<\/p>\n
Accra, Jan. 18, GNA \u2013 Mr Mark Owen Woyongo, a former Minister of Defence and Member of Parliament for the Navrongo Central Constituency, has died at age 78.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He died in Accra in the late hours of Wednesday, January 17, 2023.<\/p>\n
Mark Woyongo was MP for Navrongo Central from 2012 to 2016 when he lost the seat to the New Patriotic Party\u2019s late Joseph Kofi Addo.<\/p>\n
He announced his retirement from politics, disclosing in December 2016 that he would not contest any political position again.<\/p>\n
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%).<\/p>\n
He was, however, appointed the Upper East Regional Minister by late President John Evans Atta Mills in his government in 2009.<\/p>\n
He was retained in that position by former President John Dramani Mahama following the death of President Mills.<\/p>\n
In 2013, he was nominated by President Mahama for the position of Minister for Defence.<\/p>\n
GNA<\/p>\n