Ghana’s former first lady and leading women’s rights advocate, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has died at the age of 76, officials said on Thursday.
Agyeman-Rawlings, widow of the late former president Jerry John Rawlings, passed away after a short illness, presidential spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu said.
Her family formally informed President John Mahama of her death, according to local media reports. Mahama, who heads the National Democratic Congress (NDC) — the party founded by her husband — paused during a swearing-in ceremony for new High Court judges to honour her memory.
Born in November 1948 in Cape Coast, Agyeman-Rawlings attended Achimota School in Accra, where she met her future husband. She studied art and textiles at university while Rawlings pursued a military career, later seizing power in 1979 and leading Ghana through both military and democratic rule.
As first lady, Agyeman-Rawlings played a central role in shaping Ghana’s women’s rights agenda. She championed the 1989 inheritance law protecting women and children’s property rights and contributed to gender equality provisions in the 1992 constitution, which established multiparty democracy.
She also founded the 31st December Women’s Movement, a national organisation that promoted women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship and education.
In 2012, she sought the NDC’s presidential nomination but was unsuccessful.
Ghana’s parliament adjourned in her honour on Thursday, while social media flooded with tributes lauding her as a pioneering political figure.
“She was an exceptional first lady whose visionary leadership and strong organisational skills left an indelible mark on Ghana’s history,” Richmond Rockson, spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, wrote on X. “Her courage, loyalty and resilience during the revolution defined an era.”
The couple had four children, including Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, an NDC lawmaker.
Jerry Rawlings, who led Ghana for nearly two decades following two coups and later as an elected president, died in 2020.