President Mills To Attend June 4 Show

Joseph Yammin, the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NDC, has stated that President John Evans Atta Mills doesn�t need to be formally invited to attend this year�s June 4 celebration taking place in Kumasi on Saturday. Yammin said President Mills had over the years been attending June 4 celebrations, irrespective of the venue so he expected him to do same this year. He however said unless the president would be attending to other pressing national issues on Saturday, then President Mills would grace the event whether invited or not. As this year�s June 4 celebrations draw near, political pundits in the country, especially in Kumasi, have been asking whether President Mills would grace the occasion or not. Sections of the NDC fans have said President Mills would attend the event but others who have different opinions insist the President would turn his back on the Rawlingses again. He has not been part of the show since he became president in January 2009. According to them, former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings� decision to contest President Mills for the party�s flagbeareship slot would further deter the president from gracing the event. When asked by Daily Guide whether a formal invitation of the event would be sent to President Mills, Yammin noted that he was not privy to that information since he was not part of the June 4 celebration committee. According to him, President Mills had in the past played leading roles including giving moving speeches during June 4 events, therefore June 4 matters were not new to the president. He has even been decorated during previous June 4 celebrations, particularly when he was a vice president under Mr Rawlings. He said that every true NDC member would turn up for the June 4 celebration whether invited or not, adding, �This has been the norm in the past and I think the trend will continue on Saturday.� Yammin stated emphatically that June 4 was among the events duly recognized and celebrated by the party so he expected every true NDC member to be present. �June 4 is among the days that is recognized and celebrated in the NDC as enshrined in the Article 51 of the NDC,� Yammin stated and said nobody in the party could underestimate the importance of June 4. �Just as the NDC constitution recognizes May Day, June 10 as the founding day of the NDC, 31st December as Revolutionary Day, so does the NDC constitution recognize June 4 as accountability day,� Yammin explained. He stressed that any NDC member that objected to the celebration of June 4 was not a true NDC member, insisting that June 4 had been held in high esteem by the NDC in the past and so shall it remain till the end of the world. According to Yammin, the NDC celebrated June 4 annually even during opposition days so he did not see why the party should toy with such a great event whilst in power. As far as he was concerned, he said, the entire Ashanti Regional NDC and supporters from across the country were heading to Kumasi this Saturday to make the event grand. June 4 was last celebrated in the Ashanti region at the Teachers Hall in 2008 and it was attended by party gurus like Babara Asamoah of GAME who even delivered a speech on the day. Former President Rawlings, during Nana Konadu�s campaign launch for the NDC flagbearership slot in Accra, vowed to unleash a bombshell about the lackluster leadership skills being displayed by the Mills administration. Residents of Kumasi are therefore looking forward to the event to hear the verbal missiles that Mr. Rawlings and his lieutenants like Herbert Mensah and Kofi Adams would throw at President Mills and his group of ministers.