Ghana’s president John Atta Mills dies at age 68.
Ghana’s President John Atta Mills died suddenly on Tuesday at the age
of 68 just hours after being taken ill, Chief of Staff of the West
African nation, John Henry Martey Newman, announced. The president died
in the afternoon hours after announcing to parliament that he was
leaving for Nigeria. He is said to have died from an acute cardiac
arrest.
A statement sent from the Presidency, Chief of Staff John Henry Martey Newman, said, “It is with a heavy heart and deep sorrow that we announce the sudden untimely death of the President of the Republic of Ghana - His Excellency, John Evans Atta Mills. “The death occurred at the 37 Military Hospital this afternoon while receiving medical attention after being taken ill a few hours ago”.
The parliament has began arrangement to swear in Vice President John Mahama as the new president as at press time. Presidential elections are set for December in a country seen as a rare example of stable democracy in West Africa. Mills was to be the ruling party’s candidate. The late president had recently traveled to the United States for what had been described as a routine medical checkup.
Mills took over as Ghana’s president in January 2009. 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 ruling National Democratic Congress party’s presidential candidate for December 2012 elections. 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. Mills rose to prominence in 1997 when Rawlings named him vice president -- a position he held until the former coup leader-turned-elected president made way for Kufuor after the 2000 elections. After finishing his law studies in Britain, Mills came home to teach law for 25 years at a Ghana university.
Ghana, a country of some 25 million people, recently joined the ranks of the world’s large-scale oil producers. It was the country chosen by Barack Obama for his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as US president in 2009. 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.
While Ghana has been widely lauded for its democratic credentials, its newly found oil wealth has brought with it warnings of the so-called resource curse, with many pointing to nearby Nigeria as an example. Meanwhile President Goodluck Jonathan has joined other world leaders in mourning late Mills. Jonathan in a statement signed by his special adviser on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, said he received the news of Mills’ death “with shock and immense sadness.”
“On behalf of himself, the government and people of Nigeria, President Jonathan extends sincere condolences to late President Mills’ family as well as the government and people of Ghana.” The President also assured the people of Ghana of the sympathy and solidarity of the people of Nigeria as they mourn late President Mills.
Ghana’s president John Atta Mills dies at age 68.
A statement sent from the Presidency, Chief of Staff John Henry Martey Newman, said, “It is with a heavy heart and deep sorrow that we announce the sudden untimely death of the President of the Republic of Ghana - His Excellency, John Evans Atta Mills. “The death occurred at the 37 Military Hospital this afternoon while receiving medical attention after being taken ill a few hours ago”.
The parliament has began arrangement to swear in Vice President John Mahama as the new president as at press time. Presidential elections are set for December in a country seen as a rare example of stable democracy in West Africa. Mills was to be the ruling party’s candidate. The late president had recently traveled to the United States for what had been described as a routine medical checkup.
Mills took over as Ghana’s president in January 2009. 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 ruling National Democratic Congress party’s presidential candidate for December 2012 elections. 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. Mills rose to prominence in 1997 when Rawlings named him vice president -- a position he held until the former coup leader-turned-elected president made way for Kufuor after the 2000 elections. After finishing his law studies in Britain, Mills came home to teach law for 25 years at a Ghana university.
Ghana, a country of some 25 million people, recently joined the ranks of the world’s large-scale oil producers. It was the country chosen by Barack Obama for his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as US president in 2009. 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.
While Ghana has been widely lauded for its democratic credentials, its newly found oil wealth has brought with it warnings of the so-called resource curse, with many pointing to nearby Nigeria as an example. Meanwhile President Goodluck Jonathan has joined other world leaders in mourning late Mills. Jonathan in a statement signed by his special adviser on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, said he received the news of Mills’ death “with shock and immense sadness.”
“On behalf of himself, the government and people of Nigeria, President Jonathan extends sincere condolences to late President Mills’ family as well as the government and people of Ghana.” The President also assured the people of Ghana of the sympathy and solidarity of the people of Nigeria as they mourn late President Mills.
Ghana’s president John Atta Mills dies at age 68.
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