President John Dramani Mahama’s father is Emmanuel Adama Mahama, born in Bole Bamboi and had ties to Damongo, the former capital of the West Gonja District. Mr Emmanuel Mahama was a prominent Ghanaian politician, educator, and rice farmer from the Gonja ethnic group in the Savannah Region. A devout Presbyterian, his Christian values profoundly shaped his family’s upbringing.

His multifaceted career began as an educator in the Northern Region, where he also ventured into rice farming, an enterprise he significantly expanded later in life.

Emmanuel Adama Mahama was a close ally of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. He served as the first Member of Parliament for the West Gonja constituency and the first Northern Regional Minister (then referred to as Regional Commissioner) under Nkrumah’s government during Ghana’s First Republic.

He was instrumental in supporting Nkrumah’s administration, particularly in the Northern Region. – Attached is a photograph of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of the Republic of Ghana, pictured with his Ministers. Emmanuel Adama Mahama (wearing a smock) is in the far-right corner.

A rare photo of Emmanuel Adama Mahama, father of President John Dramani Mahama, with Queen Elizabeth II during her state visit to Ghana in November 1961.

Emmanuel Adama Mahama also served as Deputy Minister of Industries during Nkrumah’s government and represented Ghana at the 1963 Leipzig International Fair in the German Democratic Republic.