Former Ghanaian First Lady and prominent women’s rights advocate Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has died at the age of 76.
She was the widow of Jerry John Rawlings, the country’s longest-serving leader, who died five years earlier.
Rawlings conducted two military coups before winning two presidential elections in Ghana’s multiparty system.
The former first lady died Thursday morning following a brief illness, according to presidential spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu.
As reported by the BBC, her family formally informed President John Mahama of her death on Thursday afternoon.
During the swearing-in of new High Court Justices on Thursday, Mahama, the leader of Jerry Rawlings’ National Democratic Congress party, took a moment to honor the late Agyeman-Rawlings.
Agyeman-Rawlings was born in Cape Coast in November 1948 and grew up in a middle-class family. She attended Accra’s elite Achimota School, where she met her future husband.
She went on to study art and textiles at university, while Rawlings joined the Air Force and rose to the rank of flight lieutenant in 1978, the year after they married.
Nana Konadu had become one of Rawlings’ most trusted aides by 1979, when he seized power at the age of 32.
Together, they created one of Ghana’s most active and contentious political coalitions.
The marriage had four children, the eldest of whom is Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, an NDC member of parliament.
Agyeman-Rawlings’ efforts helped shape national policy about women’s rights.
She played a key role in the 1989 law that safeguarded women’s and children’s inheritance rights, as well as the gender equality clauses in Ghana’s 1992 constitution, which heralded the period of multi-party democracy.
Ghana’s parliament adjourned in her memory, and social media has been inundated with tributes to her life as a trailblazing politician and relentless campaigner for women’s rights.
The spokesperson of the country’s Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, Richmond Rockson, in a statement via X, extolled Nana as “an exceptional First Lady whose visionary leadership and strong organizational skills left an indelible mark on Ghana’s history.
“She stood firmly by Chairman Jerry John Rawlings during the revolution, displaying courage, loyalty, and resilience at a defining moment in our nation’s journey.
“Her unwavering commitment to women’s empowerment led to the establishment of the 31st December Women’s Movement, which she led as president,” the statement read.
Agyeman-Rawlings was a political figure who ran for president of the National Democratic Congress in 2012 but was unsuccessful.
Her organization, Women’s Movement, sought to empower women and promote community development via entrepreneurship and education.
The organization was named after the date of her husband’s second coup, which occurred in 1981.
