John Mahama
John Mahama | |
---|---|
Jerry John Rawlings | |
Member of Parliament for Bole | |
In office 7 January 1997 – 7 January 2009 | |
Preceded by | Mahama Jeduah |
Succeeded by | Joseph Akati Saaka |
Personal details | |
Born | Damongo, Ghana | 29 November 1958
Political party | National Democratic Congress |
Spouse | Lordina Effah |
Relations |
|
Education | University of Ghana Moscow Institute of Social Sciences |
Website | Official website |
John Dramani Mahama (
A member of the
Early years
A member of the
Mahama had his primary education at the
Early career
After completing his undergraduate education, Mahama taught
Political appointments
As Member of Parliament
Mahama was first elected to the Parliament of Ghana in the 1996[11] elections to represent the Bole/Bamboi Constituency for a four-year term. In April 1997, Mahama was appointed Deputy Minister of Communications. He was promoted to the post of Minister of Communications in November 1998, serving in that post until January 2001, when the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) handed over power to the New Patriotic Party's government.[12]
In 2000, Mahama was re-elected for another four-year term as the Member of Parliament for the Bole/Bamboi Constituency. He was again re-elected in 2004 for a third term. From 2001 to 2004, Mahama served as the Minority Parliamentary Spokesman for Communications. In 2002, he was appointed the Director of Communications for the NDC. That same year, he served as a member of the team of International Observers selected to monitor
As Minister and Vice-President
Mahama served as the Deputy Minister of Communications between April 1997 and November 1998. During his tenure as Minister for Communications, Mahama also served as the Chairman of the National Communications Authority, in which capacity he played a key role in stabilising Ghana's telecommunications sector after it was deregulated in 1997. As a minister, he was a founding member of the Ghana AIDS Commission, a member of the implementation committee of the 2000 National Population Census and a deputy chairman of the Publicity Committee for the re-introduction of the
Continuing to expand his interest and involvement in international affairs, in 2003 Mahama became a member of the Pan-African Parliament, serving as the Chairperson of the West African Caucus until 2011. He was also a member of European and Pan African Parliaments' Ad hoc Committee on Cooperation.
On Wednesday, January 7, 2009, Hon. John Dramani Mahama was sworn into office as the Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana with John Evan Atta Mills as President.[14] He also served as the Chairman of the National Economic Management Team, the Armed Forces Council of Ghana, the Decentralisation and Implementation Committee and the Police Council of Ghana in this capacity.[citation needed]
As President
In line with
This is the saddest day in our nation's history. Tears have engulfed our nation and we are deeply saddened and distraught and I'm personally devastated, I've lost a father, I've lost a friend, I've lost a mentor and a senior comrade. Ghana is united in grief at this time for our departed president.[16]
As a result of his elevation to the presidency, Mahama made political history by becoming the first Ghanaian head of state to have been born after Ghana's declaration of independence on 6 March 1957.[17] The National Democratic Congress (NDC) held a Special National Delegates Congress on 30 August 2012 and endorsed President John Dramani Mahama as its 2012 presidential candidate. President Mahama, the sole candidate of the party, polled 2, 767 votes, representing 99.5% of total votes cast, to pick the slot for the party.[18] Mahama has stated that his administration is deeply committed to continuing the Better Ghana Agenda started under President Mills.
Mahama won the December 2012 general election with 50.70% of the total valid votes cast and a 3% winning margin beating his nearest rival, Nana Akufo-Addo of the main opposition New Patriotic Party, who polled a close 47.74%. This was just barely enough to win the presidency without the need for a runoff.[5] In addition, Mahama won the majority of valid votes cast in eight out of Ghana's ten administrative regions. Thirteen African Heads of State, one Prime Minister, two vice-presidents and 18 government delegations across the world attended his inaugural ceremony at the Black Star Square in Accra on 7 January 2013, when Mahama was sworn in to begin his own four-year term.[19]
After his investiture, the opposition
Mahama is one of Africa's most-followed leaders on the social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook.[20] In May 2013, he stated that all of West Africa is under the threat of Islamist militancy.[21]
On 30 March 2014, he was elected to preside over ECOWAS.[22] On 26 June 2014, he was elected Chairperson of the African Union's (AU's) High-Level African Trade Committee (HATC).[23]
On 21 January 2016 on the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mahama became co-chair of the Sustainable Development Goals Advocates group which consists of 17 eminent persons assisting the UN Secretary-General in the campaign to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that world leaders unanimously adopted in September 2015. With a mandate to support the Secretary-General in his efforts to generate momentum and commitment to achieve the SDGs by 2030, the SDG Advocates have been working to promote the universal sustainable development agenda, to raise awareness of the integrated nature of the SDGs, and to foster the engagement of new stakeholders in the implementation of these Goals.[24]
Mahama sought a second full term at the December 2016 general election. He was eligible for a second full term since he ascended to the presidency with only six months remaining in Mills' term. In Ghana, a vice president who ascends to the presidency is allowed to run for two full terms in his own right if more than half of his predecessor's term has expired. He was defeated by main opposition leader Akufo-Addo in a rematch from four years earlier, and conceded defeat on election night. Mahama polled 44.4% of the valid votes cast compared to Akufo-Addo's 53.5%.[25]
