The man Prof. John Evans Atta Mills

Professor John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, 68, was born July 21, 1944 in Tarkwa in the Western Region of Ghana.

Prof Mills is a Fante from Ekumfi Otuam in the Central Region of Ghana. He attended Achimota School, where he completed the Advanced-Level Certificate in 1963 and proceeded to the University of Ghana, Legon.

In 1968, he studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and received a PhD in Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London at the age of 27 after completing his doctoral thesis in the area of taxation and economic development.

Mills’ first formal teaching assignment was as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana Legon where he spent over 20 years teaching. He rose to become a senior lecturer  and then associate professor. He served and served on numerous boards and committees including football club Accra Hearts of Oak. He was also an avid hockey player and active in sports.

In 1971, he was selected for the Fulbright Scholar programme at Stanford Law School in the United States of America.

The Late Prof. Mills was a visiting professor of Temple Law School (Philadelphia, USA), with two stints from 1978 to 1979, and 1986 to 1987, and was a visiting professor at Leiden University (Holland) from 1985 to 1986. During this period, he authored several publications relating to taxation during the 1970s & 1980s.

Prof. Mills became acting Commissioner of the country’s then Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from 1986 to 1993, and the substantive Commissioner from 1993 to 1996.

Mills became Ghana’s Vice President from 1996 to 2000 when then President Jerry John Rawlings picked him as a running mate. The late Kow Nkensen Arkaah was Mr Rawlings’ Vice President in 1992.

In 2000, Mills became the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s candidate for the 2000 Presidential elections where he lost to ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

In December 2002, John Atta Mills was re-elected by the NDC to be its flagbearer and lead the party into the 2004 elections. He lost again to JA Kufuor.

But in December 2006, Mills again became the NDC’s candidate for the 2008 presidential elections.

The first round of voting occurred on December 7, 2008. In a very close result amongst all parties, Nana Akufo-Addo’s NPP finished with 49.13% of the vote, close to the outright margin required to win in the first round, while Mills’ NDC finished with 47.92%. The other parties garnered 2.37% of the votes.

The result forced a second-round of voting between the NPP and NDC which was held December 28, 2008.

The result was a slim margin held by Mills, but due to problems with the distribution of ballots, the Tain constituency, located in the Brong-Ahafo Region, was forced to re-run its voting on January 2, 2009. The voting in the Tain constituency led to a landslide victory to the NDC.

The Electoral Commission on January 3, 2009 pronounced John Atta-Mills as winner of the 2008 presidential election, becoming the third President of the 4th Republic of Ghana on January 7, 2012.

He was married to Ernestina Naadu Mills, an educationist and he was the brother of Dr Cadman Mills. He has a son.

President Mills died today July 24, 2012 at the country’s military hospital the 37 Military Hospital, a statement from the Presidency said. He has been ill for some time now.

The country’s Parliament will swear-in the Vice President John Dramani Mahama this evening.

Meanwhile, Ghana will have general elections December 2012.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi & Ekow Quandzie