Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, is set to be named as the new Majority Leader.
The Bawku Central legislator will replace the MP for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson as Majority Leader in the 9th Parliament.
This follows the nomination of Dr. Ato Forson as Minister for Finance-designate by President John Mahama.
Mahama Ayariga was born on May 24, 1974. He is a lawyer and a politician.
He served as Minister of Information and Media Relations, Minister of Youth and Sports under the previous John Dramani Mahama administration.
Mr Ayariga was born in Bawku in the Upper East and attended school in Ghana, Nigeria, and the United States of America. He attended Barewa College in Zaria in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
He holds a Master of Law (LLM) from Harvard Law School in the United States of America and a Bachelor of Law (LLB) from the University of Ghana, Legon.
He started his career as a Teaching Assistant in Natural Resources Law and International Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana.
He also co-founded and was the Executive Director of the Legal Resources Centre, an organisation that promotes human rights, community development, and social justice.
Mr Ayariga first became a member of Ghana’s parliament for the Bawku Central Constituency in January, 2005, until he lost his seat to Adamu Dramani Sakande of the New Patriotic Party in the 2008 elections.
The seat became vacant when Adamu was convicted and jailed for contesting and winning an election while being a citizen of another country, which is against the 1992 constitution. Ayariga recaptured the seat in the 2012 election.
Under President John Evans Atta Mills era in 2009, Ayariga was a Presidential Spokesman and later a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry and Deputy Minister of Education.