In an unprecedented fashion, former President John Dramani Mahama has made a historic come back to the Jubilee House as President after winning the 2024 general election.
Mr Mahama is the first Ghanaian politician to ever achieve this feat, first, as the Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who contested four different elections, and becoming successful on his last attempt, and second, as the first candidate to win an election with the first female Vice President under the Fourth Republican dispensation.
The former President was the President of Ghana from January 7, 2013 to January 7, 2017, having won the December 7, 2012 Presidential election.
As a man of destiny, Mr Mahama, first became President in 2012 following the passing of President Professor John Evans Atta Mills of beloved memory on July 24, 2012.
After serving the remainder of the four-year tenure of President Mills and winning the 2012 election, Mr Mahama contested the 2016 election hoping to break the eight-year cycle, but lost to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He again contested the 2020 election and lost to President Akufo-Addo, but not on the scale as the 2016 Presidential results of about 940,000 between him and his contender, President Akufo-Addo.
Predictions
In 2023, the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) of the United Kingdom and many other renowned pollsters predicted a one touch victory for President Mahama
Today, not only is his return to political office historic- the votes he and the NDC garnered in the election against the NPP Presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, was far more than his defeat in both 2012 and 2016.
President Mahama's victory followed the trajectory of Donald J. Trump, former President of the United States of America, Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva of Brazil and Benjamin Netenyahu of Israel, who contested and won elections held at different times in their countries.
With an impressive political story, Mr Mahama started his career in politics as an Assembly Member in Bole, his hometown in the Savannah Region.
He later became the Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi, Savannah Region and served for three terms of 12 years before he became the Vice Presidential running mate for Prof. Mills in 2008.
President Mahama had also served as a member on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Mr Mahama also worked as the Communications Officer at the Japan Embassy in Accra.
An eloquent champion of the underprivileged, Mr Mahama was first elected to the Parliament of Ghana in 1996 to represent the Bole/Bamboi Constituency for a four-year term. In April 1997, Mr Mahama was appointed Deputy Minister of Communications.
He rose to become the substantive Minister of Communications by November 1998; it was a position he held until January 2001 when the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which was the current ruling party, handed over power to the newly elected New Patriotic Party government. In 2000, Mr Mahama was re-elected for another four-year term as the Member of Parliament for the Bole/Bamboi Constituency. He was again re-elected in 2004 for a third term.
From 2001 to 2004, Mr 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 Minister
During his tenure as Minister of Communications, Mr 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.
Mr Mahama also served as a member of the National Economic Management Team, 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, Mr Mahama furthered his engagement in international relations by joining the Pan-African Parliament, where he held the position of Chairperson for the West African Caucus. In 2005, he was also designated as the Minority Spokesman for Foreign Affairs. He fulfilled these roles until 2008, when he was selected as the vice presidential candidate.
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Presidency
Mr Mahama upon acting as care-taker president of the Republic of Ghana for five months contested as flagbearer of the ruling National Democratic Congress and secured 50.70 per cent of total votes cast in the December 7, 2012 general election to be declared winner by the Electoral Commission and sworn by the Chief Justice, Justice Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood as the duly elected President.
Soon after his investiture, the opposition NPP led by the 2012 Presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, running mate Dr Bawumia and the party chairman Jacob Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, challenged the results of the elections in the famous election petition suit.
The petition was heard by nine Supreme Court Justices with Justice William Atuguba as President. After eight months of hearing, the Supreme on August 29, 2013 dismissed the petition by a 5-4 majority decision.
John Dramani Mahama becomes the sixth elected leader in the Fourth Republic, and Ghana's first president whose election has been challenged in court and decided by same. He also becomes the Fourth "John" to govern the nation, and the first President of the Republic born after Ghana attained Independence.
