President Nana Akufo-Addo has described the demand by the family of the late President John Evans Atta Mills for his autopsy report as a “legitimate one”.
“I’ll have to find out how to proceed on that, but it’s a legitimate demand,” the president said after the family called on him at Jubilee House to appeal for the report.
“If the family wants to have [the autopsy report] of someone who died in those circumstances, it’s a legitimate demand”, Mr Akufo-Addo said after Mr Koku Anyidoho, the spokesperson of the late president, had informed him in the presence of Mills’ family that only the late President’s brother, Samuel Atta Mills, claims to have the autopsy report.
“It should be part of our official documentation and public records”, President Akufo-Addo interjected.
The appeal for the autopsy report was made by Nana Enyimfua III, representing the family, during a visit to the president in Accra on Saturday.
Nana Enyimfua III expressed concern over the unknown cause of his death and emphasised the importance of obtaining the report for closure and historical record.
Addressing President Akufo-Addo, Nana Enyimfua III said “Our biggest problem as a family is that ever since I was enstooled as queenmother, I have not seen any autopsy report in the family. That is the biggest problem I have with the family because if someone asks me what killed him I won’t know if the doctor said he broke his arm or his neck or drunk something.”
“So we plead with you and the government that the family needs the autopsy report so that in future when I am no more queen mother posterity will learn from it because no child from the family knows what killed the late former president not to talk about me the queen mother in the family. So I plead with you on behalf of the family, before you leave office let us get the autopsy report.”
