Press reports on President Mills' death

As Ghana mourns president, focus turns to election race - Reuters

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana has seen a smooth transition of power after the sudden death of its president, but as the nation mourns attention is already turning to who will replace him as the ruling party's candidate in a December vote.

Vice-President John Dramani Mahama was sworn in hours after the announcement of the death through sudden illness on Tuesday of 68-year-old President John Atta Mills.

This ensured that the West African oil, gold and cocoa producer, a former British colony once known as the Gold Coast, avoided the kind of messy political transitions that have plagued other states in a coup-prone region.

Ghanaians congratulated themselves on the seamless handover. Mahama, 53, a historian, former minister and communications expert, is expected to bring a steady hand to a fast-growing economy, one of Africa's newest oil producers.

But questions over who will now step into Mills' shoes as the candidate to keep his governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in power in December's elections will inject some uncertainty into the political outlook.

Analysts say this could drive down the Ghanaian currency, which has lost about 17 percent against the dollar this year as the country's oil-fuelled boom sucks in capital and consumer imports and drives up demand for dollars to pay for them.

Traders said the cedi was relatively stable on Wednesday at 1.9550/1.9600 to the dollar.

"Political disruption is likely to be internal and will focus on who is the NDC's presidential nominee," said Azim Datardina, Ghana analyst at Africa Risk Consulting.

Mills, seeking a second term despite having suffered for years from undisclosed health problems, had already won his party's nomination to run against the opposition New Patriotic Party's Nana Akufo-Addo, defeating a divisive challenge from the wife of still influential former president Jerry Rawlings.

"This was certainly the wrong time for him to go considering that we have elections right around the corner," Rawlings told the BBC on Wednesday.

"Quite frankly, had he been advised and done something wiser earlier, I think he could have survived for another six or seven months," he said.

Some analysts expect Nana Konadu, Rawlings' wife whom Mills crushed in the NDC primaries, to claim an automatic nomination.

But Alban Bagbin, Ghana's health minister and a member of the NDC legal team, said the party would hold an extraordinary meeting to pick a new candidate for what is expected to be a tight race for the presidency.

"Most likely is a new nomination contest with a number of high-profile challengers who earlier balked at opposing Mills. A likely candidate is John Mahama," said Africa Risk Consulting's Datardina.

GHANA "LOST A FATHER"

Flags flew at half mast on Wednesday as the nation began a week of national mourning for Mills, who had served as president since winning a 2008 presidential contest that won plaudits for going down to the wire but remaining peaceful.

"I am personally devastated - I've lost a father, I've lost a friend, I've lost a mentor and a senior comrade," Mahama said in his first comments after being sworn in before a sombre parliament on Tuesday evening.

"The fine gentleman that he was, President Mills rightly earned the title 'Asomdwehene' (King of Peace). He brought a distinctive insight to Ghanaian politics. He remained humble, honest and modest throughout his years in public service."

That sense of loss was shared by ordinary Ghanaians too.

"I didn't know him personally but he's everybody's father and a peacemaker," said Peter Fiave, a 70-year-old who went to parliament to witness the swearing-in of Mahama.

Tributes poured in from around the globe from heads of state including U.S. President Barack Obama, who had feted Ghana under Mills as a model and "good news story" for Africa.

Rivals were quick to praise the nation's handling of the sudden loss. "We are showing a maturity that must encourage all Ghanaians," said opposition NPP Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey.

CORRUPTION, EXPECTATIONS

Mahama, fresh from a U.S. tour to promote a recently published personal memoir on Ghana's history, is widely expected to maintain current policies in his caretaker role.

Yet, amid the plaudits for his predecessor, he will inherit the same struggles Mills had faced in managing Ghanaians' high expectations over the flow of crude from the country's Jubilee oil field since 2010, and in tackling corruption scandals that have dogged the NDC administration.

"Given the above, recent momentum has favoured the NPP. Ghanaians also have a history of evicting the ruling party at the ballot box in favour of the opposition," Standard Bank said in a research note on Wednesday.

"Much will hinge on the manner in which the NDC is able to swiftly elect a replacement presidential candidate. Infighting already poses a significant threat to party unity, and any signs of an exacerbation of these tensions will favour the opposition," it said.

