Personal Life and Interests
He is married to Lordina Mahama and has seven children. He is a Christian, born and raised a Presbyterian but is now a member of Assemblies of God, Ghana due to marriage. His family is multi-faith consisting of Christians and Muslims. Mahama is also a polyglot, fluent in English, Akan ( Twi and Fante), Ga, Gonja, Dagbani and Hausa and proficient in Ewe and Russian. Being a staunch campaigner for sustainability, he has a keen interest in environmental affairs, particularly the problem of single-use plastic waste pollution in Africa, which he committed himself to addressing during his tenure as Vice President. Over the course of his career he has written for several newspapers and other publications. As a Parliamentarian, Mahama wrote Mahama's Hammer, a popular semi-regular column in a local Ghanaian newspaper. His essays have also been published in the Huffington Post, the Louisville Courier-Journal and TheRoot.com Additionally, he was a featured speaker at the TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch Conference in Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.. Mahama is also a devotee of Afrobeat music and a big fan of Nigerian legend, Fela Kuti, explaining that the iconic musician’s criticism of corruption and military brutality "gave us an outlet for our outrage and frustrations." Apart from his love of reading and acquiring knowledge, President Mahama also has a passionate interest in innovation particularly the use of technology in agriculture being a farmer himself. In particular, he is interested in finding the most effective ways to improve agricultural productivity and works to encourage more young people to see farming as a viable business and not a subsistence activity. This has translated into his passion to see the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (known by the acronym SADA) create new opportunities for people living in the Savanna areas of the country, which includes the three Northern Regions, and the Northern parts of the Brong-Ahafo and Volta Regions. Even on official assignments outside of the country, the President likes to take advantage of opportunities to visit agricultural establishments and update himself on current trends and developments. He also takes keen interest in the opportunities for simplifying and making tasks easier with the use of information and communications technology, and considers the ICT industry one of the sectors that can play a significant role in economic transformation and job creation.
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