The streets were oddly quiet for the time of day. I had promised a street vendor that I would come back to buy a pineapple today. I had intended to keep that promise but it wasn’t the real reason I was in the streets this evening.

President Mills is the first President of the 4th Republic of Ghana and the first to die while in office. I had to see how a nation would react in those first moments after hearing the news. Some seemed confused, others stood in shops discussing the situation. Still others seemed to go on about their business perhaps not hearing the news yet. A cab driver stopped to talk about the situation as we approached the taxi station by our house. He said that president Mills was a good man, a peaceful man. I won’t make a judgment of character for a man I have only known existed for a handful of days, but it is obvious he was important politically.

Having been sick with cancer, the president did not make many public appearances any more. Still Ghana seems shocked by the death despite the nature of his illness. For us obrunies (foreigners) it means being especially mindful of what we say and how we act. As the cab driver told us, “Our president is dead, you should sympathize with us before you go.”