Profile: Ghana's President John Atta Mills

Position: President of Ghana
Incumbent: John Atta Mills
Date of Birth: July 31, 1944
Term: Sworn in January 7, 2009. Length of tenure four years with possibility of re-election.
Key Facts:
- Mills has an enviable reputation for integrity in a region where official corruption is rife. Yet he must combat repeated accusations of being slow to push ahead with reforms and help Ghanaians out of widespread poverty.

- A 2012 budget projected an increase of over 12 percent in government spending to tackle poverty during the period which is also an election year, while keeping finances in check with higher state revenues, boosted by oil exports.
- Mills is seeking re-election in December 2012 for a final four-year term against main opposition candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, his close rival in 2008.
- Mills became president at the third go in 2008, when he beat off Nana Akufo-Addo of the then ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in a closely-fought two-round election. Since coming to power, Mills and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) party have won plaudits for reducing public borrowing and halving inflation to below 10 percent currently. But he is likely to be judged by voters - and history - on how well he manages growing disappointment among Ghanaians who were expecting goodies from the country's commercial oil production launched in December 2010.
  Mills graduated in law at the University of Ghana before going on to gain a PhD at London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He was selected as a Fulbright scholar at Stanford Law School in the United States and was awarded his PhD for a thesis on taxation and economic development. His teaching career spanned 30 years.
Source: Reuters