There is only one couple in Ghana whose son has gone on to serve as President of Ghana, Vice President of Ghana, a Minister of State in Ghana, and a Member of Parliament in Ghana. This couple is known as the Mahamas
It is the hope of every parent that their children will achieve success in life and grow into more successful versions of themselves.
Only Emmanuel Adama Mahama and his wife, Abiba Mahama, can lay claim to having a son who has held all of these posts in Ghana.
Emmanuel Adama Mahama was a Ghanaian educator and rice farmer. He was Nkrumah’s first appointment to the position of Minister of State for the Northern Region in the administration.
In addition to that, he was a key presidential adviser throughout Hilla Limann’s tenure as president of Ghana’s Third Republic. In addition to that, he was the very first Member of Parliament for the West Gonja seat.
On the other side, Abiba Nnaba was a very positive force in the family; she was married to Emmanuel Adama Mahama, and the two of them were responsible for the birth of John Dramani Mahama.
From the 24th of July, 2012, to the 7th of January, 2017, John Mahama served as President of Ghana. During the presidency of John Evans Fiifi Attack Mills, which lasted from 2009 through 2012, he also held the position of vice president. In addition, Mahama served as a member of Parliament for the Bole Bamboo Constituency from 1997 to 2004. He also served as Minister of Communications from 1998 until 2001.
Before going to Accra to live with his father, John Mahama spent the earliest years of his childhood in Damongo with his mother, Abiba Nnaba. His mother instilled in him a great interest in learning, and his father inspired him to pursue a career in politics.
After completing his primary education at Achimota Basic School, he continued his schooling at Ghana Secondary School in Tamale. He began standing up for other students against bullies at this school.
Later on, he would be accepted into the University of Ghana in Legon, which is the most prestigious educational institution in the country, and he would earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from there in 1981. John Mahama returned to Tamale when he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree and began teaching history at Ghana Secondary School.
Nevertheless, the political and economic climate in Ghana drove him to abandon the country and make his way to Nigeria, where he was able to reunite with his father, who was living in exile at the time.
When he returned to Ghana in 1983, he had a great desire to help people connect with one another via the power of communication. To achieve this goal, he enrolled in a postgraduate degree program in Communication Studies at the University of Ghana.
After receiving his undergraduate degree in 1986, he continued his education at the Institute of Social Sciences in Moscow, located in what was once the Soviet Union. There, he earned a post-graduate degree in social psychology in 1988.
While he was in Moscow, he became aware of the flaws in the socialist system and had the epiphany that every country needed to establish its own path to transformation that was independent of ideological dogmas.