How Atta Mills rejected a bribe from a German businessman

John Evans Atta Mills died as president

John Evan Atta Mills Memorial Heritage launched

A senior member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Pianim, has touted the late former President of Ghana, John Atta Mills, as an incorruptible man.

Making reference to a particular time when a certain German consultant came into the country and tried to bribe the late former president, but he refused it, he said that was the kind of person Prof Mills was.

Speaking at the launch of the JEAM Memorial Heritage at the University of Ghana on February 1, 2022, on the theme ‘The Man John Evans Atta Mills – 10 Years On’, the senior New Patriotic Party (NPP) member said not even political divides stopped Atta Mills from working with him.

He narrated the story of how a German businessman came into Ghana and how the late former president bluntly rejected a bribe from him.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll give you the background, the context. I was a consultant to a German businessman, and when he came to Ghana looking for me… he was told Kwame Pianim is a member of the NPP, you can’t use him as a consultant again. So, they gave him an NDC consultant, which was fine.

“So, I’m staying in my house, and the guy calls me, and I said, are you in Ghana? And he said, ‘yes, I’ve been here for about a week,’ and he said he needed to see me urgently so I said he should come and he came. He said, ‘I’m in trouble,’ and I asked, ‘What trouble are you in?’

“He said he went to see Prof Mills and his consultant advised him that he should prepare a small envelope for him, and so they left the envelope, but a soldier has come to summon him. He said, ‘I think there was something wrong with the envelope,’ and I said, ‘don’t worry, go, he’s a nice man, and if it is about the envelope, you can say you were advised, and you won’t do it again. And if he’s pushing you, tell him you’re my friend: he’s also my friend, so maybe…,’” he said.

Kwame Pianim added that when the businessman returned to see President John Evans Atta Mills, the latter chided him for attempting to bribe him and advised him not to try that again.

“So, he went, and Prof Mills said, ‘I thought you were giving me documents on your company, what is this? And he threw it,’ and the man said, ‘I was advised to put something small.’ And he said, ‘Take it, and please don’t do that again.’ I said thank you, and he said, ‘What about the other envelop to the other big man?’ and Mills said, ‘When you see him, you discuss with him; I wasn’t there,’” he said.

The John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Heritage is to mark ten years of the passing of Ghana’s former president, who died while still in office.

Other speakers at the event were the former president, John Dramani Mahama, who served as the late John Atta Mills’ vice.