Abla Dzifa Gomashie

Abla Dzifa Gomashie is a Ghanaian actress, playwright, producer and politician born on 25 July 1965 in Accra, who serves as the Member of Parliament for the Ketu South constituency in the Volta Region and as Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts in the government of President John Dramani Mahama. One of Ghana's most recognisable public figures, she has spent more than three decades in the creative arts industry while simultaneously building a significant political career that has placed her at the intersection of culture and governance.

Background and education

Born to Patrick Dotse Gomashie and Helen Gomashie, she hails from Aflao in the Volta Region, a border town with deep cultural connections to the Ewe-speaking communities of southeastern Ghana and Togo. She attended St. Louis Senior High School in Kumasi for her secondary education, before pursuing an intellectual and artistic formation at the University of Ghana, where she earned a Diploma in Theatre Arts, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Management and a Master of Philosophy in African Studies from the Institute of African Studies. Her academic grounding in African cultural studies has informed both her creative work and her policy positions on cultural heritage and the creative economy.

Creative arts career

Gomashie is one of Ghana's most accomplished stage and screen performers, with a body of work spanning television, film and theatre accumulated over more than thirty years. As an actress, producer and screen scriptwriter, she has contributed substantially to the development of Ghanaian storytelling and to the visibility of indigenous Ghanaian cultural narratives in domestic and regional media. In her native Avoeme-Aflao community in the Volta Region, she holds the traditional title of queen mother in charge of protocol for the Aflao Traditional Area, with the stool name Mama Dzramedo.

Political career

She was previously appointed Deputy Minister for Tourism under President John Mahama between 2013 and 2017. She won the NDC's parliamentary primary for Ketu South in August 2019 and was elected to Parliament in 2020, becoming the first woman ever to represent the constituency. She was re-elected in December 2024 with 92.9 per cent of the vote, one of the most dominant individual election results in that cycle, and was appointed Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts by President Mahama on his return to office in January 2025.

Political Legacy

Abla Dzifa Gomashie's career bridges Ghana's creative and political worlds with unusual authority. Her ministerial portfolio in 2025 placed the country's most prominent creative arts politician in charge of the very sector she has spent her life helping to build.