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The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has been tipped to be the next Majority Leader of the NDC Caucus in the Ninth Parliament, the Daily Graphic can confirm.
He will succeed the outgoing Majority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, who has been nominated as the Minister of Finance designate.
A source at the Presidency, who requested not to be named, said the NDC party would by the close of Friday or early next week come out to announce his appointment.
The party will also announce major changes in the general leadership of the NDC Caucus.
This is because quite a number of the current members of the NDC Caucus have or are yet to be nominated for various ministerial positions.
When confirmed, the four-term MP will succeed the outgoing Majority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, who has been appointed as the Minister of Finance designate.
Who is Mahama Ayariga?
Mahama Ayariga was born on May 24, 1974. He is a lawyer and politician.
He served as Minister of Information and Media Relations, Minister of Youth and Sports under the previous John Dramani Mahama administration.
Mr Ayariga was born in Bawku in the Upper East Region and 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 organisation that promotes human rights, community development and social justice.
Mr Ayariga first became a member of Ghana’s parliament for the Bawku Central Constituency in January 2005, until he lost his seat to Adamu Dramani Sakande of the New Patriotic Party in the 2008 elections.
The seat became vacant when Adamu was convicted and jailed for contesting and winning an election while being a citizen of another country, which is against the 1992 constitution. Ayariga recaptured the seat in the 2012 election.
Under President John Evans Atta Mills’s era in 2009, Ayariga was a Presidential Spokesman and later a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry and Deputy Minister of Education.
