IRIN profiles of leading candidates in presidential run-off

Counting is still going on in Ghana after Thursday’s run-off election for a successor to outgoing President Jerry Rawlings from contestants of the ruling National Democratic Congress and the opposition New Patriotic Party. The following is a profile of the two contenders, John Atta-Mills and John Kufuor: JOHN EVANS ATTA-MILLS, 56, of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), is a former law professor. He has served as vice president under President Rawlings since the 1996 presidential election. Mills obtained his law degree from the University of Ghana in 1966 and also received degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the School of Oriental African Studies, University of London. During that time he was selected as a Fulbright scholar at Stanford Law School in the United States. He was a lecturer in tax law at Ghana University’s faculty of law from 1971-1980. Mills is the chairman of the government’s Economic Management Team, which could have hurt him in the election, given Ghana’s recent economic woes. He served as commissioner at Ghana’s Internal Revenue Service for several years before becoming the surprise selection as the vice presidential candidate to Rawlings in 1996. Before then, he was hardly known beyond the circles of Ghana’s academia. He is an avid hockey fan and is reported to be a talented player. JOHN AGYEKUM KUFUOR, 62, of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), is a businessman who has served as a parliamentarian and government minister, including a post as deputy minister of foreign affairs. He lost his first bid for the presidency in 1996 to Rawlings. Kufuor studied at Lincoln Inn, London’s law school, and attended Oxford University. He began his career as a private legal practitioner in 1965 and served as city manager and chief legal officer of the Kumasi City Council from 1967 to 1969. He served as a parliamentarian during the assembly that wrote the 1969 constitution and the one that wrote the 1979 constitution. He was in detention twice following military coups. He was a founding member of the Progress Party in 1969, the Popular Front Party in 1979 and the New Patriotic Party. He was the chairman of Asante Kotoko Football Club from 1988 to 1991. He has also served on a number of boards, including those of the Ashanti Brick and Construction Company, and Cojak Company Limited.