Ghana’s former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has passed away at the age of 76.
According to family sources, she died in the early hours of Thursday, October 23, 2025, at the Ridge Hospital in Accra.
Born on November 17, 1948, in Cape Coast, Central Region, Nana Konadu was the wife of the late former President Jerry John Rawlings and a formidable figure in Ghanaian politics and women’s empowerment.
Until an official statement is released by the Rawlings family or government, details surrounding her passing remain limited.
Nana Konadu was best known as the founder and leader of the National Democratic Party (NDP), which she established after parting ways with the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
A pioneering advocate for gender equality, she founded the 31st December Women’s Movement in 1982 — an organisation that empowered women through education, entrepreneurship, and advocacy for social justice.
Her educational journey began at Achimota School, after which she studied Art at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), specialising in Textiles.
She later obtained diplomas and certificates from institutions in Ghana, the United Kingdom, and the United States, including the London College of Arts and Johns Hopkins University.
In her political career, she once served as the First Vice Chairperson of the NDC and contested the party’s flagbearership in 2011, before founding the NDP a year later. She subsequently ran as the NDP’s presidential candidate in 2016.
She is survived by her four children- Zanetor, Yaa Asantewaa, Amina, and Kimathi Rawlings.
