Mr Mark Owen Woyongo, a former Minister of Defence and Member of Parliament for the Navrongo Central Constituency, has died at age 78.
Family sources, who confirmed his death to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said the former Upper East Regional Minister had been unwell for some time.
He died in Accra in the late hours of Wednesday, January 17, 2023.
Mark Woyongo was MP for Navrongo Central from 2012 to 2016 when he lost the seat to the New Patriotic Party’s late Joseph Kofi Adda.
He announced his retirement from politics, disclosing in December 2016 that he would not contest any political position again.
Mr Woyongo first stood for election on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress in the 2008 parliamentary election, winning 41.7% of the votes and losing to Joseph Kofi Adda of the New Patriotic Party by 1,130 votes (3.5%).
He was, however, appointed the Upper East Regional Minister by late President John Evans Atta Mills in his government in 2009.
He was retained in that position by former President John Dramani Mahama following the death of President Mills.
Profile of Mark Woyongo
Hon Mark Owen Woyongo, was the Minister for Interior from 6th August, 2014 to 29th February, 2016. He was born on 9th June, 1946 in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region of Ghana.
He successfully completed Notre Dame Secondary School in Navrfongo in 1966 with a West African Senior Secondary School Certificate. He gained admission to the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 1971 and completed with a Diploma in Journalism in 1973.
He has undertaken many professional courses both in Ghana and abroad. Notable among them are: Senior Executive Development at the Management Productivity Institute (MPDI), Financial Management at GEM Consult, Management at the Carnegie Institute, London, and Population and Communication, Rural Reporting, and Message Development and Training, at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
Hon Woyongo has held many appointments during his career as a politician and a communicator. He was the Public Relations Officer for the Upper East Regional Administration between 1978 and 1985.
In 1985, he was appointed the Regional Information Officer, Upper East Region, a position he held until 1994 when he was appointed the Minister Counselor for Information at the Ghana High Commission in London, United Kingdom.
He was the Minister for the Upper East Region from 2009 – 2012. He contested the 2012 parliamentary elections on the ticket of the NDC and won. He was appointed Defence Minister in 2013 and subsequently to the Ministry of the Interior during his tenure as Upper East Regional Minister.
Hon. Woyongo has extensive knowledge in security matters and is therefore not surprising that he has been chosen as the chair for this occasion. Hon. Woyongo was the MP for Navrongo Central.
In respect of membership of Boards and Associations, Hon Woyongo became the Board Chairman of Irrigation Company of the Upper East Region (ICOUR) in 2010. He was also a member of the National Anniversary Planning Committee in 2005.