John Dramani Mahama was born on the 29th of November 1958 in Damongo, the then capital of the West Gonja District of the Northern Region. His father, Emmanuel Adama Mahama, a prominent rice farmer was a Member of Parliament for the West Gonja Constituency and the first Regional Commissioner of the Northern Region under Ghana’s first leader, President Kwame Nkrumah.
He has been married to Lordina Mahama for about two decades and the couple is blessed with 5 beautiful children named Jesse Mahama, Sharaf Mahama, Farida Mahama, Shahid Mahama, and Shafik Mahama.
John Mahama spent the first years of his life with his mother, Abiba Nnaba, in Damongo, before moving to Accra to live with his father, who imbued him with a strong passion for education. He received his basic education at Achimota Basic School, where he began defending other children from bullies, and later moved to the Ghana Secondary School in Tamale.
As Member of Parliament
An eloquent champion of the underprivileged, Mr. Mahama was first elected to the Parliament of Ghana in 1996 to represent the Bole/Bamboi Constituency for a four-year term. In April 1997, Mr. Mahama was appointed Deputy Minister of Communications.
He rose to become the substantive Minister of Communications by November 1998; it was a position he held until January 2001 when the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which was the current ruling party, handed over power to the newly elected New Patriotic Party's government. In 2000, Mr. 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, Mr. 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 Zimbabwe's Parliamentary Elections.
As Minister
During his tenure as Minister of Communications, Mr. Mahama also served as the Chairman of the National Communications Authority, in which capacity he played a key role in stabilizing Ghana's telecommunications sector after it was deregulated in 1997.
Mr. Mahama also served as a member of the National Economic Management Team, 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 Value Added Tax (VAT).
Continuing to expand his interest and involvement in international affairs, in 2003 Mr. Mahama became a member of the Pan-African Parliament, serving as the Chairperson of the West African Caucus. In 2005 he was, additionally, appointed the Minority Spokesman for Foreign Affairs. He served in these capacities until 2008 when he was handpicked to become the vice-presidential candidate.
This leader is concerned about the environment, especially the wide use of plastic and waste created by it, which creates pollution. He is also a writer who expresses his views by writing wide range of articles and columns. He also penned a book named ‘My First Coup d'État and Other True Stories from the Lost Decades of Africa.
This leader was felicitated with an honorary doctorate in the sphere of Public Administration by the ‘Ekiti State University’, Nogeria.
He was also honoured with a ‘Friendship Medal’ by the government of Cuba, for his support towards Cuba.
Dramani has also been bestowed with the ‘Daniel Award’ by the ‘Assemblies of God’ group of Ghana.
He has received the ‘African Servant Leadership Award’ from the ‘Graduate School of Governance and Leadership’.
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