Former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and Renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has eulogized the legacy of late president John Evans Atta Mills.

He. made the revelation while delivering the 14th John Evans Atta Mills Commemorative Anniversary Lecture in Accra on the topic, “President John Evans Atta Mills, Fourteen Years On.”

Prof. Frimpong Boateng disclosed that although he was dismissed twice from public office by the late former President John Evans Atta Mills, he still holds him in high esteem, describing him as a man of integrity, compassion and genuine goodness.

The lecture formed part of activities marking the 14th anniversary of the passing of the former President and to celebrate his legacies.

Recounting his experiences, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said the first dismissal came in January 2009 when he was removed as Chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).

According to him, he learned of his dismissal through a radio announcement, one of the earliest official broadcasts of the Mills administration.

“I learned, along with the rest of the country, that I had been removed as Chairman of the Public Utility Regulatory Commission, a chairmanship that had, until that broadcast, been widely regarded as exemplary,” he said.

He said the second dismissal came more than two years later when he received a letter from the then Minister for Health dated August 25, 2011, terminating his appointment at the National Cardiothoracic Centre.

According to Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, President Mills personally visited the National Cardiothoracic Centre at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on August 30, 2011, accompanied by the then Chairman of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Board, to satisfy himself that he had vacated his office.

The renowned surgeon explained that he deliberately recounted the two dismissals to demonstrate that his tribute to the late President was not influenced by political loyalty or personal gain.

“I stand here tonight anyway. Not despite those two dismissals, but in a sense because of them; they are my credentials. A man who was removed twice by President Mills has no motive to flatter his memory. If I speak well of him, it is not because I owe him anything. It is because I knew him,” he stated.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng noted that he had known Professor Mills through three personal encounters eleven years before he became President, saying those meetings convinced him that the late leader was an ethical, compassionate and genuinely good man.

He, however, observed that the illness that eventually claimed President Mills’ life appeared to have affected his effectiveness in office, creating opportunities for some individuals within his administration to exploit his frailty for personal interests and to settle scores in his name.

“I know something else too, and I say it not to excuse but to explain. The illness that would eventually take his life appeared to have affected his effectiveness. As the presidency wore him down and his strength declined by degrees, there were some people in his administration who saw an opening and used his fragility to pursue their selfish agenda or settle scores that were never his to settle, in a name that was never truly theirs to invoke,” he said.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng was quick to clarify that he was not questioning the late President’s integrity, insisting that Professor Mills remained ethical and compassionate throughout his life.

He described the late President as a leader who lived by the biblical principles in Exodus 18:21, saying his public and private character were one and the same.

According to him, while President Mills possessed admirable personal qualities, the success of a presidency depended not only on the character of the President but also on the integrity of those around him.

“But goodness in a president is not self-executing. It does not, by itself, become honest and ethical governance because the man is not the system, and in Ghana, the character of those who surround a good man can undo everything his own character was built to achieve,” he stated.

He noted that the three meetings he had with Professor Mills before his presidency gave him a rare insight into the late leader’s personality, maintaining that the man Ghanaians knew publicly was the same humble, principled and compassionate individual he encountered in private.