John Akologu Tia was born on 23 September 1954. He is a politician and former Minister for Information in Ghana. He was the Member of Parliament for Talensi until he lost to Robert Mosore Doameng in 2012 parliamentary election.
John Tia was born at Gambaga in the Northern Region of Ghana. He attended the Zobzia Primary School and then the Local Authority Middle School both at Gambaga. His secondary education was at the Tamale Secondary School from 1969 to 1974 where he obtained the GCE Ordinary Level. He later obtained a Diploma in Journalism at the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 1980.
He was a student at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration(GIMPA) from 2005 to 2008. He was awarded the Certificate in Management in June 2006. He then got a Diploma in Public Administration in June 2007 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Administration in 2008.
John Tia was active in the Trade Unions between 1985 and 1992. He was a branch secretary and National Executive Council member of the Public Services Workers Union.
Tia first worked as a pupil teacher between 1974 and 1976. He then worked with the Information Services Department in Ghana in various capacities taking him from Gambaga to Bolgatanga in 1980. Between 1982 and 1990, he worked with the Ghana News Agency.
He got involved in local politics in 1982 when he became the Press Secretary of the Upper East Regional Secretariat of Peoples Defence Committees/Workers Defence Committees set up by the Provisional National Defence Council military government. He was elected an MP in the 1992 parliamentary election as a National Democratic Congress candidate. He was the MP for Talensi constituency since the first parliament in the Fourth Republic from January 1993 to 2012. He was also a Member of the ECOWAS Parliament in 2007. In 2009, he was appointed by President Mills as Minister for Information.
In 2018, he tried to return to active politics by contesting for the position of regional chairman of the upper east region. The former Ghana Ambassador to Cuba polled 49 votes from the 507 valid ballots cast inside the main conference room of the Bolgatanga Polytechnic.
John Tia is married with four children.