The Presidential aspirant of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Mahama is a year older today. The former President who was born on 29th November 1958 is being celebrated across the country as photos of him flood social media.
Biography
Former President John Dramani Mahama was born at Borle Bamboi in the Northern Region on 29th November 1958. He was born to the late Emmanuel Adama Mahama who was the first Member of Parliament for the West Gonja Constituency, and the first Regional Commissioner of the Northern Region under President Kwame Nkrumah. He is a historian, Communications expert, a former Minister of state and Member of Parliament, Vice President and eventually a President.
Education And Early Career
He began his primary education at the Achimota Primary School. He further had his secondary education at the Ghana Secondary school in Temale in the Northern region. He later obtained a BA degree in history in 1981 at the University of Ghana, Legon. He allso obtained a Postgraduate diploma in Communication Studies at the University of Ghana in 1986. He also undertook further Postgraduate Studies in Social Psychology at the Institute of Social Sciences in Moscow Russia in 1988.
Career and Politics
Upon his return to Ghana from Moscown in 1991, John Mahama became the Information, Culture, and Research officer at the embassy of Japan in Accra. He later moved on to become the International Relations, Sponsorship, Communication and Grants Manager at the Ghana Office of PLAN International.
In 1996 he was first elected to Parliament for a 4-year-term to represent the people of Borle Bamboi. He was later appointed as Deputy Minister of Communications in April 1997. In November 1998 he became a substantive Minister of Communications until January 2001when his party (NDC) was voted out of office. In Borle Bamboi he served a third term as Member of Parliament. In 2002 he was appointed as the Director of Communications for the NDC. On January 7 2009 he became Vice President of Ghana who was later sworn as President on July 24th 2012 when John Evans Attah Mills sadly passed on.
In 2016 he was endorsed by his party NDC, to contest as President again but sadly lost to the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo.
Spouse and Children
He is married to Lordina Mahama who was born Lordina Effah. They tied the knot in 1992. The couple have 5 children together. His children are Shafik, Shahid, Sharaf, Jesse and Farida.
Interesting Facts
He is a Christian. John is a historian, author and an avid reader. He has published a couple of books with his first book titled ”My First Coup D’etat” and other true stories from the lost decades of Africa. He is the third John to assume office as President of Ghana. John Mahama has a big family (he allegedly has other children outside his marriage making his family large). Despite being a politician who is wealthy he still dirties his hands on his farm.
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