19 Children Each, Living As Neighbours: Mahama speaks about his father’s relationship with Bawumia’s

In 2008, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, John Evans Atta Mills, selected the then Member of Parliament for Bole Constituency, John Dramani Mahama, as his running mate.

In the same year, the then-opposition leader of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, selected Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as his running mate for the general election.

In the video of an interview John Mahama granted around the time of their respective nominations, he described his relationship with Dr. Bawumia as one that followed the uncanny coincidences that characterized Ghana’s politics.

“Actually, the coincidence in our politics has been very uncanny. Because my father and Dr. Bawumia’s father were quite close friends in the CPP together, and they kind of followed a certain or the same track; they got educated about the same time together [at Tamale Secondary School], my father became Regional Minister for the Northern Region after Mumuni Bawumia became Regional Minister for the Northern Region. They all had large families; I think they both had the same number of children.

“I think Mumuni Bawumia had 19 children; my dad too had 19 children,” he stated.

According to him, their fathers lived in the same area and called each other neighbours.

“There are a lot of parallels between the two; they were close friends and called each other neighbours because they lived in the same vicinity in Tamale,” he said.

He shared details of how Dr. Bawumia’s father, Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia, would visit their home regularly.

On his personal ties with Dr. Bawumia, John Mahama said he grew up together with Nana Addo’s running mate and held a very close relationship with his elder brothers.

“We grew up together, myself and Mahamudu. He was younger than me, and so his elder brothers were closer to me than he was. But we knew each other; the families knew each other very well,” John Mahama said.

John Mahama described his late father as his mentor and chief advisor during his days, who influenced his political career by sharing his experience. He added that his brothers had also influenced his political career, including being part of the “conspiracy” that got him into parliament.

In the 2008 elections, Prof. Mills and Mahama defeated Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia.

Ahead of the 2012 election, Prof. Mills passed away, and John Mahama, who succeeded the late president, won the general elections against another Akufo-Addo-Bawumia ticket.

However, in 2016, Nana Addo and Dr. Bawumia defeated John Dramani Mahama, who then had the late Amissah Arthur as his vice president and running mate.

John Mahama failed to recapture power in the 2020 general elections with Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang as his running mate.

Ahead of the 2024 election, John Mahama, who remains the NDC’s flagbearer, has re-partnered with Prof. Opoku-Agyemang against an NPP ticket led by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who has succeeded Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the flagbearer of the party.

Watch the video below: