Accra — John Atta Mills Vice-President of Ghana and the presidential candidate of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Professor John Evans Atta Mills, to give him his full name, was a lecturer in tax law at the University of Ghana at Legon, where he was known for his skill on the hockey pitch and his affable manner.
At 56, Mills is a few years older than President Jerry Rawlings and shot to fame, from relative obscurity as head of the Internal Revenue Service, when he became Rawlings vice-presidential running mate in the 1996 elections. The NDC won, despite allegations of vote-rigging by the opposition.
Mills lacks the charisma of his outgoing boss JJ Rawlings who is barred by the constitution from standing for a third term. So Mills, a Fante and generally regarded a gentleman, a skilled professional and a kindly technocrat, is facing tough competition from rival presidential candidates, especially the man considered the other frontrunner, John Kufuor of the National Patriotic Party (NPP).
His critics accuse of Mills of shedding his gentlemanly mantle during the election campaign and whipping off the gloves to enter in what has often been a bad-tempered scrum and war of words. But it appears that learning how to trade political insults is a necessary initiation for Ghanaian politicians in 2000.
While Mills has the advantage of being an incumbent number two, with access to the state apparatus, equally he has to shoulder the cumbersome and chequered legacy of the Rawlings years good and bad including the lamentable state of the economy, despite almost two decades of IMF/World Bank-imposed structural adjustment followed to the letter.
Mills has confessed, to use his own words, that it will be difficult to fill Jerry Rawlings shoes. He says Rawlings has a good record to stand by, so he will not be, to coin an appropriate cliché in this case, an easy act to follow. But Mills says after working alongside President Rawlings for the past four years, "I know what I m getting into, I know the programme and I know what has to be done."
John Agyekum Kufuor is the standard bearer of the main opposition National Patriotic Party (NPP).
This veteran politician first became a minister at the tender age of 30,when he served as deputy Foreign Ministerin the Kofi Busia government. Now, more than 30 years later, Kufuor, who tried and failed to become president in 1996, is hoping to succeed with this second shot at the top job.
A lawyer turned politician turned businessman and latterly presidential hopeful, Kufuor's NPP has suffered the perennial problem of the party out of power, not enough money for effective campaigning, publicity and advertising.
After a break from politics, Kufuor briefly joined the post 1981 coup Rawlings government, as Secretary for Local Government, but left for ideological reasons. His short romance with the then Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) does not appear to have tarnished his image as a true opponent of the former flight lieutenant.
Many say the presidential race will be the battle of the two Johns -- John Kufuor and John Atta Mills.
A tireless campaigner, JA Kufuor suffers from the same problem as JA Mills. Neither is an effortless crowd puller nor populist in the Rawlings mode. Neither sparkles like Rawlings. Some have even described John Kufuor s public persona as a little dull and boring.
But Kufuor is steady, determined and reliable, say his supporters, unlike President Rawlings who is often labeled unpredictable and erratic.
John Kufuor has questioned and rejected the much vaunted image of the charismatic Jerry Rawlings. He is not seen, by many of the average peoplein Ghana as that charismatic. Says Kufuor: "Yah, he made some impacts. He frightened the people out of their wits and he s leaving us all very poor. I m telling you, he is more a nightmare than a charisma."
Most commentators say that, with the imminent departure of Rawlings after 19 years in power, John Kufuor, at 61, stands his best chance ever, and perhaps his last chance, of becoming president, especially if the elections in Ghana go to a second round.
Augustus Goosie Tanoh is the presidential candidate for Ghana s National Reform Party (NRP).
At 44, he is the youngest of the 7 competing for the presidency of Ghana, and the one NDC Candidate and outgoing Vice-President, John Atta Mills, and the opposition NPP's John Kufuor both must watch out for.
Goosie , as Tanoh is known, heads the Reform Party which broke away from Jerry Rawlings NDC in 1999. Rawlings cited corruption and economic mismanagement, as well as no true democracy, when he launched his people s revolution in Ghana and first shot his way to power in the 1979 coup. Tanoh is now accusing his former mentor of the same violations.
Tanoh's Reform Party is considered to be the spoiler in the 2000 elections and is likely to take votes away from the governing party in the first round and force a second round run off. Analysts say undecided voters in Ghana may opt for Tanoh's party, because it offers them something new and untried and may represent a promise of true change.
Tanoh, like Kufuor, a lawyer, served under Rawlings and was a member of the Ghana mission at the United Nations in New York, later setting up his own business back home once the political ardour with the people's president cooled.
Reform has fashioned a different style of election campaigning in Ghana during its short existence. Conventional political rallies have been dropped in favour of what they call town meetings, consulting the people in their communities and villages, holding question and answer sessions in the most informal settings.
Tanoh s party leadership has capitalised on the disillusionment of grassroots party workers who were once thought to be the exclusive preserve of Jerry Rawlings. Having worked as young Rawlings activists in the past, Tanoh and his colleagues are familiar with the terrain and are taking full advantage of their knowledge.
