President John Dramani Mahama has expressed deep sorrow over the passing of Ghana’s former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings.
On Thursday, October 23, 2025, the President received a delegation comprising her children and other family members, who officially informed him of her passing.
Speaking later during the swearing-in ceremony of 37 new High Court judges at the Jubilee House in Accra, President Mahama called for a moment of silence in her memory.
“May the Almighty God grant her peaceful rest in His bosom. Amen,” he said.
Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, who died at the age of 76 at the Ridge Hospital in Accra, was a towering figure in Ghana’s political and social history.
Born on November 17, 1948, in Cape Coast, she was educated at Ghana International School and Achimota School, where she met her future husband, the late President Jerry John Rawlings. She later attended the University of Science and Technology (now KNUST), where she studied Art and Textiles, and went on to earn a diploma in Interior Design from the London College of Arts.
Throughout her life, Nana Konadu continued to broaden her knowledge with qualifications in Personnel Management, Development Studies, and fellowships in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership in the United States.
She served as First Lady during two pivotal eras in Ghana’s history — first in 1979 under the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and later between 1981 and 2001 during the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and subsequent Fourth Republic.
Beyond her role as First Lady, Nana Konadu founded the 31st December Women’s Movement in 1982, which empowered more than two million Ghanaian women socially, politically, and economically.
Her leadership was instrumental in promoting literacy, child development, family planning, and the inclusion of women in governance. She made history in 2016 as the first woman to contest the presidency of Ghana, running on the ticket of the National Democratic Party (NDP), which she founded after leaving the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Nana Konadu was a staunch advocate for gender equality and social justice. Her efforts helped Ghana become the first country to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, and contributed to the passage of the Intestate Succession Law, which secured inheritance rights for widows and reformed discriminatory customary laws.
Her legacy lives on in the countless women she inspired to take up leadership roles and enter politics — a movement that significantly increased female representation in Parliament during the 1990s.
