Former First Lady of the Republic of Ghana and wife of the late President Jerry John Rawlings, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has passed away at the age of 76.
A statement issued by the Presidency confirmed that she died on the morning of Thursday, October 23, 2025, after a short illness. “Mrs. Rawlings passed this morning after a short illness,” the statement read in part.
Born on November 17, 1948, in Cape Coast, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings was a trailblazing Ghanaian politician and advocate for women’s empowerment. She began her education at the Ghana International School before continuing at Achimota School, where she met her future husband, the late President Jerry John Rawlings, who passed away on November 12, 2020.
She pursued a degree in Art and Textiles at the University of Science and Technology (now KNUST), where she served as a student leader at Africa Hall. In 1975, she obtained a Diploma in Interior Design from the London College of Arts.
Nana Konadu served as First Lady of Ghana from June 4, 1979, to September 24, 1979, and again from December 31, 1981, to January 7, 2001.
A prominent advocate for women’s rights, she founded the 31st December Women’s Movement in 1982 and was later elected First Vice Chairperson of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2009. In 2011, she made history by challenging then-President John Atta Mills for the NDC’s flagbearership.
In 2016, Nana Konadu became the first woman to contest the presidency in Ghana, running on the ticket of her newly formed National Democratic Party (NDP). Although she secured 0.16% of the votes, her candidacy was widely regarded as a landmark moment for women in Ghanaian politics.
She was also the author of “It Takes a Woman,” published in 2018.
Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings passed away at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital after a short illness. Her legacy as a pioneering leader, women’s advocate, and political trailblazer remains deeply imprinted in Ghana’s history.
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Source: Frederick Kofi Thompson-Quartey/ATLFMNEWS
