By: Ashiadey Dotse
Today, Friday November 28, 2025, at the Black Star Square, Ghana will gather beneath the open sky to lay to rest a woman whose name has long been woven into the country’s political, social, and cultural fabric Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings.
She will return to the earth at age 76 not only as a former First Lady, but as a voice, a force, a pathfinder. And as Ghana prepares for her final journey, memories rise like a quiet hymn steady, familiar, and enduring.
Nana Konadu was more than a public figure; she was a story in motion. Born on November 17, 1948, in Cape Coast to J.O.T. Agyeman and his wife, she grew from a young girl with dreams into a woman who shaped dreams for others. Her path took her through Achimota School, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and later across borders to institutions like the London College of Arts and Johns Hopkins University.
She built herself layer by layer into an artist, a designer, a manager, a policy thinker. But above all, she built spaces for women. In 1980, long before “women empowerment” became a national refrain, she founded the 31st December Women’s Movement, guiding thousands toward economic independence and civic confidence.
Her political journey was bold and unafraid. She served as 1st Vice Chairperson of the NDC, challenged President John Evans Atta Mills for the party’s flagbearer position in 2011, and when her convictions led her down a new road, she formed the National Democratic Party in 2012. She later became its presidential candidate — standing firm, standing tall.
Away from rallies and public arenas, she was a wife and mother. She married Airforce Officer and a former president Jerry John Rawlings who is now late in 1977, and together they raised four children: Ezenator, Yaa Asantewaa, Amina, and Kimathi. Their partnership shaped decades of Ghana’s political history, and their family life became part of the nation’s collective memory.
Tomorrow, as the Black Star Square fills with leaders of nations, politicians mourners, admirers, and ordinary citizens whose lives her work quietly touched, the atmosphere will carry a gentle mix of grief and gratitude. Flags will flutter, voices will hush, and Ghana will bow its head not in sorrow alone, but in respect for a woman who lived with conviction.
In her life, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings stitched together leadership, courage, and service. In her passing, she leaves behind a tapestry that will outlive time.
And so, as today marks her last day on the planet earth, the nation prepares to say goodbye with honour, with memory, and with peace.
