Mr Mahama hails from the Gonja ethnic group in northern Ghana, where he was born in 1958 to a well-off family.

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He grew up in the quiet environment of a comfortably well-off family, whose attitudes had been shaped by memories of the War itself and the uncertainty of the post-War austerity years.

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Janah grew up in various suburbs of Los Angeles in a family she describes as not well-off and attended public high school.

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So the hope on East 78th Street is to sell the well-preserved houses on a quiet residential block off Lexington Avenue to a family or a developer looking to create a single 25-wide mansion by breaking through the wall between the houses.

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