John Mahama

John Dramani Mahama ( ; born 29 November 1958) is a Ghanaian politician who has been the president of the Republic of Ghana since January 2025. A member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), he previously served as president from 2012 to 2017.

Mahama served as a Member of Parliament for Bole/Bamboi from 1997 to 2009 and served as Deputy Minister for Communication between 1997 and 1998 before becoming the substantive Minister for Communications in 1998. He then served as vice president under President John Atta Mills from 2009 to 2012. Mahama took office as president when Mills died in office on 24 July 2012. Mahama is the first vice president to assume the presidency following the death of his predecessor, and is the first head of state of Ghana to have been born after Ghana's independence in 1957.

He was elected in the December 2012 election to serve a full-term as president. He contested re-election for a second term in the 2016 election but lost to the New Patriotic Party candidate Nana Akufo-Addo. This made him the first president in the history of Ghana to not have won a consecutive second term. Mahama was again the NDC's presidential candidate in the 2020 election, where he lost to Akufo-Addo.

He was re-elected president in the 2024 election, defeating the then incumbent vice president Mahamudu Bawumia, making him the first president in Ghanaian history to be democratically elected to a non-consecutive second term.

A member of the Gonja ethnic group, Mahama hails from Bole in the Savannah Region of Ghana. He was born on 29 November 1958 in Damongo, an area in the present-day West Gonja District of the Northern Region. His father, Emmanuel Adama Mahama, a wealthy rice farmer and teacher, was the first Member of Parliament for the West Gonja constituency and the first Regional Commissioner of the Northern Region during the First Republic under Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah. Mahama's father also served as a senior presidential advisor during Ghana's Third Republic under Hilla Limann who was overthrown in 1981 by Jerry John Rawlings.

Mahama had his primary education at the Accra Newtown Experimental School (ANT1) before going to boarding school at the Achimota Primary School. He completed secondary school, at Ghana Secondary School, in Tamale a school in the Northern Region of Ghana. He proceeded to the University of Ghana, Legon, receiving a bachelor's degree in history in 1981 and a postgraduate diploma in communication studies in 1986. As a student, he was a member of Commonwealth Hall Legon. He also studied at the Institute of Social Sciences in Moscow in the Soviet Union, specializing in social psychology; he obtained a postgraduate degree in 1988.

After completing his undergraduate education, Mahama became a secondary school teacher for a few years. Upon his return to Ghana after studying in Moscow, he worked as the Information, Culture and Research Officer at the Embassy of Japan in Accra between 1991 and 1995. From there he moved to the anti-poverty non-governmental organisation (NGO) Plan International's Ghana Country Office, where he worked as International Relations, Sponsorship Communications and Grants Manager between 1995 and 1996. In 1993, he participated in a professional training course for Overseas Public Relations Staff, organized by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo. He also participated in a management development course organized by Plan International (RESA) in Nairobi, Kenya.

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, when the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) handed over power to the New Patriotic Party government.

In 2000, Mahama was re-elected for another four-year term as the Member of Parliament for 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 Zimbabwe's Parliamentary Elections. As an MP, he was a member of Standing Orders Committee as well as the Transport, Industry, Energy, Communications, Science and Technology Committee of Parliament.

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 Value Added Tax (VAT).

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. In 2005, Mahama became the Minority Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs. He is a member of the UNDP Advisory Committee on Conflict Resolution in Ghana.

On 7 January 2009, Mahama was sworn into office as the Vice-President of Ghana with John Atta Mills as President. 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.

In line with Ghana's constitution, Mahama became president on 24 July 2012 on the death of his predecessor, John Atta Mills. In July 2012, he became Ghana's first president to have served at all levels of political office (Ghanaian and Pan-African MP, Deputy Minister, Minister, vice-president and President). He said in parliament upon being sworn in:

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.

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. The NDC held a Special National Delegates Congress on 30 August 2012 and endorsed Mahama as its 2012 presidential candidate. 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. Mahama had stated that his administration was 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. 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.

After his investiture, the opposition New Patriotic Party led by Nana Akufo-Addo, his running mate, Mahamudu Bawumia and the party chairman, Jacob Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, challenged the election results, alleging irregularities, malpractices, omissions and violations. The petition was heard by nine justices of the Supreme Court of Ghana. After eight months of hearing, the Court on 29 August 2013, dismissed the petition by a majority opinion.

In February 2019, Mahama was confirmed as the candidate of the opposition NDC to contest in the 2020 elections, against incumbent president Nana Akufo-Addo, who unseated Mahama in 2016, capitalizing on an economy that was slowing due to falling prices for gold, oil and cocoa exports. He won the NDC 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.

On 4 December 2020, Mahama and Akufo-Addo, who he faced both in the 2012 and 2016 Ghanaian presidential elections, signed a peace pact to ensure peace before, during, and after the 7 December elections. Akufo-Addo won the election with 51.6% of the vote.

In August 2021, Mahama began a tour dubbed "Thank You Tour" in Ghana to thank Ghanaians for voting in the 2020 election. He visited Upper West, Upper East, North East, Northern and Savannah Regions in the first phase where he met chiefs, queens, religious leaders and also interacted with the media.

On 14 May 2023, Mahama won and was confirmed during the NDC presidential primary as the party's presidential candidate in the 2024 General elections. He polled 297,603 votes representing 98.9% and his closest contender, former Kumasi Mayor Kojo Bonsu, polled 3,181 representing 1.1%. A third contestant, Kwabena Duffuor, a former Finance minister, pulled out of the race on the eve of the elections on 12 May 2023, making it a two-way race between Mahama and Bonsu.

On 8 December 2024, the candidate of the New Patriotic Party and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia called John Mahama and conceded defeat in the 2024 General Elections.

Mahama was inaugurated for his second term as president on 7 January 2025. He will have to leave office for good in 2029; the Ghanaian constitution limits a president to two terms, whether successive or separated.

In one of his first acts as president, he announced an investigation into the National Cathedral of Ghana project approved under his predecessor Nana Akufo-Addo amid criticism over its costs.

On 10 February 2025, Mahama ordered a ban on non-essential travel by government officials and said that authorised travels must be done in a modest manner.

On 22 April 2025, Mahama ordered the suspension of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, citing a preliminary investigation that found sufficient grounds for an inquiry into her conduct. He ordered her dismissal on 1 September 2025 following a recommendation by an investigative committee.

On 10 June 2025, Mahama joined the Board of the Global Center on Adaptation.

Mahama is married to Lordina Mahama (née Effah, 6 March 1963). They have five children: Farida, Jesse, Shafik, Shahid and Sharaf, who formerly played for Rostocker FC as a striker.

Mahama is a Christian, born and raised a Presbyterian but is now a member of the Assemblies of God, Ghana by marriage. His family is multi-faith, consisting of Christians and Muslims. Being a staunch campaigner for sustainability, he has a keen interest in environmental affairs, particularly the problem of single-use plastic waste pollution in Africa, which he committed himself to addressing during his tenure as vice president.