John Dramini Mahama is a Christian, and a member of Assemblies of God, he is a passionate reader and a consummate writer, he has a vivid interest in farming, ICT, and environmental issues.
John Dramani Mahama is a Ghanaian politician who served as President of Ghana from 24 July 2012 to 7 January 2017.
Mahama is the first vice president to have ascended to the presidency due to the death of his predecessor, John Atta Mills. He was elected to serve a full term as President in the December 2012 election. He ran for re-election to a second full term in the 2016 election but was defeated in the first round by New Patriotic Party candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, whom he had defeated four years prior. This makes him the first president in the history of Ghana to not have won a second term.
1. Mahama was born into a political family
John Dramani Mahama’s father, Emmanuel Adama Mahama, served as the first member of Parliament for the West Gonja constituency, as well as the first regional commissioner of the Northern Region during the First Republic (under Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah), setting the stage for John to follow in his father’s footsteps. Emmanuel also served as a senior presidential advisor during Ghana’s Third Republic under Hilla Limann.
2. He is fluent in six languages
John Dramani Mahama is said to be fluent in six languages, making him an ideal international spokesman. He fluently speaks English, Akan (Twi and Fante), Ga, Gonja, Dagbani, and Hausa, and is also proficient in Ewe and Russian.
3. He is Ghana’s first president to serve at all levels of political office
John Dramani Mahama has an impressive record in Ghanaian politics, having served as the Ghanaian and Pan-African MP, deputy minister, minister, vice president, and president.
John Dramani Mahama was first elected to the Parliament of Ghana in the 1996 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,
On 7 January 2009, Mahama became the Vice-President of Ghana.[9] 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.
4. He is Ghana’s first head of state to have been born after Ghana’s declaration of independence
Born on March 6, 1957, Mahama is the first president of Ghana to have been born after independence. The comparatively young leader represents a paradigm shift away from the paternalism common in African politics to a new generation of progress indicative of the post-independence boom.
5. Mahama is one of the most-followed African leaders on social media
Mahama is well known for his love of social media and is an insatiable Tweeter and Facebook updater. He is well respected for making the effort to connect with his younger constituents through social media, making his mark as a “modern-day president.â€
6. He has written for many publications, both locally and internationally
Beyond publications in a wide variety of respected newspapers and magazines, Mahama also wrote Mahama’s Hammer — a semi-regular popular column in a Ghanaian newspaper. He is also the author of a memoir, “My First Coup d’État and Other True Stores From the Lost Decades of Africa,†and has been a featured speaker at the TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch Conference in Santa Monica, due to his commitment to environmental issues.
7. Mahama is a huge fan of Afrobeat music
A huge fan of Nigerian artist Fela Kuti, Mahama has become known for his love of Afrobeat music. In an interview, Mahama discussed Kuti’s importance in the socially conscious music world, citing Kuti’s criticism of corruption and brutality as crucial in giving people “an outlet for our outrage and frustrations.â€