In December 2016, he was part of the ECOWAS mediation team to resolve the post-election political impasse in The Gambia between the defeated incumbent, Yahya Jammeh and declared winner, Adam Barrow.[26][27][28]
2020 presidential bid
In February 2019, Mahama was confirmed as the candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress to contest in the 2020 elections, the incumbent president Nana Akufo-Addo who unseated Mahama in a 2016 election, capitalizing on an economy that was slowing due to falling prices for gold, oil and cocoa exports.[29] He won the National Democratic Congress primaries by securing an overwhelming 213,487 votes representing 95.23 percent of the total valid votes cast with the other six contenders managing with about 4 percent of the votes.[30][31]
On 4 December 2020, Mahama and incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo, who he faced both in the 2012 and 2016 Ghanaian presidential elections,[32] signed a peace pact to ensure peace before, during, and after the 7 December elections.[33][34] Akufo-Addo won the election with 51.6% of the vote.[35]
In August 2021, Mahama began a tour dubbed 'Thank you tour' in Ghana to thank Ghanaians for voting in the 2020 presidential election. He visited Upper West, Upper East, North East, Northern and Savannah regions in the first phase. He met Chiefs and Queens, religious leaders and also interacted with the media.[36]
2024 presidential bid
On Saturday 14 May 2023, John Mahama won and was confirmed during the NDC presidential primary as the candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress to contest in the 2024 General elections. He polled 297,603 votes representing 98.9% and his closest contender, the former Kumasi Mayor Kojo Bonsu, polled a paltry 3,181 representing 1.1%. A third contestant, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, a former Finance Minister of Finance, pulled out of the race on the eve of the elections on Friday, 12 May 2023 making it a two horse race between John Mahama and Bonsu.[37][38][39][40]
Personal life and interests
Mahama is married to
Over the course of his career, Mahama has written for several newspapers and other publications both locally and internationally. As a
Books
Mahama's first book, a memoir called My First Coup d'État: Memories from the Lost Decades of Africa, was published by
Corruption allegations
It was revealed in 2016 that Mahama accepted a Ford Expedition from a construction firm bidding for a lucrative government contract in 2012, while he was serving as vice president. The Burkinabe contractor who had previously constructed a wall at the Ghanaian Embassy in Ouagadougou was at the time looking to get a road-building contract in Ghana's Volta region; this contractor later secured the contract but the vehicle in question had already been added to the government's fleet of cars by the ex-president for Government use.[56][57]
Under Mahama's presidency in 2014, Ghana's Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) misappropriated millions of dollars allocated to it. SADA paid GH₵32,498,000 to ACICL, a business owned by Ghana's Roland Agambire, Mahama's close confidante, to plant five million trees in the savannah zone, but could only account for about 700,000 trees. It was also discovered that SADA spent GH¢15 million on guinea fowl, but could only account for a few of the birds.[58][59]
In 2015 it was again discovered that the contract for the rebranding of 116 Metro Mass Transit (MMT) buses at a cost of Gh₵3,600,000 was sole-sourced and awarded to a company named "Smarttys," owned by a member of the ruling NDC activist Selassie Ibrahim. It was revealed that the rebranding of the buses cost the government Gh₵3,600,000 which at the time was more than the cost of the 116 buses, the money lost was eventually refunded through the Attorney General's office.[60][61]
Honours and awards
Mahama received an
The Cuban government, recognising Mahama's relentless advocacy for the Cuban cause, namely for the lifting of the 50-year economic embargo on the communist country and for the freedom of the detained Cuban five by the United States government, conferred on him the Friendship Medal.[64][65] The General Council of Assemblies of God, Ghana honoured Mahama with its Daniel Award.[66] The Graduate School of Governance and Leadership also awarded him the African Servant Leadership Award while the Institute of Public Relations recognized Mahama with a prize for his leadership acumen and technocratic flair.[64] In 2013, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) conferred on Mahama the Africa Award for Excellence in Food Security and Poverty Reduction.[67] In March 2016, University of Aberdeen held a special convocation to confer an honorary degree of Doctors of Laws (LLD) on President John Mahama.[68]
Mahama has also attended numerous conferences and won many fellowships, including a study as a
In February 2017, Mahama received the 2016 African Political Leader of the Year Award from the African Leadership Magazine in South Africa.[70][71][72][73][74]
In October 2022, Mahama was honored by Liberty University with a Global Leadership and Economic Impact Award in Virginia, USA.[75][76][77] This award was to celebrate him for governing wisely, “advocating and achieving a consistent track record on economic development, women’s participation in education, and enhancing economic growth.”[78][79]
In March 2024, Mahama was conferred with the chieftaincy title, Kuoro Sabinwero Wajia I by Kuoro Abu Diyaka Sukabe Ninia, the Paramount Chief of the Buwaa Traditional Area in the Upper West Region.[80][81]
See also
References
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