The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Mahama Ayariga is expected to be named the Majority Leader for the 9th Parliament of the 4th Republic.
The Bawku lawmaker will replace Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the MP for Ajumako Enyan Essiam, who President John Mahama has named Minister for Finance designate.
The NDC leadership front in Parliament nearly two years ago (24 January 2023) witnessed a shake-up, with Cassiel Ato Forson replacing Haruna Iddrisu (then Minority Leader).
The National Chairman of the NDC, John Asiedu Nketiah, justified the sudden change by indicating that it was part of the party’s restructuring from the grassroots to the flagbearer.
This new transition of NDC parliamentary leadership is believed to have been brokered in a peaceful manner compared to the events of the 2023 change of NDC leadership in the House.
Mahama Ayariga was born on 24 May 1974. He is a lawyer by profession and a politician. He was the Minister of Information and Media Relations and the Minister of Youth and Sports under the previous John Dramani Mahama administration (24 July 2012 to 7 January 2017).
Mahama Ayariga was born in Bawku in the Upper East Region of Ghana. He attended school in Ghana, Nigeria, and the United States of America. He attended Barewa College in Zaria in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
He holds a Master of Law (LLM) from Harvard Law School in the United States of America and a Bachelor of Law (LLB) from the University of Ghana, Legon.
He started his career as a Teaching Assistant in Natural Resources Law and International Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana. He also co-founded and was the Executive Director of the Legal Resources Centre, an organization that promotes human rights, community development, and social justice.
Mahama Ayariga was a member of Ghana’s parliament for the Bawku Central constituency from 2005 until he lost his seat to Adamu Dramani Sakande of the NPP in the 2008 elections.
The seat became vacant when Adamu was convicted and jailed by a court for standing for the election while being a citizen of another country, which is against the Ghana constitution. Ayariga recaptured the seat in the 2012 General Elections.
In 2009, when Prof John Evans Atta Mills won the elections, Ayariga became the Presidential Spokesman before he was subsequently appointed Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry and Deputy Minister of Education.Mahama Ayariga was nominated for appointment as Minister for Information by President John Dramani Mahama in January 2013. Mahama Ayariga serves on the Appointments Committee of Ghana’s 7th Parliament of the 4th Republic.
