John Dramani Mahama

John Dramani Mahama is a Ghanaian politician who served as the President of Ghana from 2012 to 2017. He was born on November 29, 1958, in Damongo, Ghana.

Born into a political family; his father, Emmanuel Adama Mahama, served as a member of Parliament as well as a regional commissioner in the government of Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah.

Mahama completed his secondary education at the Ghana Secondary School in Tamale before furthering his studies at the University of Ghana, Legon, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in History and later, a post graduate diploma in Communication Studies. He also obtained a post graduate degree from the Institute of Social Sciences in Moscow.

Mahama began his political career in 1996 when he was elected to Parliament to represent the Bole/Bamboi Constituency. He served as the Deputy Minister of Communications from 1997 to 1998 and as the Minister of Communications from 1998 to 2001. In 2009, he became the Vice President of Ghana, and after the death of President John Evans Atta Mills in July 2012, Mahama ascended to the presidency.

He successfully ran for a full term in the 2012 election and served as the fourth President of Ghana until 2017. During his presidency, Mahama oversaw significant infrastructure projects, economic challenges, and efforts to improve the energy sector, though his administration faced criticism over public debt and an infamous energy crisis.

Two years after losing his re-election bid in 2016, Mahama officially announced his decision to seek a return to the presidency. In 2019, he was confirmed as the NDC’s flagbearer for the 2020 election, which he narrowly lost to the incumbent president, Nana Akufo-Addo.

On Friday, May 26, 2023, Mahama once again filed his nomination to contest the 2024 elections as the NDC’s presidential candidate. His bid to return to the presidency has been backed by his supporters who believe he can restore the country's economy and governance, drawing from his past experience as president and his continued popularity among Ghanaian voters.