Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah was born in Yendi and is the daughter of Alhaji Shanni Mahama, who was a former MP for the Yendi Constituency of

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

and a Deputy Minister for Agriculture in the government of former prime minister

K. A. Busia Kofi Abrefa Busia (11 July 1913 – 28 August 1978) was a Ghanaian political leader and academic who was Prime Minister of Ghana from 1969 to 1972. As a leader and prime minister, he helped to restore civilian government to the country followi ...

. She was appointed Deputy CEO of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) in 2017 and got elevated to the position of substantive Chief Executive in September 2021 after her immediate boss, Stephen Amoah, left to start a career as Parliamentarian for the Nhyiaso Constituency.

Personal life and education

She attended

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in the country. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the British colony of the Gold Coast ...

where she graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in Psychology. She also has a

Master of Public Policy and Administration The Master of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) is a graduate-level professional degree that blends the theoretical and practical aspects of public administration and policy analysis. Tailored for individuals aspiring to contribute to the p ...

(MPPA) degree from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with focus on Economic and Political Development. She is married with four children.

Career

She is a

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

banker, policy practitioner, business development strategist and a politician. She has extensive work experience from different local and international organisations such as the Agricultural Development Bank (Ghana), The Millennium Cities Initiative – MCI in collaboration with Earth Institute of Columbia University (Accra, Ghana), Consultancy for The Capacity Development Group (UNDP, New York), Merchant Bank Ghana Limited (Accra, Ghana) and Jospong Group of Companies (Accra, Ghana). Before the 2020 general elections, she was part of those who contested to represent her party, the

New Patriotic Party The New Patriotic Party (NPP; ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative political party in Ghana. Since the democratisation of Ghana in 1992, it has been one of the two dominant parties in Ghanaian ...

as its parliamentary candidate for the Yendi constituency but lost to Farouk Aliu Mahama, son of late former Vice President of the Republic of Ghana

Alhaji Aliu Mahama Alhaji Aliu Mahama (3 March 1946 – 16 November 2012) was a Ghanaian engineer and politician who was Vice-President of Ghana from 7 January 2001 to 7 January 2009. A member of the New Patriotic Party, he was Ghana's first Muslim Vice-Preside ...

. In January 2024, Abibata contested her party's parliamentary primaries, hoping to be second time lucky in her quest to represent her party as its parliamentary candidate for the General Election that year. The internal election was marred by violence leading to the Electoral Commission being unable to call the results in favor of any of the contesting candidates. However, The National Executive of the NPP in April 2024, after having instituted a committee to investigate the primaries, declared incumbent MP, Farouk Aliu Mahama as the Party's Parliamentary Candidate for the Yendi Constituency for Election 2024. Abibata in a statement stated her disagreement with the decision but said she will respect it in the "supreme interest of the party."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahama Zakariah, Abibata Shanni Women members of the Parliament of Ghana Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Ghanaian Muslims People from Yendi University of Ghana alumni School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University alumni Ghanaian bankers Ghanaian chief executives Women chief executives New Patriotic Party politicians Ghanaian business executives