Et af de lande i Afrika, der historisk set har stærkest tilknytning til Danmark – det gamle Guldkysten, nu Ghana – har mistet sit statsoverhoved, en politisk overlever, der stillede op til præsidentposten igen og igen og vandt til sidst.
Ghana’s President John Atta Mills, who was suffering from throat cancer (strubekræft), has died in hospital in the capital, Accra, BBC online reports Tuesday.
68-year-old Atta Mills had ruled the West African country since 2009.
For the past three or four years there’s been news he’s been unwell and rumours of his death – twice – and he appeared with grim humour to say they were exaggerated, insisting he was well”
The leader had complained of pains on Monday evening and died on Tuesday afternoon.
He had recently returned to Ghana after visiting the US for medical checks.
Vice-President John Dramani Mahama was sworn in as president later Tuesday in line with Ghana’s constitution.
Mr Atta Mills came to power after narrowly winning against a candidate from the then governing New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo-Addo, in polls in December 2008.
His predecessor, John Kufuor, had to step down after having served the maximum permitted two four-year terms.
It was Mr Mills’ third attempt to win the presidency, after defeat in 2000 and 2004 to Mr Kufuor. He was to run for a second term in December.
President Atta Mills was known to his supporters as “The Prof” – a reference to his long academic career.
Mr Atta Mills graduated in law at the University of Ghana in 1967 before studying further at the London School of Economics and receiving a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies.
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 Mr Nkrumah and Mr Rawlings.
Once in power he started an austerity programme and presided over the country’s first commercial oil production, promising that – unlike some African countries – his government would spend the newfound oil revenue responsibly, BBC notes.
Om den nye præsident
(uddrag fra internet-leksikonnet Wikipedia)
John Dramani Mahama, born 29 November 1958, is a communication expert, historian, writer, former Member of Parliament and Minister of State and former Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana.
Mahama was born in Damango, which is in the Northern Region of Ghana. His father Mr. Emmanuel Adama Mahama was the first Member of Parliament for the West Gonja Constituency and the first Regional Commissioner of the Northern Region during Ghana’s First Republic.
From 1991 to 1996, he worked as the Information, Culture and Research Officer at the Embassy of Japan in Accra. From there he moved to the nongovernmental agency (NGO) PLAN International’s Ghana Country Office, where he worked as International Relations, Sponsorship Communications and Grants Manager.
An eloquent champion of the underprivileged, Mahama was first elected to the Parliament of Ghana in 1996, and in April 1997, Mr. Mahama was appointed Deputy Minister of Communications.
He rose to become the substantive Minister of Communications by November 1998; it was a position he held until January 2001 when the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which was the current ruling party, handed over power to the newly elected New Patriotic Party’s government.
In 2000, Mahama was re-elected for another four-year term as the Member of Parliament for the Bole/Bamboi Constituency. He was again re-elected in 2004 for a third term.
Continuing to expand his interest and involvement in international affairs, in 2003 Mr. Mahama became a member of the Pan-African Parliament, serving as the Chairperson of the West African Caucus. In 2005 he was, additionally, appointed the Minority Spokesman for Foreign Affairs. He served in these capacities until 2008, when he was handpicked to become the vice presidential candidate.
He is a Christian who believes in the importance of respect for, and tolerance of, other faiths and forms of worship in a nation as diverse and peaceful as Ghana. He has a keen interest in environmental affairs, particularly the problem of plastic pollution in Africa, which he has committed himself to addressing during his tenure as Vice President.
His first book, My First Coup d’État and Other True Stories From the Lost Decades of Africa, was published by Bloomsbury on July 3, 2012.
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