John Evans Atta Mills

President

Date of Birth: 21/07/1944
Place of Birth: Tarkwa, Western region

Married to Ernestina Naadu, one child

Education: A Levels, Achimota School, Accra, 1963; LLB University of Ghana, Legon, 1967;  PhD, Law, School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS), University of London, United Kingdom, 1971; Fulbright Scholar, Stanford Law School, United States.

Career: Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana; Acting Commissioner, Inland Revenue Service (IRS), 1988; Substantive Commissioner, IRS, 1993; Vice-President, Office of the President of Ghana, 1997-2001; President of Ghana, 2009 to date.

Commentary: The President is basking in the reflected glory of US President Barack Obama’s first official visit to Sub-Saharan African. Ghana is a favourite with African-American tourists and Mills wants to attract serious American investment, both in the new oil and gas industry and in the lacklustre manufacturing sector.

Soft-spoken Mills is a total contrast to preceding National Democratic Congress (NDC) President, Jerry John Rawlings. Managing relations with Rawlings and his powerful NDC supporters calls for special skills. So far Mills’s self-effacing style has gone down well, but his apparent lack of toughness could be problematic if the world’s economic crisis prompts social protests.

Mills won the 2008 elections with just 40,000 more votes than his rival, Nana Akufo-Addo, and has been struggling to stabilise the economy. He aims for a technically strong and less politically partisan government, with a new economic advisory committee bringing in experts from business and academia to help coordinate government strategy.