Ghana’s former first lady has died aged 76

Ghana’s former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has died at the age of 76.

She was the widow of Ghana’s longest-serving leader, Jerry John Rawlings, who died five years ago.

He led two coups before being elected president twice in multi-party elections.

Social media has been flooded with tributes to the former first lady, politician and women’s rights advocate, who Ghana’s presidential spokesman, Felix Kwakie Ofosu, said died after a short illness on Thursday morning.

Her family visited President John Mahama in the afternoon to formally inform him of her death. The president led the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party founded by Jerry Rawlings after he took power.

Agyeman-Rawlings also had political ambitions but lost in his bid to become the NDC presidential candidate in 2012.

As First Lady, she founded the Women’s Movement on December 31 to empower women and teach them how to earn money to grow their communities. She was baptized on the date of her husband’s second coup in 1981.

Born in November 1948, Agyeman-Rawlings came from a middle-class family and grew up in the city of Cape Coast.

She met her future husband when she became a boarder at the prestigious Achimota School in the capital, Accra.

Unlike her husband, she went on to receive a university education, studying art and textiles.

Jerry Rawlings joined the Air Force and was commissioned a lieutenant in 1978, a year after the couple married.

It wasn’t long before Rawlings, aged 32, took over, and his wife was considered an important adviser.

Young, glamorous and charismatic, they have proved a dynamic if controversial duo in the West African nation.

The former first lady’s women’s group, initially considered a wing of the NDC, is seen as significantly helping women across the country – especially in poorer areas.

Her advocacy also influenced national politics, and she played a key role in shaping a law in 1989 that guaranteed inheritance rights for women and children.

She is also credited with contributing to the gender equality provisions in Ghana’s 1992 constitution, which saw the return of multi-party politics.

Ghana’s parliament has adjourned to mark the death of the former first lady as the country prepares to formally honor one of its most iconic political figures and one who fought for the inclusion of women in politics.