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 Addo.

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.

In 2013, he was nominated by President Mahama for the position of Minister for Defence.