Mahama Ayariga

Mahama Ayariga was born on 12 May 1974 in Bawku in the Upper East Region of Ghana.[3] He was educated in Ghana and Nigeria and the United States of America. He attended the Barewa College in Zaria in Kaduna State, Nigeria. He holds a Master of Law (LLM) degree from the Harvard Law School in the United States of America and a Bachelor of Law (LLB) Degree from University of Ghana, Legon.[4] He was the executive director of Legal Resource Centre in Accra.[5]

Ayariga's older brother Ayariga Hassan was the presidential candidate of the People's National Convention (Ghana) for the 2012 General Elections in Ghana.[6]

Ayariga is a lawyer by profession.[7] 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 organization to promote human rights, community development and social justice.[8]

Ayariga was elected as the member of parliament for the Bawku constituency of the Upper East Region of Ghana in the 2004 Ghanaian general elections.[15][16] He won on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress.[15][16] His constituency was a part of the 9 parliamentary seats out of 13 seats won by the National Democratic Congress in that election for the Upper East Region.[17] The National Democratic Congress won a minority total of 94 parliamentary seats out of 230 seats.[18] He was elected with 18,518 votes out of 38,108 total valid votes cast.[15][16] This was equivalent to 48.6% of total valid votes cast.[16][15] He was elected over Amidu Mamudu Sisala of the Peoples’ National Convention, Hawa Yakubu of the New Patriotic Party, Yussif Taiban Kundima of the Convention People's Party, Sadat Amadu and Abubakar Jibreel Ustarz both independent candidates.[16][15] These obtained 333, 10,169, 353, 161 and 8,574 votes respectively of total votes cast.[15][16] These were equivalent to 0.9%, 26.7%, 0.9%, 0.4% and 22.5% respectively of total valid votes cast.[15][16]

In 2012, he was elected as the member of parliament for the same constituency. He won on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress.[19][20] He was elected with 24,071 votes out of 43,876 total valid votes cast.[21][20] This was equivalent to 54.86% of total valid votes cast. He was elected over Awuni Aguuda Joseph of the Peoples’ National Convention, Alhassan Haruna of the New Patriotic Party, Iddrisu Mubarak of the Progressive People's Party and Ibrahim Zaliya of the Convention People's Party.[19][20] These obtained 303, 19,082, 269 and 151 votes respectively of total votes cast.[19][20] These were equivalent to 0.69%, 43.49%, 0.61% and 0.34% respectively of total valid votes cast.[19][20]

Ayariga is married.[5] He is a Muslim.[5] His father, Frank Abdulai Ayariga, also served as member of parliament for the Bawku Constituency during the third republic administration of Hilla Limann.

• Frank Abdulai Ayariga
• Hassan Ayariga