Ghana opposition leader wins presidential election

ACCRA, SATURDAY

It was third time lucky for John Atta Mills as he became president-elect of Ghana after two failed attempts.

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) might have been forgiven if its faith in him had wavered after he lost twice – against President John Kufuor in 2000 and 2004.

But the NDC was eventually vindicated after overwhelmingly nominating Mills again, ahead of three other contenders, as the party flag-bearer in the presidential elections at the end of 2008.

He narrowly lost the first round vote in December against the then-governing New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, who did not pass the 50 per cent threshold needed for outright victory.

In the run-off election later that month Mills came out ahead of his rival by a wafer-thin margin.

But in a poll dogged by cries of foul play from both sides, it took a ballot re-run in the remote rural constituency of Tain before the opposition candidate was finally declared winner of the keys to Golden Jubilee House.

Mills served as vice-president to Jerry Rawlings between 1997 and January 2001 and had previously created a stir by saying that if elected, he would consult with the former president.

But in 2008 he distanced himself from Rawlings, even drawing criticism from his former boss for being too gentle with the NPP.

In contrast to the advertising billboards of his rival NPP candidate, Mills began his campaign with modest-sized signboards bearing the slogan "I Believe in Ghana".

He described himself as a social democrat who leaned broadly on independence leader Kwame Nkrumah’s idea of social welfare.

But he pitched a more inclusive and less polarising political platform than both Nkrumah and Rawlings.

"The Prof", as Mills is known, has pursued a long academic career.

He graduated in law at the University of Ghana in 1967 before pursuing his legal studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

He then won a Fulbright scholarship at Stanford Law School in the US.

He later returned to his alma mater the University of Ghana, where he taught for nearly 25 years.

He was national tax commissioner under Rawlings before being promoted to the vice-presidency. Mills and his centre-left NDC campaigned on a platform of change after eight years of NPP rule, though analysts say the two parties’ policies are broadly aligned. Corruption, including smuggling of cocaine and other drugs in which administration officials have been implicated will be one of the issue for president-elect to deal with.

– BBC