Tag Archives: Ghana’s Top Politicians

James Van Leuven Mensah (also known as J.V.L. Mensah) was a Ghanaian accountant, public servant, banker, and politician. He was born at Kengen, Ghana to Joseph Mensah and Yanke Adela 8 February 1937. His father was a Catchiest from Nkroful. After settling at Kengen, Joseph named his son after a Dutch missionary he worked with, Fr. Van Leuven, at the local Saint …

Edward Nasigrie Mahama (born 15 April 1945) is a Ghanaian medical doctor and politician. Early life and education Born in the village of Sumniboma (northern Ghana) in 1945, Mahama attended Nalerigu Primary and Middle School from 1953 to 1959. He then attended Secondary School in Tamale from 1961 to 1965. Later that year, he was admitted to …

Alhaji Aliu Mahama (3 March 1946 – 16 November 2012) was a Ghanaian engineer and politician who was Vice-President of Ghana from 7 January 2001 to 7 January 2009. A member of the New Patriotic Party, he was Ghana’s first Muslim Vice-President. Early life and education An ethnic Dagomba, Aliu Mahama as a young man studied at …

Hilla Limann, GCMG (12 December 1934 – 23 January 1998) was a Ghanaian diplomat and politician who served the President of Ghana from 24 September 1979 to 31 December 1981. He served as a diplomat in Lomé, Togo and Geneva, Switzerland. Education Limann, whose original last name was Babini, was born in the northern Gold Coast town of Gwollu in the Sissala West District of the Upper West Region to a …

Justice Daniel Francis Kweipe Annan (November 7, 1928 – July 16, 2006) was a Ghanaian politician and judge. He served as Speaker of the 1st & 2nd parliaments of Ghana’s Fourth Republic from 1993 to 2001. He was a member of the Provisional National Defence Council which governed Ghana prior the Fourth Republic from 1985 to 1992, and was Chairman of …

Daniel Augustus Lartey (1 August 1926 – 28 December 2009) popularly known as Dan Lartey was a Ghanaian politician in the 2000, and 2004 presidential candidate of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP). He was a former publisher and labour unionist, he became a household name in Ghana following his famous 2004 presidential …

Joseph William Swain de Graft-Johnson (6 October 1933 – 22 April 1999) was a Ghanaian engineer, academic and politician. He served as Vice-President of Ghana from 1979 to 1981. Early life and education Joseph de Graft-Johnson was born on 6 October 1933 in Cape Coast, Gold Coast to Fante parents. He attended Mfantsipim School. He received his …

Kwame Sanaa-Poku Jantuah (21 December 1922 – 3 February 2011), originally known as John Ernest Kwame Antoa Onyina Jantuah, was a Ghanaian politician, lawyer and diplomat. He was the last survivor from the first all-African cabinet set up by Kwame Nkrumah in the Gold Coast prior to independence. Early life and education Jantuah was born on 21 December 1922 at Kejetia, a suburb of Kumasi, …

John Willie Kofi Harlley (9 May 1919 – 18 February 1982) was a Ghanaian police officer who was Vice Chairman of the National Liberation Council and the first Inspector General of Police in Ghana from 1966 to 1969. He was a member of the three-man presidential commission which carried out presidential functions during the 1969 democratic transition …

Professor George Panyin Hagan (born 1938), is a prominent academic and politician in Ghana. Early life and education George Hagan was born in Accra in 1938. He had his basic education in Accra, Koforidua, Sekondi and Kumasi because his parents, civil servants, were being transferred. His secondary education was at St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Cantonments, a suburb of Accra and sixth form (college) at St. Augustine’s …