FMNEWS can confirm that the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, has died.
The wife of late President Jerry John Rawlings, reportedly passed on this morning at the Greater Accra Hospital, popularly known as Ridge Hospital, on Thursday, 23rd October, 2025.
She was born on November 17, 1948, to the late J.O.T. Agyeman and his wife in Cape Coast, Central region of Ghana. She was aged 77.
Nana Konadu, following the expiry of her husband’s mandatory 8-year term, sought to lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which his late husband, Jerry Rawlings, founded.
This was after she had been elected 1st Vice Chairperson of the party in 2009.
She contested the NDC party’s flagbearership position at the party’s congress at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo region in July 2011, and lost.
Nana Konadu left the party afterward to form her party, the National Democratic Party, in October 2012.
She contested the 2016 elections as the Presidential candidate of the NDP but still lost.
The vibrant former first lady’s educational journey commenced at the Achimota School in the Greater Accra Region before she proceeded to the University of Science and Technology where she read Art, specializing in Textiles.
The late Nana Konadu Rawlings had a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, earned an Interior Design diploma from the London College of Arts, and also acquired a Diploma in Advanced Personnel Management from Ghana’s Management Development and Productivity Institute in 1979.
She also has a Certificate in Development from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in 1991.
In 1994, she enrolled at Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA, Senior Fellow Diploma in Policy Studies and Non-Profit Sector of Economic Development, among others. Nana Konadu worked at the Ghana Tourist Board, Accra, Ghana, 1973.
The late first lady is also credited with championing several initiatives, particularly towards women’s empowerment.
The 31st December Women’s movement, which she founded on 15th May, 1982, empowered millions of women across Ghana by assisting some with capital to start businesses and also educating them on their rights.
The movement also set up schools, taught women how to read and write, and pushed for laws that protect women’s inheritance rights.
Nana Konadu got married to Jerry John Rawlings, an Air Force Officer, in 1977, and they both had four children: Ezenator Rawlings, Yaa Asantewaa, Amina, and Kimathi.
