Former Information Minister John Akologu Tia has sadly passed away after a brief illness, as reported by MyJoyonline.
The news was confirmed by Abdallah Salifu, the Upper East Regional Communications Officer of the NDC.
According to Abdallah, Mr. Tia passed away on Sunday, March 24, at the Upper East Regional Hospital.
Tia’s political journey began in 1982 when he assumed the role of Press Secretary for the Upper East Regional Secretariat of Peoples Defense Committees/Workers Defense Committees, established by the Provisional National Defence Council military government.
Following his election as an MP in the 1992 parliamentary election under the National Democratic Congress, he has represented the Talensi constituency since the inception of the Fourth Republic in January 1993.
Additionally, he has served as a Member of the ECOWAS Parliament since 2007 and was appointed as Minister for Information by President Mills in 2009.
Akologu’s political career saw him first elected to Parliament in the December 1992 Ghanaian parliamentary election, and subsequently re-elected in 1996 and 2000 with significant margins of victory.
He secured his position once more as the member of parliament for the Talensi constituency during the 2004 Ghanaian general election.
Representing the National Democratic Congress, he emerged victorious with 8,346 votes out of 22,148 total valid votes cast, which accounted for 37.4% of the total valid votes.
This election saw the National Democratic Congress clinching 9 out of the 13 parliamentary seats in the Upper East Region, contributing to their minority total of 94 parliamentary seats out of 230.
His closest competitors were Samuel Kuug Narook of the Peoples’ National Convention, Hajia Mariam Abagna Khalidi of the New Patriotic Party, John Teroug Zongbil of the Convention People’s Party, and Robert N. Doameng Mosore, an independent candidate, who garnered 3,001, 5,354, 865, and 4,582 votes respectively, making up 13.5%, 24.2%, 3.9%, and 20.7% of the total valid votes cast.
