By Mavis Paintsil, Accra
Former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has recounted how late President John Evans Atta Mills dismissed him on two occasions, yet he continues to speak positively of him.
Speaking in a recent interview monitored by MyJoyOnline, the renowned cardiothoracic surgeon said his decision to eulogize the late president stems from a personal relationship that predated Mills’ presidency.
From Encouragement to Dismissal
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said Mills, then Vice President, encouraged him to remain at the National Cardiothoracic Centre in 2000 after he had tendered his resignation to President Jerry Rawlings.
But the relationship took a different turn when Mills became President. In August 2011, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng was removed as Honorary Director of the National Cardiothoracic Centre at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
A letter signed by then Health Minister Joseph Yieleh Chireh cited his transfer from the Ministry of Health to the University of Ghana Medical School as the reason. At the time, the surgeon said he was not given any specific wrongdoing and described the decision as unjustified.
“Ghana is going to suffer for that decision,” he had said then, warning that removing him would affect cardiac care in the country.
“I Knew Him As Vice President”
Despite the sackings, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said he has no bitterness toward the late president.
“I speak well of him because I knew him,” he stated. He recalled that as Vice President, Mills was “vibrant and sharp”. As President, however, he noted that Mills faced “serious limitations” due to ill-health.
In 2013, the professor also alleged that some government officials kept the ailing president in office to serve their own interests. That claim was strongly rejected by Mills’ former aide, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, who called it disrespectful.
Legacy at Korle Bu
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng established the National Cardiothoracic Centre in 1992 Ghana’s first facility for heart surgery. He later served as Minister under the NPP administration.
For him, the memory of Mills remains mixed: a leader who removed him from office, but also a man he had known and worked with for years.
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