Remembering Ghana’s President John Atta Mills

Today, Ghana lost her President, John Atta Mills to a brief illness.

President Mills had ruled Ghana since 2009

President Mills began his career as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana, Legon. He consequently spent about 25 years teaching at the university and at other institutions of higher education quickly rising from the position of lecturer to Associate Professor. He was a Visiting Lecturer as well as a Professor at numerous universities around the world including the London School of Economics.

Professor Mills served as the Acting Commissioner of Ghana’s Internal Revenue Service from 1986 to 1993, and the substantive Commissioner from 1993 to 1996. He was also a Fulbright scholar at Stanford Law School.

In 2000, he became the Presidential Candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) after the Rawlings administration. He was however defeated by President John Kufuor. He contested again for the Presidency in2002 but was once again defeated by President Kufuor.

In December 2006, he once again became the Presidential Candidate for the NDC for the 2008 Presidential elections. This time, he beat Nana Akufo Addo of the New Patriotic Party to become the third President of the Republic of Ghana.

President Mills oversaw the naton’s start of oil production. He is survived by his wife, Ernestina Naadu Mills and a son, Sam Kofi Atta Mills.