late President Professor John Evans Atta Mills
The Founding Vice Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Professor Fred Newton Binka, has again called on the government to rename the institution after late President Professor John Evans Atta Mills.
He made the call at this year’s John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Lecture for the Volta and Oti regions held at the UHAS main campus at Sokode-Etoe, near Ho, last Thursday.
The theme was “The Man John Evan Atta Mills- Ten Years on.”
Prof. Binka, who made the keynote presentation, said the legacy of the late professor was so critical and important in today’s Ghana, and worldwide, as far as the virtues of integrity, honesty and trust of a leader were concerned.
Leadership qualities
He said the former President demonstrated competent leadership when it mattered most, and the moral courage to address serious challenges that undermined state organisations.
Prof. Binka described the late President as an academic par excellence who made great contributions to the legal profession through his scholarly work at the University of Ghana and several universities in Europe and the USA.
“Given the mantle of leadership of Ghana, he decided to change the course of the development of universities in Ghana by establishing universities with very clear mandates.
“In this instance; the University of Health and Allied Sciences in the Volta Region and the University of Energy and Natural Resources in the then Brong Ahafo Region,” Prof. Binka said.
Apart from those achievements, the founding Vice Chancellor of UHAS paid tribute to the late Prof. Mills as a great leader who wore his Christian faith as a badge of honour and treated everybody as the creation of God.
Accountability
Earlier, the Catholic Bishop of Jasikan, Most Reverend Gabriel Mante, eulogised the late President as a man with sterling values of accountability to the people of Ghana and a leader who was ready to protect his people at all times against greed.
“He used his position responsibly and led his people without abusing power, and ensuring that everybody had a share of the national cake,” he added.
In another presentation, the Chief Executive of FC Group of Companies Limited, Dr Mrs Grace Amey Obeng, said the late President Mills was a national hero by all standards, for which he must be recognised by the state all the time.
“He was a good man with a big heart for the people he served,” she added.
Dr Obeng said during late Prof. Mills’s tenure of office, women in Ghana were empowered in various ways, and his policies affected private businesses positively.
Present were members of the Volta Caucus of Parliament, leading members of the National Democratic Congress, students from the various tertiary institutions in the region, traditional rulers, members of civil society organisations and the public.