Accra Mourns Prez Mills As Mayhem Rocks NDC Headquarters

Officers of the Ghana Police Service stood and watched helplessly as scores of motorbike riders besieged the headquarters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to mark the one-week celebration of the demise of President John Evans Atta Mills. The bikers honked and screeched their tyres ferociously into the crowd of chiefs and elders seated in front of the headquarters. Circling the intersection at the headquarters, the bikers, through their display, caused at least 200 metres of traffic on the main road leading to the Kwame Nkrumah Circle. All of them, clad in mourning colours of red and black, displayed their prowess in biking, chanted songs and wailed the name of the late president. Although the police were present, there was very little they could do to ensure order at the NDC headquarters, explaining to The Finder that they did not want to aggravate the situation. The Police, together with a few security men from the NDC headquarters, could be heard screaming �Go back, go back. This is not the way to go it if you want to mourn him,� but their appeals were a mere shrill of a request in the midst of the revving engines and shouts of protests from onlookers. �You see the police can use force to disperse them, but it will not be nice because they are also mourning the president in their own way,� one senior police officer told The Finder. On the streets, commuters and drivers, who were also spotting strips of red linen, got impatient at the bikers, who had caused a long queue of cars as a result of their display. �If we all decide to celebrate this way who will be able to do something today?� an immigration officer seated in front of a minibus fumed. �The fault is from the police,� a young man who had abandoned his car to watch the scene from a distance remarked. �They should have stopped them from coming near this area. They have broken somebody�s driving mirror right now.� Away from party head office, people mourned the late leader in more dignified forms. At James Town, people clad in red and black were busy mounting canopies and testing their speakers to play dirges in memory of the late president. Offices, retail outlets and petrol stations conspicuously displayed red and black materials as a sign of mourning, with a couple of them having obituary posters of Professor Mills. A woman rolled uncontrollably on the ground at Akoto Lante, close to the James Town Police Station, wailing the words �why, why, why Mills� in Ga-Dangbe. At the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, a solemn one-week commemoration was held at the forecourt of the Central Administration. A siren sounded at exactly 2:15pm, the time Professor Mills died one week ago, signalling all staff without emergency duties to assemble at the venue for a two-minute prayer session. Street hawkers also joined in the commemoration, making sure they wore a combination of red and black before setting out to sell their wares. The story at the premises of the Supreme Court was not different. Red and Black linen cloths adorned the entry parameter wall, with a picture of the late president positioned at the entrance. One-week rites were also held at the Castle and Mills� campaign office at Kuku Hill in Osu.