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Tribute by The New Patriotic Party You did much for democracy in Africa. We all labor against our own cure, for death is the cure of all diseases.� Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici On Tuesday, the 24th day of the year 2012, a most unusually heavy gloom of death settled on Ghana, as flags, including political party ones, were lowered to half-mast, in respect of a very historical moment for a reason all so very wrong: the death of our President, H.E. Professor John Evans Atta Mills. The reaction of the leadership and entire membership of the New Patriotic Party, arch political rivals of President Mills and his ruling National Democratic Congress, just like that of Ghanaians everywhere, was of shock and disorientation. Yes, we were all witnesses to the apparent ill health of the Head of State, but, so what? Nothing prepares you for the death of a person you know. Certainly nothing prepares a people, a nation for the death of its leader. And, Ghana had no precedent to lean on in search of any form of consolation. Any search for solace would have been futile because the loss was sudden. It was only a few days earlier that the President of the Republic celebrated his 68th birthday. But, such is the kindness of His Maker that he allowed Ghanaians to celebrate their leaders� birthday with him before He called him upstairs. Your Excellency, Ghanaians will forever remember the religious courage with which you carried on with your presidential duties even in the last difficult days of your life. We are still struggling to understand what did go wrong but then in times like this, it is best to give thanks to God. Many accounts have been given of his academic excellence as a student and a teacher. There are many successful Ghanaians who were at some time taught by him. These same persons, including his most critical political opponents, continue to sing praises of his teaching skills, his warmth and the impact he had on their lives. Any lecturer who could make the subject of taxation interesting, especially to law students, deserves an Olympic medal. His contribution to the development of sports, particularly, football, cricket and hockey, in Ghana, also attest to his contribution. To us as a party, Prof. Mills� transition from the academia and the civil service, to partisan politics, where he launched straight to the high office of Vice President, after the 1996 election, should serve as an encouragement to technocrats and academics, alike, to embrace politics in order to deepen the intellectual depth of our politics. The more such people with rich backgrounds gather the courage and patriotism to join politics, the richer it will be for our governance. In adding his thoughts to this tribute, our Presidential Candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, has this to say of the late President: �His contribution to Ghana�s current status as the model of democracy in Africa is appreciated. First, he was the sitting Vice President, the candidate of the incumbent party, who peacefully conceded in 2000 to the victorious NPP candidate, thereby paving the way for the first historical democratic transfer of power from one party to the other in Ghana�s history. It was remarkable and the entire democratic world acknowledged that feat by the Ghanaian people.� Nana Akufo-Addo continues, �Subsequently, he won all successive NDC leadership contests, with ever-increasing margins of victory. In the process, he lost two hard-fought presidential contests to our candidate, President J.A. Kufuor in 2000 and 2004. But, he rose to fight another day, by winning the December 2008 run-off presidential election. That contest, again, like 2000, saw another smooth transition of power from a ruling party to an opposition��