While this year, Ghanaians do not expect Goosie Tanoh to win the race to the Castle at Osu in Accra (the seat of government and the home of the current president), many believe that the Reform Party is laying the groundwork for an even tougher election campaign in 2004.
Ghana s Reform Party is considered energetic, youthful and dynamic, though somewhat tarnished by its leaders former close association with Rawlings and his government. Tanoh has the advantage of appealing to both the illiterate and Ghana's intellectual elite.
Few people dismiss Goosie Tanoh as a political nine-day wonder. Many consider him an intelligent, confident and articulate possible future president of Ghana, with, importantly, a good grasp of economics.
Dan Lartey is standing as the presidential contender for the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP).
Lartey, who considers himself a follower of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first post independence leader, is the veteran in the field of 7 presidential candidates. He is 74, but Lartey's venerable age has not garnered him the support one would expect from respectful Ghanaians. Instead, Lartey has become something of a laughing stock and a joker, though he is a self-made man and a survivor who came to prominence as a labour unionist and publisher.
His oft-repeated political slogan on the hustings, which has become the butt of many jokes in Ghana, has been in with domestication, out with liberalisation. But his mantra has given Dan Lartey instant name recognition. Although he may have become a figure of ridicule, who has not been taken very seriously, Dan Lartey is talking issues.
By domestication , Lartey means favouring what is locally produced and strengthening the domestic economy, from agriculture to manufacturing -- for domestic and export markets. Grow what you eat and eat it, says Lartey calling for self-sufficiency in Ghana in the primary economic sector, food, clothing and shelter. He has pledged to radically correct an over reliance on imports if he is elected into office.
Lartey is also touting the idea of amending the constitution to create an upper chamber of parliament, integrating chiefs into the political process in Ghana. Paramount chiefs in Ghana have traditional rather than political power as well as the allegiance of their loyal subjects.
Another Dan Lartey project is radical land reform in Ghana.
His economic self reliance programme has substance,but Ghanaians appear not to have been listening and seem to regard Dan Lartey as the comic relief in what has otherwise been an electoral campaign characterised by mud slinging among the rival presidential candidates.
One commentator unkindly described Lartey s Great Consolidated Popular Party as neither great, consolidated nor popular.
Edward Mahama is hoping to become the next democratically elected president of Ghana under the banner of the People s National Convention (PNC).
At 55, this medical doctor - an obstetrician - is self-confident and convincing as a speaker and leader. Dr Mahama also sees his party in the direct mould of independent Ghana's founding father, Kwame Nkrumah.
Mahama's catchy campaign line s got voters talking: "If I can take care of your children, I can take care of your nation." It worked well during a presidential candidate debate.
Some commentators reckon that Mahama s main liability is his weak party. Analysts have concluded that this doctor-politician who wears a hat, a ready smile and a becoming neat beard, would have made a more promising political statement if he had become, for instance, the running mate of another prominent candidate. John Kufuor of the National Patriotic Party, it is said, tried and failed to lure the PNC leader.
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But watch out for Edward Mahama; he has political potential and panache, although 2000 is not likely to be his year to become president.
George HAGAN, is standing as the presidential candidate for a renewed CPP, the Conventional People s Party of Kwame Nkrumah.
Hagan is one of three presidential hopefuls in Ghana laying claim to the legacy of Ghana s post-independence leader. He shares that honour with Edward Mahama (PNC) and Dan Lartey (GCPP) which is an indication that the Nkrumah heritage is somewhat fragmented.
Hagan is another university lecturer (retired), and has an uphill task convincing modern, young Ghanaians that he is the man they should vote for. He may hope to embody the Nkrumahist ideal, but that will not be enough for this 62 year old to collect the keys to the Castle and settle into the ancient Danish Christiansborg fort as Ghana s new president.
Charles Wereko Brobby, an energy specialist and former civil servant, founded the United Ghana Movement (UGM) and has been campaigning to be his party s first President of the nation.
Wereko Brobby shifted into opposition gear early in his political life, setting up a pirate radio station - Radio Eye - which back in 1994 pioneered the campaign to end the state stranglehold on broadcasting.
His opposition credentials are impressive. Wereko Brobby, an activist, was catapulted into political stardom in Ghana as the brains behind a series of Kume Preko (Kill me Quick) strikes, organised by the Alliance for Change, which brought the nation to a crippling standstill. The Alliance was protesting against a new value added tax which the government of Jerry Rawlings was forced to withdraw.
Wereko Brobby s UGM split from the NPP, when he announced his goal would be democratic governance and libertarianism.
Normally a confident, energetic and eloquent speaker, commentators say Brobby s election campaign has been unexpectedly lack lustre, despite considerable financial investment.
Somewhere in 2000, this young fighting spirit seems to have wandered slightly off course. Watch this space in the next four years for a Ghanaian politician who may be going places.
