L-R: The late Prof Atta Mills, Oliver Barker-Vormawor and President John Mahama
Private legal practitioner and civil activist Oliver Barker-Vormawor has revealed that he wrote the speech delivered by President John Dramani Mahama to Parliament following the passing of late president Professor John Evans Atta Mills in 2012.
According to him, Raymond Atuguba, who was close to the then Vice President, asked him to write the speech at a time when he was a student at the University of Ghana, Legon, preparing for law school.
Barker-Vormawor recounted that he received the request late at night and had to forgo sleep to complete the speech in time for President Mahama to deliver it the next morning in his address to Parliament and the nation.
“I’m most proud of John Mahama’s address to Parliament after Mills died because I wrote that speech. We didn’t know each other at the time, but Raymond Atuguba asked me to write it.
“I was in Legon, preparing to enter law school, so I had to write it overnight. I slept on the floor, speechwriting is hard,” he said in an interview with Kafui Dey.
He added that he was especially proud of the speech, describing it as the most bipartisan address he had ever heard, as it embodied a vision of national renewal in the wake of the president’s death.
“In that moment, I was channeling everything I believed into the speech. It’s the most bipartisan address I’ve ever heard. I felt that Mills’ death should offer us a chance for renewal, my own aspirations and hopes poured into that document,” he noted.
President Atta Mills passed away on July 24, 2012, at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, just three days after his 68th birthday. Then-Vice President John Mahama was sworn in as President and later won the 2012 general elections.
Watch Barker-Vormawor’s remarks in the video below:
Political Activist Oliver Barker-Vormawor highlights his work with prominent leaders, particularly drafting H. E John Mahama’s parliamentary address, after the death of the late Former President, John Evans Atta Mills, considering it as his most notable achievement. pic.twitter.com/d00rpv4M5S
— SIKAOFFICIAL🦍 (@SIKAOFFICIAL1) May 17, 2025
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