ACCRA, Oct 23 (The African Portal) – Former First Lady of Ghana, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, has died at the Ridge Hospital in Accra.
She was 76.
Mrs Rawlings, wife of the late former President Jerry John Rawlings, was Ghana’s longest-serving First Lady, holding the position across both military and civilian governments led by her husband.
She first served from June to September 1979 under the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and again from December 1981 to January 2001, spanning the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and two democratic administrations under the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Beyond her ceremonial duties, Mrs Rawlings was a leading advocate for women’s empowerment. She founded the 31st December Women’s Movement, which championed women’s rights, education, and economic independence across the country.
In 2012, she broke away from the NDC to form the National Democratic Party (NDP), becoming its presidential candidate in the 2016 elections—the first woman to contest the presidency of Ghana.
In 2018, she published her autobiography, It Takes a Woman, the first of four planned volumes detailing her life and decades of activism.
Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings is remembered as a pioneering political figure whose influence shaped Ghana’s contemporary political and social landscape.
