1966-1969, 1972-1979, 1981-1992, Military/cum democratic government 1992-2000). It was only in 2001, that we could say at last we have a government we have not been coerced to elect and which never had any military connection since 1972. Just as we are finding our feet with the Professor in the proper democratic dispensation, death, you are so wicked, you have taken him away.

All we can say is: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea”

Fellow Ghanaians: “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” Psalm 55:22

Dear President, we hear many rumours about your health. We hear when you felt you could not perform your duties to the best of your ability you wanted to tell us, Ghanaians that for health reasons, you could not continue “The Better Ghana Agenda”. Yes, you knew we would be disappointed but we would understand. You knew we make a lot of noise about unimportant things but we would be quiet about an important thing like your health. All of us would have congregated at the Castle to wish you well and speedy recovery but they would not let you. I am sad to think that you were in “CHAINS”. Those who lived their lives of corruption because you lived but never cared that in the long term, they owed you a duty of care would not allow you. To think that you were like in prison has shattered every fibre in me, I am sad, but we elected a president we did not elect a political party. Take heart because unlike them, you CARED FOR THE SOUL as they spent all their time on the BODY.

That is why in Proverbs 14: 32 we are reminded that: When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge.

Finally Ghanaians shall we all take heart as the Prophet Isaiah says in Chapter 49: verses 14-16

“But Zion (Ghana) said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”

As we bid our final farewell to our dear departed President (Professor) John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, we must do so as the children of one mother, Mommy Amma Ghana. We must learn from the selfless life the president lived. It is unfortunate that a fine gentleman that he was, he found himself in a company of people who put the interests of a political party ahead of human life. There are lessons we need to learn, we talk too much but we do very little as a nation of well over 24million,we lack men and women of vision, We run our country like a kindergarten, we don’t have policy on anything that we have to lose a president before we realise that in office or out of office, our leaders like everybody will die one day so there should have been a provision for their final resting place.

That is why I think it is nonsensical for anybody in the right frame of mind to say “Se asa”The propagandist would always like to score cheap points forgetting their own lack of foresight caused the president to lose his life. One day we shall be bold as a LION to stand up to all these good for nothing power drunken people in position of trust in Ghana.

Prof,  Nante Yiye.  (Safe Journey Home)