H.E. JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA

John Dramani Mahama is the sixth President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana. He was also the fourth President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, having previously occupied the high office of President between January 7, 2013 and January 6, 2017.

Born 66 years ago to Mr E. A. Mahama and Madam Abiba Nnaba in Damongo, in the now Savannah Region of Ghana, Mahama made history as Ghana’s first President to serve at all political levels. He was a Member of Parliament for Bole-Bamboi Constituency, Deputy Minister for Communications, Minister for Communications, Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, and President of the Republic of Ghana.

Mahama considers the combination of history, communications, and social psychology—courses he studied for his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees—to have profoundly shaped his views, thoughts, and understanding of the human condition and contributed significantly to his development as a person.

Under President Mahama’s first administration, Ghana witnessed massive infrastructure development across all sectors of the economy, including education, health, ports and harbours, aviation, rail, oil and gas, ICT, and many more. His vision and strategic investments in these areas solidly positioned the country as a Lower-Middle-Income Country for its next development phase.

Beyond investments in socio-economic infrastructure, President Mahama is passionate about investing in people. This amply reflects his commitment to social justice and equity, particularly through his lauded efforts to advance the interests of girls and women across all spheres. Notably, Ghana attained gender parity in basic education under his leadership.

John Mahama further demonstrated his commitment to women’s empowerment by appointing several women to prominent roles in his administration. In 2020, he made a groundbreaking decision to nominate Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang as his Vice-presidential candidate, marking a first for a major political party in Ghana. He repeated this bold choice in 2024, and with their victory, Ghana is welcoming its first female Vice President.

Mahama is an avid reader, author, and historian. Over the course of his career, he has written for several newspapers and authored several publications. He has also published a memoir, his first book, titled ‘My First Coup d’État and Other True Stories from the Lost Decades of Africa.’

President Mahama’s love for reading and thirst for knowledge are complemented by his strong interest in technology and agriculture. His connection to agriculture is personal, longstanding, and rooted in his upbringing. His father was a prominent rice farmer, educator, and Minister in Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s administration.

President Mahama is keen on increasing agricultural productivity and strives to motivate the younger generation to approach farming as a viable and profitable business, particularly by leveraging technology and value addition to maximize its potential.

President Mahama is a former Chairperson of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Commission. A strong proponent of intra-African trade, he is a former Chairperson of the African Union’s High-Level African Trade Committee. He played an instrumental role in laying the foundation for the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), whose secretariat is now in Ghana.

President Mahama was also the first Co-chair of the United Nations Advocacy Group on the Sustainable Development Goals and is the current Chair of the TANA Forum, a high-level forum on security in Africa headquartered in Ethiopia.

In recognition of his sterling contributions as a leader and role model on the African continent and around the globe, John Mahama has been conferred with several honorary doctoral degrees from distinguished universities worldwide, including Ekiti State University, Ilorin University, and Igbinedion University in Nigeria; the University of Aberdeen in Scotland; and the Lyon Business School in France.

With his resounding victory in the December 2024 elections, John Dramani Mahama becomes the first president in Ghana’s history to be democratically elected to a non-consecutive second term.

President Mahama is an exemplary family man with strong Christian values. He has been happily married to Lordina Dramani Mahama for over thirty-two years.

H.E. PROF. NAANA JANE OPOKU-AGYEMENG

Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang was the Chancellor of the Women’s University in Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 2018 to 2024.

She has served her country in diverse capacities. She was the first woman to hold the position of Vice Chancellor in Ghana, leading the University of Cape Coast (UCC) from 2008 to 2012.

Professor Opoku-Agyemang is the immediate past President of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) and Chairperson of the Africa Board.

She also served as the Minister for Education of Ghana from 2013 to 2017.

At the University of Cape Coast, she was Head of the Department of English, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Dean of the Board of Graduate Studies, Founding Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research, and Vice Chancellor. She was also a two-time Fulbright scholar.

Professor Opoku-Agyemang holds a BA (Hons) in French and English, a Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast, a Diploma in Advanced Studies in French from the University of Dakar, and an MA and PhD in Literature from York University in Toronto, Canada.

She is the recipient of national and international awards, notably:

• Officer of the Order of the Volta (for Academic Distinction)
• Ghana Women of Excellence Award (Education Category)
• Doctor of Letters, University of Cape Coast (Honoris Causa)
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA (Honoris Causa)
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Winston Salem State University, North Carolina, USA (Honoris Causa)
• Doctor of Laws, University of the West Indies (Honoris Causa)
• Global Leadership Award, University of South Florida, USA
• Twice recognised for Outstanding Performance in Advancing International Education, School for International Training, Vermont, USA.

She has been a member of national and international boards and committees, including:

• The College of Physicians and Surgeons as Eminent Citizen
  The Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD-Ghana)
• The Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• The Global Advisory Council, World Learning Inc.
• The Editorial Board, The Harriet Tubman Series on the African Diaspora, York University, Canada

Vice President Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang is a Life Fellow of the Commonwealth of Learning and a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is blessed with three children and two grandchildren.