The Men Waiting in the Wings

Professor John Atta Mills, who has been vice-president since 1997, is the man most likely to succeed Jerry Rawlings as President of Ghana.

His nomination as a presidential candidate - publicly endorsed by the incumbent - is expected to be confirmed at the convention of the ruling National Democratic Congress.

This is scheduled to be held at Ho in the Volta region later this month in readiness for elections at the end of the year.

The professor acknowledges that he faces a difficult task trying to step into President Rawlings' shoes. He says: "It will be a hard example to follow. For a long time after his exit from the presidency, people will continue to regard him as the President, because in our tradition 'once a chief, always a chief'. But I think I have learnt quite a lot from him and I know that once he leaves office he will continue to provide help and support."

Professor John Atta Mills

It has been a rare privilege to work with Mr Rawlings, he says, adding that he would endeavour to continue a leadership committed to honesty, humanity and concern for the welfare of the people. It would be a leadership that would, moreover, promote unity, stability and the development of the nation.

Professor Atta Mills, 55, a Fante from the central region, was a late starter in frontline politics, having been a law lecturer for 25 years. During that time he was also head of the taxation service for a period, which, he says, gave him valuable experience in the public sector and enabled him to get to know leading figures in the private sector.

One of his main aims will be to promote the private sector as the engine of Ghana's economic growth. "We have not done as much for the private sector as we should. But now is the time, having dealt with the macro-economic problems and having created a congenial atmosphere for investment, to provide the private sector with the 'oil for their engines'," he says.

This all-important "oil" will include developing the right policies, providing access to credit, bringing down interest rates and maintaining an export-incentive programme.
He is also keen to pursue greater regional integration among the 270 million-strong population of West Africa. The various states compete unnecessarily for inward investment, he says. "We each have our strengths and weaknesses and by collaborating with each other we will be able to help ourselves.

"For quite some time we were divided into two clear blocks - Anglophone and Francophone. But the wall is crumbling." It is for this reason that Ghana's Government is talking seriously with Nigeria and other neighbouring countries.
"Ten years ago this would have been unheard of, but at least we are looking in this direction now.

"There is talk of a railway link between Ghana and Nigeria. We realise that there is a need for us to be together and to send the right signals to the whole world that we are serious." His toughest rival for the presidency is John Kufour, a lawyer with a laidback style and a passing resemblance to the American soap actor Bill Cosby.

Mr Kufour

In the 1996 presidential election, Mr Kufour, the candidate of the New Patriotic Party, won almost 40 per cent of the vote, a creditable showing against President Rawlings, who gained 57.5 per cent from a 75 per cent turnout.

Mr Kufour reckons that in the absence of the charismatic former flight-lieutenant, he stands more than an even chance of beating the professor.

"There is little difference between the parties on policy," he says. "The difference is in the credibility of the candidates and I think leadership will be the major issue.

"Succeeding an incumbent is not easy. But the reality is that everyone knows that this President is going and his successor within his own party will have to come over as his own person and withstand our competition. We are not overawed."

Mr Kufour, 61, from the Ashanti region, is a veteran of Ghana's politics. Called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1961, he took a BA in PPE at Exeter College, Oxford, in 1964 before returning to Ghana. After practising law for three years he became town clerk in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti region. Then, in 1969, after the three years of military rule following the fall of President Nkrumah, he was elected to parliament as a member of the Progressive Party of Dr Kofi Busia, the new civilian president.

He served as deputy foreign minister until 1972, when the Busia government was overthrown in the military coup led by Lieutenant-Colonel Ignatius Acheampong. After spending 15 months in detention, and with political parties banned, he earned his living in international trade. Then in 1979, when the new military leader Flight-Lieutenant Rawlings staged new elections, Mr Kufour returned to parliament and served as Opposition spokesman for foreign affairs and deputy minority leader.

After Rawlings's second coup in 1981 he was invited to become secretary of state for local government but resigned after seven months.

Dr Edward Mahoma

A third presidential candidate is Dr Edward Mahoma, of the People's National Convention - a coalition of groups that owe their political heritage to Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, and to the last civilian president, Dr Hilla Limann, who was in power for 27 months between the two Rawlings coups.

After graduating from the University of Ghana with a medical degree, Dr Mahoma practised medicine in the north of Ghana for three years before moving to the United States in 1975.

On his return to Ghana in 1996 he became a medical school lecturer in Accra and entered politics as an unsuccessful candidate in the 1996 presidential election.

Dr Mahoma, 55, says he could not have become a doctor if it was not for the the policies pursued by Nkrumah and advocates socialist policies which he calls "human centred government".

He also plans to campaign to bring back the thousands of Ghanaians living abroad, saying that of the 56 medical students in the class from which he graduated, only nine are still in the country.

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