Former president Rawlings offered a glimpse of the kind of bad blood that exists within the party when he appeared to criticise Mills' achievements in office in the BBC interview.

"Considering that the cancer affected both his eye and his ear, he couldn't sustain more than three hours per day. So it was naturally going to affect his performance," Rawlings said.

Ahead of Mills' death, most analysts had expected a year of election spending testing Ghana's reputation for improved economic management. The government last week sought parliament's permission for extra spending.

"We think heightened uncertainty will result in some foreign investors taking a wait-and-see stance, which would imply a slowdown in FX inflows, which in turn would be negative for the already troubled cedi," Renaissance Capital said.

"We think another 5-10 percent depreciation is likely by (the end of 2012)," it said.

(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley in Johannesburg and Joe Bavier in Abidjan; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)

Ghana mourns after sudden death of president - Arab News

ACCRA: Ghana was thrown into mourning yesterday after the sudden death of President John Atta Mills five months ahead of elections in the country seen as a bastion of democracy in west Africa.

Mills’ death on Tuesday after falling ill led to vice president John Dramani Mahama being sworn in hours later to finish out his term, as dictated by the constitution in the country which recently became a large-scale oil producer.

The cause of death was not given, but the 68-year-old had recently traveled to the United States for what was officially a routine medical checkup and there were unconfirmed reports in local media that he had suffered from throat cancer.

His death raised a host of political questions to be resolved over the coming weeks, as Mills had been set to seek re-election in the December vote in Ghana, also a major producer of cocoa and gold. There was widespread speculation that Mahama would now run, but the ruling party has been divided in recent months and it was not clear whether there would be a challenge for the nomination.

Political questions were however temporarily put aside on Wednesday, as calls for unity and tributes to Mills, a law professor turned politician widely lauded for his integrity, filled the airwaves and newspapers.

The main opposition New Patriotic Party suspended its presidential campaign while Mahama declared a week of mourning, with flags flown at half-mast. “I call on all Ghanaians to stand united in this moment of national loss and grief ...,” the opposition party’s candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, said in a statement. Worldwide tributes also poured in, including from US President Barack Obama, who chose Ghana for his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president in 2009.

“President Mills tirelessly worked to improve the lives of the Ghanaian people,” Obama said in a statement.

“He helped promote economic growth in Ghana in the midst of challenging global circumstances and strengthened Ghana’s strong tradition of democracy.”

It was not clear when the funeral would be held. The ruling party was expected to meet to plot a way forward, particularly regarding the presidential campaign.

While Mills was praised for his honesty, he had also faced criticism in recent months for what was seen as a lack of initiative.

“He was well liked, but there was also a sense of variable performance and that maybe there was a lack of energy,” said Alex Vines of London-based think tank Chatham House’s Africa program.

Vines said that may have been due to his health problems. Mills had recently shown signs of illness, including losing his voice and a gradual loss of weight.

The former law professor took over as Ghana’s president in January 2009 after falling short in two previous campaigns.

n FROM: Agence France Presse

He narrowly won the vote in 2008 with a less than one percent margin against a candidate from the party of incumbent John Kufuor, widely respected for having bowed out following his two terms in office.

In July last year, Mills was nominated to be the NDC’s presidential candidate for the December vote. The primary represented the first time in the country’s history that a sitting president competed for his own party’s nomination.

Mills beat his only rival in the party primary, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, the wife of ex-military leader Jerry Rawlings.

The Rawlings family expressed their condolences in a statement which said they were currently attending an event in Brazzaville. A formal statement would be issued upon their return, it said.

Ghana, a country of some 25 million people, joined the ranks of the world’s large-scale oil producers in December 2010.

The country has begun producing oil from its offshore Jubilee field, one of the largest discoveries in west Africa in recent years. The field’s operator Tullow has estimated that the field’s recoverable resources amount to up to one billion barrels.

Dead, Again, in Ghana - New York Times

All summer Ghana’s capital, Accra, swirled with rumors of John Atta Mills’s ill health and death. The Ghanian president was rarely seen in public, except when a Nigerian cargo plane crash landed in early June at the airport in Accra killing 10 people.

