The former First Lady of Ghana, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, has died at the Ridge Hospital in Accra, as confirmed by sources close to the family. She was 76 years of age.
Nana Konadu, the spouse of the late former President Jerry John Rawlings, was the longest-serving First Lady of Ghana, serving during both military and civilian governments led by her husband.
Her tenure lasted from June 4, 1979, to September 24, 1979, under the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and again from December 31, 1981, to January 6, 1993, under the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
She continued to serve in this capacity during her husband’s two constitutional terms from January 7, 1993, to January 6, 2001.
In addition to her role as First Lady, Nana Konadu was a trailblazer in women’s empowerment and political activism, establishing the 31st December Women’s Movement and later the National Democratic Party (NDP).
In June 2012, she departed from the NDC to form the National Democratic Party (NDP). The Electoral Commission subsequently disqualified her and 11 other presidential candidates for not meeting the necessary requirements before the September 30 deadline for filing nomination documents.
She ran for office again in 2016 on the NDP ticket.
In November 2018, she released her first book, It Takes a Woman, a 331-page biography detailing her journey from her youth in 1948 to her years of political and social advocacy.
This book was the first of four volumes she planned to publish, providing “profound insights into her political activism and experiences.”
Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings made history in 2016 as the first woman to run for the presidency of Ghana, solidifying her legacy as one of the most significant figures in the nation’s political and social arena.
