Ghana Gets New President

Ghana Gets New President

Created on Wednesday, 25 July 2012 08:05

Following the sudden transition of Ghana’s President, H.E. John Evans Atta Mills this afternoon in Accra, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. John Dramani Mahama has been sworn into office in Ghana’s Parliament in accordance with Article 60 (6) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.

He was swore into office by the Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood and takes over the remaining term of office of the late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills.

President Mahama until today was Vice President for the late President Mills.

Parliament was recalled by Speaker of Parliament Joyce Bamford-Addo for an emergency sitting after an earlier meeting in the day, where a letter was read by the speaker informing MP’s of the President’s decision to travel to Nigeria on Tuesday night on an official visit.

Both sides of the political divide wore black and red, to signify their grief.

Mr Mahama started his primary education at the Achimota Primary School and went on to secondary school at the Ghana Secondary School in Tamale in the Northern Region. He proceeded thereafter to the University of Ghana, Legon, where he obtained a BA Degree in History in 1981.

In 1986, he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. He also undertook further Postgraduate Studies in Social Psychology at the Institute of Social Sciences in Moscow Russia in 1988.

Mr Mahama was employed as an Information Officer at the Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Ghana from 1991 to 1995. He moved on to join the non-governmental organisation, Plan International, as Sponsorship and Grants Manager in the Ghana Country Office from 1995 to 1996.

He was elected to his first term as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bole-Bamboi Constituency in the Northern Region on the ticket of the NDC in December 1996. Mr. Mahama served as Deputy Minister of Communications from April 1997 to November 1998 and then served as the substantive Minister of Communications from November 1998 to January 2001.

Mr Mahama was re-elected MP for Bole-Bamboi Constituency in December 2000 and in December 2004. He served as Director of Communication for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as well as Spokesman on Communications for the Minority in Parliament between 2001 and 2004.

From 2005 to 2008, Mr Mahama has been Minority Parliamentary Spokesman for Foreign Affairs. He has been a Member of the Pan-African Parliament based in Pretoria, South Africa in 2004 where he served as the Chairman of the West Africa Caucus.