After he toured the site, Mr. Mills retreated from public view, leaving his vice president, John Dramani Mahama, to attend public functions.

In barbershops and at roadside chop bars, and even on Facebook, speculation that he was near dead was rife, much to the chagrin of his media team who quickly called local journalists to the airport to see him off on a previously unscheduled trip to New York.

The photo-op, in which Mr. Mills declared he was not dead, only fueled the fire.

Still, Ghana’s minister for information, Fritz Baffour, told Rendezvous late last month that Mr. Mill’s health was fine except for the normal aches and pains of an aging former athlete.

“He has all the problems of old jocks,” the aide said. “He’s going into a very torturous circuit of campaigning. There’s no cause for alarm.”

He attributed the rumors to political opponents.

At the end of June, after a 10-trip consulting with doctors in New York, Mr. Mills jogged off a Delta Airlines flight into throngs of supporters, the picture of health. Then, on Tuesday came the news that he had lost his battle with throat cancer.

His untimely death isn’t likely to throw the country into a crisis but in the months ahead, its democratic institutions will be tested.

The fear in Ghana is that chaos could reign in a way that was averted four years ago, when Mr. Mills — who was known for his peaceful stabilizing influence — won the presidency by a razor-thin margin after a hard-fought campaign.

One of his nicknames was “King of Peace,” and he wasn’t an aggressive, in-your-face- politician. That played a role in the effort to keep the country from falling into the kind of post-election clashes that have occurred in other countries in the region.

Mr. Mills, 68, was to have run for re-election this December against the same person he narrowly beat in 2008, Nana Akufo-Addo.

He had secured the nomination of his party, the National Democratic Congress, to run for a second term, after beating back a primary challenge by a popular former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings.

Ms. Agyemang-Rawlings and her husband, Jerry, were once staunch Mills supporters. Mr. Mills once served as a vice president to Mr. Rawlings. But recently, the Rawlings turned against him, accusing his team of mismanagement.

While Mr. Mills handily defeated the former first lady in the primaries, analysts have told reporters that they expect her to claim an automatic nomination now that he has died.

But not everyone is keen on another Rawlings leading Ghana.

Alban Bagbin, Ghana’s health minister and a member of the NDC legal team, told Reuters the party will hold an extraordinary meeting to select a new candidate, including other high-profile leaders who may not have wanted to challenge Mr. Mills.

Mr. Mills oversaw the transformation of Ghana into an oil exporting country. He worked out a controversial $3-billion loan from China to speed up infrastructure development and secured a $600-million three-year loan from the International Monetary Fund in 2009.

During his tenure, the Ghanaian currency, the cedi, lost value.

Mr. Mills was also somewhat of a darling to the United States. President Barack Obama visited Ghana in 2009 to show support for Mr. Mills and invited him to the White House, Camp David and the G20 summit in Chicago this year.

He hailed him as a “strong advocate for human rights and for the fair treatment of all Ghanians.”

Mr. Akufo-Addo, who was already campaigning against Mr. Mills, and is also quite popular, has a significant head start on whoever his eventual opponent will be in December. Part of his summer was spent traveling and meeting world leaders.

Other candidates could be John Dramani Mahama, 53, Mr. Mills’s vice president, who was sworn in as president hours after Mr. Mills’s death.

If Mr. Mahama is a candidate, he won’t have the luxury of time to show how he differs from Mr. Mills as some other vice presidents who succeeded their fallen principals have.

Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as president in 2010 after Umaru Yar’Adua died. And Malawi’s Bingu wa Mutharika and Guinea’s Malam Bacai Sanha died in office this year after proclaiming their health was fine.

Ghana with its population or 24 million remains one of the more stable countries in West Africa. A major cocoa producer, it has had a good record of power changing hands peacefully. Many will look to see if that tradition continues this year.

Ghana mourns president, focus turns to poll race - Gulf Times

Ghana has seen a smooth transition of power after the sudden death of its president, but as the nation mourns, attention is already turning to who will replace him as the ruling party’s candidate in a December vote.

