John Dramani Mahama hails from Bole in the Northern Region of the Ancient Gonja ethnic group in Ghana.
Mahama was born in Damongo in the Damango-Daboya constituency of Northern region into a political tradition dating back to the country’s First Republic.
His father, Emmanuel Adama Mahama, a wealthy rice farmer and teacher, was the first Member of Parliament for the West Gonja constituency and the first Regional Commissioner of the Northern Region during the First Republic under Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah.
Mahama’s father also served as a senior presidential advisor during Ghana’s Third Republic under Dr. Hilla Limann who was overthrown in 1981 by Jerry John Rawlings
Mahama started his primary education at the Accra Newtown Experimental School (ANT1) and completed his O’levels education at Achimota School and his A’levels education at Ghana Secondary School (Tamale, Northern region).
He proceeded to the University of Ghana, Legon, receiving a bachelor’s degree in history in 1981 and a postgraduate diploma in communication studies in 1986.
As a student, he was a member of Commonwealth Hall (Legon).
He also studied at the Institute of Social Sciences in Moscow in the Soviet Union, specializing in social psychology; he obtained a postgraduate degree in 1988.
After completing his undergraduate education, Mahama taught history at the secondary school level for a few years.
Upon his return to Ghana after studying in Moscow, he worked as the Information, Culture and Research Officer at the Embassy of Japan in Accra between 1991 and 1995.
From there he moved to the anti-poverty non-governmental organisation (NGO) Plan International’s Ghana Country Office, where he worked as International Relations, Sponsorship Communications and Grants Manager between 1995 and 1996.
In 1993, he participated in a professional training course for Overseas Public Relations Staff, organized by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo.
He also participated in a management development course organized by Plan International (RESA) in Nairobi, Kenya.
To be Continued..
Sources : Wikipedia.com and http://African-research.com
