Zenator Agyeman Rawlings finally joins Mahama’s government

President John Dramani Mahama has nominated two members of parliament for ministerial roles and reassigned two sitting ministers to portfolios that have remained vacant since a helicopter crash killed two cabinet ministers last year, according to a statement issued by the Jubilee House and signed by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Minister of Government Communications and presidential spokesperson.

Acting under Article 78(1) of the 1992 Constitution, which requires new ministerial appointments to receive prior parliamentary approval, the President submitted the names of Dr Zanetor Agyemang-Rawlings, MP for Klottey-Korle, and Mahama Ayariga, MP, to the Speaker of Parliament.

Agyemang-Rawlings has been nominated for the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, while Ayariga has been put forward for the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs. Both nominations must now go through parliamentary vetting before the appointments can take effect.

The President also reassigned two ministers already serving in his government, a move that does not require parliamentary approval.

Hon. Kenneth Gilbert Adjei was moved to the Ministry of Defence, and Ahmed Ibrahim, MP, was moved to the Ministry of Works, Housing and Water Resources.

The nominations fill two of the portfolios left vacant by a Z-9 military helicopter crash on 6 August 2025, which killed eight people, among them Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment, Science and Technology Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed.

The announcement comes almost exactly a year after the crash, though the Jubilee House statement makes no reference to the anniversary, and no official link between the timing and the crash date has been stated.

Agyemang-Rawlings, a three-term MP and medical doctor, had for more than a year been widely discussed as a likely cabinet appointee, with her name floated at various points for both the Defence and Health portfolios.

Former Supreme Court Justice William Atuguba was among those who had publicly questioned why she had not yet been given a ministerial role, and she was elected Second Vice President of the Pan-African Parliament in May 2026.

That background does not appear in the Jubilee House statement and is drawn from prior independent reporting rather than from the presidency’s announcement.

The two ministerial nominations remain provisional pending parliamentary vetting and cannot be considered final appointments.

The statement did not specify the date of the announcement, nor did it address deputy ministerial appointments or the composition of the wider cabinet.

 

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