3 Ghanaian MPs who rose to become presidents

Politics is a very unpredictable ‘game’ – it is one of the things in life that no one really can follow a straight path to achieve.

And it appears the same when it comes to chasing the position of the presidency – there is no straitjacket way to achieve it.

While some go through parliament to learn on

Read full articlethe ground, some others have their own ideas of pursuing the dream – through public service and others.

To get to parliament, however, you have to first win the affection of your constituents and then Ghanaians as a whole. So it perhaps was like another level of the same experience when these 3 presidents decided to move beyond parliament and vie for the presidency.

In this piece, GhanaWeb takes a look at Heads of State who went through parliament and served in various constituencies before becoming president.

John Agyekum Kufour:

The second President under the Fourth Republic of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufour was sworn into power in 2001, after his predecessor, Jerry John Rawlings handed over power to him.



Prior to this, he was a businessman and served in other capacities including serving as a Member of Parliament before the Fourth Republic. He was elected into parliament in 1979, serving as a deputy minority parliamentary leader in parliament under the 3rd republic.

Before this however, he had served as Member of Parliament for Atwima Nwabiagya in the Atwima District of the Ashanti Region, under the second Republic of Ghana.

After the country returned to democratic politics in 1992, Kufour helped found the New Patriotic Party and became the party’s candidate in 1996.

John Dramani Mahama:



John Dramani Mahama took office as president in July 2012, after his predecessor, His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills passed away.

He has been a number of things including a communication expert, historian and writer but he also served as Member of Parliament before becoming president.

In 1997, he became a Member of Parliament on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), representing constituents of Bole Bamboi and served for the first term till he was re-elected in 2000 for another term. In 2004, he was re-elected for a third term. as MP for the same area.

Among the things he did as MP, John Mahama was a member of the Standing Orders Committee. He was also on the Transport, Industry, Energy, Communications, Science and Technology Committee of Parliament.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo:



President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo became President in 2017, after winning power with some 53.8% over his close contender, John Dramani Mahama in the 2016 general elections in Ghana.

Akufo-Addo has a political background considering the involvement of his father; one of Ghana’s past presidents – Edward Akufo-Ado and his great uncle William Ofori-Atta in politics.

In 1996, he was elected into Ghana’s parliament. He served as a member of Parliament under the New Patriotic Party’s ticket for three consecutive terms in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th parliaments of the 4th Republic.

He exited parliament in 2008 as MP for the Abuakwa constituency after which he became a cabinet minister.