John Atta Mills Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== Governance and international relations ==== True to his promise to reduce the number of Ministerial appointees and run a lean government, the number of Ministers was significantly reduced from 87 of the previous Kufuor [[New Patriotic Party|NPP]] government to 73 (a reduction of 16%) in the Mills-led government. It was projected that approximately $4 million was saved annually by this bold decision to run a small government. The hundreds of Special Assistants, Presidential Staffers and Spokespersons were also eliminated to improve fiscal efficiency.<ref name="ghanaweb1"/> He commissioned a review of the 1992 [[Constitution of Ghana]] in a bid to improve upon the country's governance architecture.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> He held an annual media forum every year at the presidency to interact with journalists about socio-political issues.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> [[File:Obama_&_Atta-Mills,_2012-07-31_B002.jpg|thumb|Obama & Atta Mills, 2009]] President Atta Mills re-equipped and re-tooled the security agencies: the military, the police, the fire service, the Immigration, The Prisons Service and the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).<ref name="autogenerated2" /> In order to ensure inter-generational equity because of the "finite nature of resource revenue" as well as financial security for future Ghanaian generations, the Mills government established in 2011, the Ghana Heritage Fund<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 August 2010 |title=Ghana to adopt the Norwegian model to manage its petroleum revenue |url=https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Ghana-to-adopt-the-Norwegian-model-to-manage-its-petroleum-revenue-187732 |access-date=26 June 2023 |website=GhanaWeb |language=en}}</ref> - a sovereign wealth fund generated from petroleum revenue accumulated from the country's oil and gas industry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.swfinstitute.org/swfs/ghana-petroleum-funds/ |title=Ghana Petroleum Funds |work=Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503051058/http://www.swfinstitute.org/swfs/ghana-petroleum-funds/ |archive-date=3 May 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ghanaoilonline.org/2013/03/ghana-expects-581-mln-usd-oil-revenues-in-2013/ |title=Ghana expects 581 mln USD oil revenues in 2013 |work=Ghana Oil |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514062743/http://ghanaoilonline.org/2013/03/ghana-expects-581-mln-usd-oil-revenues-in-2013/ |archive-date=14 May 2014 }}</ref> John Atta Mills established the Media Development Fund to promote media excellence and freedom in the spirit of 1992 constitution.<ref>{{cite web |date=30 November 2001 |title=Media Development Fund is testimony of late Prez. Mills' commitment to Media Excellence - Kabral - Regional News 2012-08-01 |url=http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=246575 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429075654/http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=246575 |archive-date=29 April 2014 |access-date=21 October 2014 |publisher=Ghanaweb}}</ref> A few months prior to his death, he was praised by US President [[Barack Obama]] for making Ghana a "good news story" that had good democratic credentials. He also [[China-Ghana relations|fostered economic ties with China]]<ref name="aljaz" /> in a bid strengthen Sino-Ghanaian bilateral relations. In 2009, the [[Journal of International Affairs]] at [[Columbia University]] featured Mills as one of the "Five Faces of African Innovation and Entrepreneurship" along with South African innovator, [[Euvin Naidoo]] and [[Mo Ibrahim]], (founder of [[Celtel International]] and Chairman of the [[Mo Ibrahim Foundation]]) where he was lauded for his commitment to strengthening Ghana's Electoral Commission, [[National Media Commission]] and National Commission for Civic Education and more importantly, transparency in public institutions, particularly in the country's growing oil and gas sector.<ref>[http://www.allbusiness.com/journal-of-international-affairs/3476586-1.html Journal of International and Public Affairs- Africa Edition] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110065818/http://www.allbusiness.com/journal-of-international-affairs/3476586-1.html |date=10 November 2011 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures/12325032-1.html Profile in the Journal of International and Public Affairs] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117210819/http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures/12325032-1.html |date=17 January 2010 }}</ref> Mills' leadership style was very diplomatic, inclusive and less polarising than his predecessors. The [[BBC]] described his presidency as that of "a peacemaker who was never one to make disparaging comments in public" despite intense criticisms and vilification from his political supporters and opponents alike.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18976804 |title=BBC News β Obituary: Ghana's President John Atta Mills |publisher=BBC |date=24 July 2012 |access-date=27 September 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830133440/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18976804 |archive-date=30 August 2012 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! 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