The former president set to lead Ghana once more

John Dramani Mahama is set to return as Ghana’s president after his main rival accepted defeat, even though the electoral authorities are yet to announce the official results.

The 65-year-old led Ghana from 2012 to 2017 and is one of the West African country’s most experienced politicians. He has served at all levels of office, as an MP, deputy minister, minister, vice-president and president.

Long before it became a career, politics played a significant role in Mahama’s childhood. When Mahama was just seven, his father, a government minister, was jailed during a military coup and later went into exile.

Personal trials like this appear in Mahama’s acclaimed writing – he has been published by a number of international news outlets and his memoir, My First Coup D’etat, won praise from two African literary greats, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Chinua Achebe.

When penning his manifesto for this year’s elections,Mahama told voters Ghana “is headed in the wrong direction and needs to be rescued”.

But critics argue he may not be the right man for the job, given that his administration was hit by economic problems and a string of corruption scandals.

Mahama’s journey began in 1958, when he was born in the northern town of Damongo. After a few years he moved to the capital, Accra, to live with his father, Emmanuel Adama Mahama.

In My First Coup d’Etat, Mahama Jr describes himself as “an observant child with an active imagination and an unbounded curiosity”.

He was also relatively privileged. The family had another home in the town of Bole, which at the time was not on the national grid. Mahama’s parents were able to invest in a diesel generator for their six-bedroom house, meaning theirs was the only house in the town with lights.

Local residents would gather outside the house when night fell, captivated by the curious orange glow.

The future president attended Achimota boarding school, a prestigious institution known for educating heads of state like Ghana’s Jerry John Rawlings, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first prime minister after it gained independence from the UK.

It was at Achimota, in 1966, that Mahama heard there had been a coup. Military and police personnel had stormed Ghana’s government buildings, seizing power from Nkrumah, who was away on a foreign trip.

As updates trickled in, Mahama became increasingly anxious – he had heard no word from his father. Seven-year-old Mahama feared his father had been killed because of his proximity to Nkrumah.

It turned out his father had been imprisoned – he would remain in jail for approximately a year.