Vice-President John Dramini Mahama was sworn in hours after the announcement of the death through sudden illness on Tuesday of 68-year-old President John Atta Mills.

This ensured that the West African oil, gold and cocoa producer, a former British colony once known as the Gold Coast, avoided the kind of messy political transitions that have plagued other states in a coup-prone region.

Ghanaians congratulated themselves on the seamless handover.

Mahama, 53, a historian, former minister and communications expert, is expected to bring a steady hand to a fast-growing economy, one of Africa’s newest oil producers.

But questions over who will now step into Mills’ shoes as the candidate to keep his governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in power in December’s elections will inject some uncertainty into the political outlook.

Analysts say this could drive down the Ghanaian currency, which has lost about 17% against the dollar this year as the country’s oil-fuelled boom sucks in capital and consumer imports and drives up demand for dollars to pay for them. Traders said the cedi was relatively stable yesterday at 1.9550/1.9600 to the greenback.

“Political disruption is likely to be internal and will focus on who is the NDC’s presidential nominee,” said Azim Datardina, Ghana analyst at Africa Risk Consulting.

Mills, seeking a second term despite having suffered for years from undisclosed health problems, had already won his party’s nomination to run against the opposition New Patriotic Party’s Nana Akufo-Addo, defeating a divisive challenge from the wife of still influential ex-president Jerry Rawlings.

Some analysts expect Nana Konadu, Rawlings’ wife whom Mills crushed in the NDC primaries, to claim an automatic nomination.

But Alban Bagbin, Ghana’s health minister and a member of the NDC legal team, said the party would hold an extraordinary meeting to pick a new candidate for what is expected to be a tight race for the presidency.

“Most likely is a new nomination contest with a number of high-profile challengers who earlier balked at opposing Mills. A likely candidate is John Mahama,” said Africa Risk Consulting’s Datardina.

Flags flew at half-mast yesterday as the nation began a week of national mourning for Mills, who had served as president since winning a 2008 presidential contest that won plaudits for going down to the wire but remaining peaceful.

“I am personally devastated - I’ve lost a father, I’ve lost a friend, I’ve lost a mentor and a senior comrade,” Mahama said in his first comments after being sworn in before a sombre parliament on Tuesday evening.

“The fine gentleman that he was, President Mills rightly earned the title ‘Asomdwehene’ (King of Peace). He brought a distinctive insight to Ghanaian politics. He remained humble, honest and modest throughout his years in public service.”

That sense of loss was shared by ordinary Ghanaians too.

“I didn’t know him personally but he’s everybody’s father and a peacemaker,” said Peter Fiave, a 70-year-old who went to parliament to witness the swearing-in of Mahama.

Tributes poured in from around the globe from heads of state like US President Barack Obama, who had feted Ghana under Mills as a model and “good news story” for Africa.

Rivals were quick to praise the nation’s handling of the sudden loss. “We are showing a maturity that must encourage all Ghanaians,” said opposition NPP Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey.

Mahama, fresh from a US tour to promote a recently published personal memoir on Ghana’s history, is widely expected to maintain current policies in his caretaker role.

Yet, amid the plaudits for his predecessor, he will inherit the same struggles Mills had faced in managing Ghanaians’ high expectations over the flow of crude from the country’s Jubilee oil field since 2010, and in tackling corruption scandals that have dogged the NDC administration.

“Given the above, recent momentum has favoured the NPP. Ghanaians also have a history of evicting the ruling party at the ballot box in favour of the opposition,” Standard Bank said in a research note yesterday.

“Much will hinge on the manner in which the NDC is able to swiftly elect a replacement presidential candidate. Infighting already poses a significant threat to party unity, and any signs of an exacerbation of these tensions will favour the opposition,” it added.

Ahead of Mills’ death, most analysts had expected a year of election spending testing Ghana’s reputation for improved economic management. The government last week sought parliament’s permission for extra spending.

“We think heightened uncertainty will result in some foreign investors taking a wait-and-see stance, which would imply a slowdown in FX inflows, which in turn would be negative for the already troubled cedi,” Renaissance Capital said.

“We think another 5% to 10% depreciation is likely by (the end of 2012),” it added.

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